Law Commons^™

Nafta Title Vi Customs Modernization Act: An Importer’S Obligation To Use “Reasonable Care” Vs. Its Desire To Maximize Profits, Rosi Lehr

Rosi Lehr

No abstract provided.

The World Trade Organization Dispute Over Genetically Modified Organisms: The Precautionary Principle Meets International Trade Law, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

“Precaution” is increasingly accepted as a basis for governmental policy in the areas of public health and environment on both the domestic and international levels. A precautionary perspective counsels action to avert danger or threats in situations of scientific uncertainty or incomplete information. Precautionary approaches find expression in internationally harmonized formulations as non-binding exhortations, binding treaties, and meta-level principles. Precaution is a particular challenge to free trade agreements, whose purpose is to eliminate unjustified barriers to trade. In that context, precaution as a justification for a challenged governmental measure may appear to be nothing more than a pretext for protectionism. …

Public Policy In International Investment And Trade Law: Community Expectations And Functional Decision-Making, Diane A. Desierto

Diane A Desierto

This article uses a contextual policy-oriented approach to assess how the standing debate on a State's regulatory freedom has been treated within international investment law (e.g. case-by-case interpretation of variant treaty design in each case), in contrast with how the issue of domestic regulatory autonomy in international trade law has evolved towards coordination (e.g. attempted harmonization of the same set of instruments). The article submits a different view from many primarily trade law/investment law scholars (and other systemic integrationists who idealize a seamless shift from trade law to investment law), who have postulated that this fundamental issue of State regulatory …

The Tbt Agreement And Tobacco Control Regulations, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

The article analyses reports issued by the panel and the Appellate Body in the US – Measures Affecting the Productions and Sale of Clove Cigarettes dispute and attempts to assess their broader consequences for national tobacco control policies. Both reports are particularly important because they clarify the limits existing under WTO law, in particular the TBT Agreement, in this policy space. In this context, the article investigates whether the WTO dispute settlement bodies interpreted relevant rules of the TBT Agreement in a manner that provides countries with sufficient regulatory autonomy while ensuring at the same time that their technical measures …

E-Commerce And Electronic Payment System Risks: Lessons From Paypal, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

What are the major risks perceived by those engaged in e-commerce and electronic payment systems? What development risks, if they become reality, may cause substantial increases in operating costs or threaten the very survival of the enterprise? This article utilizes the relevant annual report disclosures from eBay (parent of PayPal), along with other eBay and PayPal documents, as a potentially powerful teaching device. Most of the descriptive language to follow is excerpted directly from eBay’s regulatory filings. My additions include weaving these materials into a logical presentation and providing supplemental sources for those who desire a deeper look (usually in …

Free Trade And The Regulatory State: A Gatt's-Eye View Of The Dormant Commerce Clause, Daniel A. Farber, Robert E. Hudec

Daniel A Farber

No abstract provided.

Resolving The Double Remedy Dispute: A Critique Of The Wto Appellate Body’S Decision In United States – Definitive Anti-Dumping And Countervailing Duties On Certain Products From China, Matthew R. Kelly Mr.

Matthew R Kelly Mr.

No abstract provided.

Integrating African Markets Into The Global Exchange Of Services: A Central African Perspective, Regis Y. Simo

Regis Y. Simo

Services liberalisation has gradually become very important for growth in developed and less-developed countries alike and can, as such, be seen as development prospects for sub-Saharan Africa where numerous economic integration attempts are stories of repeated failures. Despite the abundant literature on PTAs, however, little attention has been given to Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) as a trade bloc. This is an attempt to address that dearth

At a time when “boosting intra-African trade” is gaining currency on the continent, this article tests the compatibility of the potential CEMAC economic integration agreement (EIA) against the background of the …

U.S.-Latin American Free Trade Agreements And Access To Medicine, Dominique Lochridge-Gonzales

Dominique Lochridge-Gonzales

U.S.-Latin American Free Trade Agreements and Access to Medicine analyzes the effects of FTA provisions on access to medicine. Access to medicine lies at the heart of the crossroads between the international human right to health and international intellectual property law delineated in TRIPS. True availability of essential medicines to millions of people depends on a balance between the formations of these medicines in the first place (through rewarding innovation) and promulgating rules that allow for practicable access to those medicines. FTAs provide a method for implementing the right to health by fostering practicable access to essential medicines in the …

The Underutilized Foreign Investor, Griffin Weaver

Griffin Weaver

For most states, if not all, the push for economic advancement is at the front of every administration’s agenda. This is especially true for developing countries in the Middle East whose standard of living and international power is largely tied to its economic condition. An important indicator, if not condition, of a state’s economic health is the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) received by the state. This inflow of money is essential for the growth and stability of a state’s economy. As one U.S. official once noted, the United States “need[s] a net inflow of capital of $3 billion …

Foreign Direct Investment In Post-War Iraq: An Investor's Introductory Guide To The Legal Framework, Jordan E. Toone

Jordan E. Toone

In spite of its troubled past and ongoing internecine violence, Iraq today stands at the threshold of economic opportunity in ways that few developing states—much less war-torn states like Iraq—could imagine. The Iraq National Investment Commission reported, for example, that in 2010, 178 companies filed for investment licenses totaling $10.5 billion. Currently, the primary foreign participants in Iraq’s post-war economic expansion are sophisticated multinational corporations (MNC), many of which have experience investing in politically and economically unstable markets, including those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In their efforts to capitalize on Iraq’s unrivalled natural resources and …

Chinese Law, Trade And The New Century, Robert C. Berring

Robert Berring

China crammed a great deal of political activity into the 20th Century. In the year 1900 the Q'ing Dynasty still ruled the remnants of an ancient empire. The Q'ing conspired with rebels in the Boxer Rebellion in the hopes of expelling all foreigners from Chinese soil and returning to splendid isolation. In the year 2000 China is a superpower balancing communist theory and a capitalist market that is about to join the World Trade Organization. The intervening years saw warlords, democrats, fascists, Marxists and all stripes of communists leading the world's largest nation. As China enters the new millennium of …

The Underutilized Foreign Investor, Griffin Weaver

Griffin Weaver

No abstract provided.

No Longer The Sleeping Dog, The Fcpa Is Awake And Ready To Bite: Analysis Of The Increased Fcpa Enforcements, The Implications, And Recommendations For Reform, Rouzhna Nayeri

Rouzhna Nayeri

No abstract provided.

Global Poverty And The Right To Development In International Law, Patrick Macklem

Patrick Macklem

This Article advances an account of the right to development as a legal instrument that holds the international legal order accountable for its role in the production and reproduction of global poverty. It first distinguishes moral conceptions of human rights, as instruments that protect universal features of humanity, from legal conceptions, which tie their existence to their specification in international instruments promulgated in compliance with international legal norms governing the creation of legal rights and obligations. Despite textual ambiguities in the various instruments in which it finds expression, the right to development vests in individuals and communities who have yet …

Repsol, Ypf, And Argentina: A Hypothetical Look At The Pending Icsid Arbitration Over Ypf, Stephen Pelliccia

Stephen Pelliccia

In this paper I will discuss the 2012 expropriation of the Repsol subsidiary, YPF S.A., by the Argentine government and the upcoming ICSID arbitration on the legality thereof. Taking in to account basic tenets of international arbitration law, bilateral investment treaties, and ICSID jurisprudence, I will put forward some of the principal arguments of both parties could make and discuss a likely decision by the ICSID Tribunal. In addition to the ICSID award I will also discuss the difficulties of enforcing ICSID and other arbitral awards against Argentina and will discuss Latin American attitudes towards ICSID in general. Keeping in …

Multilateralism Or Regionalism; What Can Be Done About The Proliferation Of Regional Trading Agreements?, Luwam G. Dirar

Luwam G Dirar

Regional trading agreements are treaties entered into by states. States enter into regional trading agreements for different reasons some of which are economic, political and security reasons. Regional trading agreements (herein after RTAs) have been successful in achieving trade liberalization at a much faster speed than the World Trade Organization (herein after WTO). The most notable example of RTAs is the European Communities that has been successful to liberalize both trade in goods and services.

Members of those Regional Trading Agreements create rules of origin. Rules of origin are important in allocating the appropriate duty for imported goods. They tell …

Are The Outward Processing Provisions In The South Korean Free Trade Agreements Consistent With The Law Of The World Trade Organization?, Pierce Lee Mr.

Pierce Lee Mr.

In recent years, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has entered into many free trade agreements (FTAs) containing so-called outward processing provisions (OP provisions) that extend the benefit of duty-free trade to the products manufactured or processed in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). The KIC is an outward processing zone (OPZ) in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) where South Korean companies are allowed to establish manufacturing plants and employ North Korean labor. Outward processing (OP) refers to temporary exportation of goods for additional processing. As “temporary” indicates, the finished goods are always imported back toSouth Koreafor domestic …

Faster Resolutions In Tariff Classification Litigation: Using Patent Law As A Model, Lawrence Friedman

Lawrence Friedman

This article draws a previously unmade analogy between patent litigation and customs cases before the U.S. Court of International Trade. The article posits that tariff classification litigation can be made more efficient by inverting the current focus on developing the facts through discovery and, instead, moving quickly to resolve controlling questions of law through motions for partial summary judgment, court-annexed mediation, or, if necessary, revised rules of procedure.

A Failure To Consider: Why Lawmakers Create Risk By Ignoring Trade Obligations, David R. Kocan Professor

David R. Kocan Professor

The U.S. Congress frequently passes laws facially unrelated to trade that significantly impact U.S. trade relations. These impacts are often harmful, significant, and long-lasting. Despite this fact, these bills rarely receive adequate consideration of how they will impact trade. Without this consideration, Congress cannot properly conduct a cost-benefit analysis necessary to pass effective laws. To remedy this problem, the U.S. Trade Representative should evaluate U.S. domestic law to determine whether it is consistent with international trade obligations. Moreover, the U.S. Congress committee structure should be amended so that laws that might impact trade are considered within that light. In the …

Dodd-Frank’S Confict Minerals Rule: The Tin Ear Of Government-Business Regulation, Henry Lowenstein

Henry Lowenstein

This paper examines an unusual provision included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010), Section 1502 known as the Conflict Minerals Rule. This provision, having nothing to do with the subject matter of the act itself, attempts to place a chilling effect on the trade of four identified minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The provision and its subsequent rule, surprisingly delegated to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (an agency lacking subject matter expertise in minrals) presents a case and object lession of almost every cost, procedural and legal error that can take place …

Rethinking The Rhetoric Of Antidumping: A Response To Mark Wu’S Reform Proposal, Pierce Lee Mr.

Pierce Lee Mr.

Harvard Law Professor Mark Wu, in his 2012 article “Antidumping in Asia’s Emerging Giants,” makes six proposals to reform World Trade Organization (WTO) law on antidumping (AD). One of those proposals is the requirement that all complaints for dumping be accompanied by proof of the underlying unfair trade practice that enables dumping. Wu predicts that this requirement would make it more difficult to use AD abusively so that a country could no longer “punish” foreign producers engaging in price differentiation for strategic purposes. Although Wu may be right about the short-term potential effect of this reform proposal, I do not …

E Unum Pluribus: The Limitations On State Law Because Of Foreign Policy Uses Of State Law As A Gap Filler To Meet The International Obligations Of The United States, Llewellyn Gibbons

Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Unlike many nations where the ratification of a treaty immediately changes its internal laws, in the United States, unless the language of the treaty is self-executing, Congress must affirmatively change domestic laws to conform to the obligations of the treaty. Increasing, it is a modern trend for the United States to represent in international forums that the United States is in conformity with its international obligations because of state statutes or because of common law court decisions. This article looks whether the foreign policy representations of the United States to other countries (in the context of the international intellectual property …

Mirage In The Gulf?: Examining The Upsurge In Fdi In The Gcc And Its Legal And Economic Implications For The Mena Region, Jordan E. Toone

Jordan E. Toone

Between 2002 and 2010, foreign direct investment (“FDI”) exploded in the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”). Between 2002 and 2008 alone, FDI in the GCC increased over 3800%, outpacing both the developed and developing world by a significant margin. Although recent data suggests that FDI has declined in the GCC since 2010, scholars have yet to proffer nuanced analyses of the upsurge in FDI between 2002 and 2010. In general, the literature has not adequately examined the relatively dramatic increase in FDI in the GCC insofar as it has focused on pre-2002 data, failed to distinguish between FDI trends in the …

Global Private Regulation, Global Finance And The Future Of Corporate Human Rights Accountability, Ariel Meyerstein

Ariel Meyerstein, JD, PhD

The large industrial footprints of large-scale infrastructure projects often impose a variety of environmental and social harms on local, marginalized (often indigenous) populations, many of whom, particularly in countries with weak regulatory capacity, have very little political voice in the project approval process. In 2003, responding to pressure from transnational activists and the changing norms and practices of development finance institutions such as the World Bank, some of the largest commercial banks in the world created a global private regulatory regime—the Equator Principles (“EPs”)—to standardize their environmental and social risk review of their investments in these projects. This Article contextualizes …

Sovereign Investing And Corporate Governance: Evidence And Policy, Paul Rose

Paul Rose

Discussions of corporate governance often focus solely on the attractiveness of firms to investors, but it is also true that firms seek out preferred investors. What, then, are the characteristics of an attractive investor? With nearly $6 trillion in assets, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are increasingly important players in equity markets in the United States and abroad, and possess characteristics that firms prize: deep pockets, long-term (and for some, theoretically infinite) investment horizons, and potential network benefits that many other shareholders cannot offer. However, despite their economic power, their reach, and their general desirability as investors, SWFs are almost entirely …

Investment Dispute Resolution Under The Transpacific Partnership Agreement: Prelude To A Slippery Slope?, Leon E. Trakman Professor

Leon E Trakman Dean

Intense debate is currently brewing over the multistate negotiation of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement [TPPA], led by the United States. The TPPA will be the largest trade and investment agreement after the European Union, with trillions of investment dollars at stake. However, there is little understanding of the complex issues involved in regulating inbound and outbound investment. The negotiating of the TPPA is shrouded in both mystery and dissension among negotiating countries. NGOs, investor and legal interest groups heatedly debate how the TPPA ought to regulate international investment. However this dissension is resolved, it will have enormous economic, political and …

Taming The Fcpa Overreach Through An Adequate Procedures Defense, Dieter Juedes

William & Mary Business Law Review

Currently many American corporations must pursue and develop international business relationships. For these American firms, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is the most important U.S. law governing international commerce. The FCPA prohibits firms from bribing foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business in a foreign country. Despite its infrequent use during the last quarter of the twentieth century, Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions under the statute have exploded in the last few years. Due to this increase in enforcement and the difficulties in complying with the FCPA, the anti-bribery …

International Trade And Investment Law And Carbon Management Technologies, Shi-Ling Hsu, Nigel Bankes, Anatole Boute, Sarah Mccalla, Steve Charnovitz, Liz Whitsitt, Nicholas Rivers

Shi-Ling Hsu

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases will require the development of carbon management technologies that are not currently available or that are not currently cost-effective. While market mechanisms such as carbon pricing must play a central role in stimulating the development of these technologies, governmental policy aimed at fostering carbon management technologies and lowering their costs must also play a part. Both types of policies will form part of an optimal greenhouse gas control portfolio.

This article develops a framework of international trade and investment law insofar as they may affect carbon management technologies. While it is commonly perceived that international …

Maintaining The Wto's Supremacy In The International Trade Order: A Proposal To Refine And Revise The Role Of The Trade Policy Review Mechanism, Julien Chaisse

Julien Chaisse

In light of the stagnating World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, this article argues that WTO should not only focus on the development of new rules or the resolution of disputes, but should also develop ‘soft law’ on the basis of informal mechanisms as the successful experiences of the International Competition Network or the International Monetary Fund demonstrate. In this respect, WTO should extend and refine the role of its Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) in order to be able to address essential issues of contemporary economic concerns and, hence, remain at the centre of global governance. This article explains how …