Law Commons^™

Designing An Equitable Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism, Ivan Ozai

Articles & Book Chapters

Policy makers worldwide have increasingly considered the adoption of a carbon adjustment at the border to equalize carbon pricing on foreign goods with carbon policies imposed on domestic production. The implementation of a border carbon adjustment (BCA) in the European Union has been recently proposed by the European Commission, followed by similar plans in the United States and Canada, as an instrument designed to address concerns about competitiveness and emissions leakage resulting from the absence of a global price on carbon or an internationally coordinated carbon-pricing system. Despite its potential to address these issues, the implementation of a BCA raises …

Never For-Gatt: What Recent Tbt Decisions Reveal About The Appellate Body’S Analysis Of Environmental Regulation Under The Wto Agreements, Ravi Soopramanien

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Few environmentalists have positive things to say on the impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the environment. WTO legal obligations are frequently cited as the most significant impediment to a range of environmental initiatives, including notably meaningful international coordination to combat climate change, particularly through carbon tax initiatives, and imposition of electronic waste disposal export bans. In this vein, adverse findings of WTO dispute panels on environmental conservation measures tend to attract the ire of international civil society. The tensions between liberal trade and environmental protection can be traced back to the days of the General Agreement on …

Follow The Leader: Eliminating Perverse Global Fishing Subsidies Through Unilateral Domestic Trade Measures, Anastasia Telesetsky

Maine Law Review

Perverse subsidies including fuel tax rebates lead to overfishing though a combination of overcapacity and excess fishing effort. The current overfishing trend has depleted certain key commercial fisheries with implications for future food security, particularly in regions dependent on fish protein. Over the course of the past four decades, there have been a number of multilateral efforts to eliminate the subsidies including environmental treaties, environmental targets, and trade negotiations. None of these attempts and a global cooperative response have achieved a reduction in perverse subsidies. This Essay proposes the adoption of unilateral trade measures or a set of “Friends of …

Reaching For Environmental And Economic Harmony: Can Ttip Negotiations Bridge The U.S.-Eu Chemical Regulatory Gap?, Ashley Henson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Providing For Environmental Safeguards In The Development Loans Given By The World Bank Group To The Developing Countries, John W. Kindt

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Concept Of Compensation In The Field Of Trade And Environment, Shadia Schneider-Sawiris

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht

Steven Specht

As atmospheric CO2 remains in the range of 400 ppm, it is necessary to find new international coordination to deal with climate change. The best way forward is an international regime of harmonized domestic carbon taxes. By agreeing to a minimum amount of taxation on domestic, point-source producers, money can be set aside for adaptation costs and alternative means of energy production. Finally, such a plan will overcome the problem of non-participation of countries in agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. As this is a treaty dealing with economics and trade, countries can place taxes on imports of non-participatory countries under …

Economic Implications Of European Transfrontier Pollution: National Prerogative And Attribution Of Responsibility, Fredrick C. Eisenstein

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

“Gatting” The New Climate Treaty Right: Leveraging Energy Subsidies To Promote Multilateralism, Deepa Badrinarayana

Deepa Badrinarayana

Product Standards To Protect The Local Environment--The Gatt And The Uruguay Round Sanitary And Phytosanitary Agreement, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

No abstract provided.

Gatt/Wto Rules For Border Tax Adjustment And The Proposed European Directive Introducing A Tax On Carbon Dioxide Emissions And Energy, Christian Pitschas

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Environmental Unilateralism And The Wto/Gatt System, Ilona Cheyne

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The "Giant Sucking Sound" Revisited: A Blueprint To Prevent Pollution Havens By Extending Nafta's Unheralded "Eco-Dumping" Provisions To The New World Trade Organization, Joel L. Silverman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

International Trade Law And The U.S.-Eu Gmo Debate: Can Africa Weather This Storm?, Michelle K. Mcdonald

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

"Green" Product Procurement Policy In The European Union: Treatment Of Lifecycle Carbon Analysis And Environmental Ppm Restrictions, Shawna Ganley

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

With approximately 19% of the EU’s GDP going to government purchases, “green procurement” policies could potentially have a sizable impact on carbon emissions, and moreover could bolster the larger consumer market for sustainable goods. This white paper reviews current EC policy in this area, focusing particularly on the way in which the EC treats lifecycle analysis and non-product related “process and production methods” (PPMs), criteria that relate to the way in which the product was produced rather than to the physical properties of the final product. The paper also addresses some of the factors that may have stymied better uptake …

Re-Tuning Tuna? Appellate Body Report In Us – Tuna Ii, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

Under the TBT Agreement, a labelling requirement can be qualified as a technical regulation, and not as a standard, even if it does not constitute a precondition for placing a product for sale on the relevant market. Examination of “no less favourable treatment” under Article 2.1 requires determining whether a measure modifies the conditions of competition in the relevant market to the detriment of imported like products, and whether such detrimental impact stems exclusively from a legitimate regulatory distinction rather than reflecting discrimination against the group of imported like products. The evaluation of whether a measure is more trade-restrictive than …

United States - Certain Measures Affecting Imports Of Poultry From China. Just Another Sps Case?, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) may apply to budgetary measures if they are motivated by SPS concerns. Equivalence-based measures are subject to the regular disciplines of the SPS Agreement, including but not limited to Article 4 SPS. This means that WTO Members, when engaging in the recognition process, need to observe other SPS provisions such as the requirement of a scientific risk assessment (Articles 5.1-5.3) or the quasi-consistency obligation of Article 5.5. A measure which has been found inconsistent with certain provisions of the SPS Agreement (e.g. Articles 2 and 5) cannot be …

Greenhouse Gas Regulation And Border Tax Adjustments: The Carrot And The Stick, M. Benjamin Eichenberg

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Global climate change due to the emission of anthropogenic, or manmade, greenhouse gases (GHGs) has the most widely dispersed costs of any transboundary environmental problem that the international community has yet faced. In other words, it is a global public problem and thus provides few incentives for unilateral or individual mitigation. This makes finding solutions difficult because international coalitions must face the problem of free-riders who benefit from reduced GHG concentrations at zero cost—those who make the economically rational decision to let others reduce atmospheric GHG concentrations while they continue to build GHG-intensive economies. Three of the primary complaints raised …

U.S. Climate Change Policy V. International Trade Rules: Complying With Gatt, Tina R. Goel

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Human Rights And Environmental Protection: The Pressure Of The Charter For The Environment On The French Administrative Courts, David Marrani

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Jurisdictions Over Disputes Arising From The Application Of Trade-Related Environmental Measures, Wen-Chen Shih

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

The Permissible Reach Of National Environmental Policies, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Trading nations exchange tariff concessions in the context of trade liberalizing rounds. Tariffs, nonetheless, are not the only instrument affecting the value of a concession. Domestic instruments affect it as well, but public order is not negotiable, and, consequently, is not scheduled. Public order is unilaterally defined, but must respect the default rules concerning allocation of jurisdiction which are common to all WTO Members and bind them by virtue of their appurtenance to the international community. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between trade and environment. The purpose of this study is to highlight how these rules and …

The Next Privatization Of Public Assets: Domestic And Trade Implication Related To Water Right And Land Acquisition, Jennifer C. Gerbasi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Applying International Trade Remedy Laws In The Caribbean: A Framework For Protection, Vasheist V. Kokaram

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

What happens in the WTO is part of a broader pattern of neocolonialism in the global economy. This has two strands. The first is the self-interest of the major powers; their close ties with multinational companies ... and their willingness to use their political and economic strength to achieve their ends ...

The Annihilation Of Sea Turtles: Wto Intransigence And U.S. Equivocation, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

International Environmental Litigation And Its Future, Philippe Sands

University of Richmond Law Review

The subject of international environmental law is relatively new. The subject was certainly not taught when the University of Richmond School of Law was established in 1870, even if early international law texts before that period did indicate a nascent concern for the issues of fisheries conservation and the use of international rivers. The late part of the last century and the early part of this one recognized a world in which international law could be divided, rather simply, between the law of peace and the law of war. It was a world with few international courts and tribunals in …

The Appellate Body, The Protection Of Sea Turtles And The Technique Of "Completing The Analysis", Sydney M. Cone Iii.

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (Unclos): Justice In Trade And Environment Disputes, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

From Stockholm To Kyoto And Back To The United States: International Environmental Law's Effect On Domestic Law, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

We Americans think we're so darned smart. We invented modern environmental law, developed its sophisticated "command-and-control" structure, got the public involved as never before in fighting corporate polluters, and achieved measurable successes by getting lead out of our air and bald eagles back from near extinction. We've even tried "second generation" tools such as emissions trading systems' and incentive-based regulatory flexibility approaches when we discovered our system's limitations. Not that we've got it all figured out, mind you, but we're inclined to think of ourselves as world leaders when it comes to environmental protection.

Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.