International Trade Law Commons^™

Impacts Of Investment Treaties On Health And Human Rights, Gus Van Harten

Articles & Book Chapters

While investment treaties could help protect health and promote human rights, they are rather often used as a means to discourage governments from taking action. The treaties allow foreign investors to initiate investor-state dispute settlement (or ISDS) proceedings against states for their legislative, executive, administrative, and judicial decisions at any level. Thus, they provide a powerful tool for “foreign” investors to frustrate state action in virtually any area, including health and human rights. This article describes how ISDS provisions have impacted health-related decision- making by states and, in so doing, weakened their abilities to fulfill their human rights obligations.

The New Social Contracts In International Supply Chains, David Snyder

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Armored Plating And Aluminum Foil Are Not Like Products: Consequences Of The United States' Overbroad Interpretation Of Article Xxi Of The Gatt, Anthony Nardi

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Global Lawmakers: International Organizations In The Crafting Of World Markets By Susan Block-Lieb And Terence C. Halliday, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

Susan Block-Lieb and Terence Halliday gradually build up an empirically grounded, meticulously realized argument that individual lawmakers matter. When one allows facts to inform theory rather than the other way around, the authors show, what becomes clear is that individual lawmakers are not just governmental delegates, but a whole variety of professionals, industry association representatives, and others with some stake in the lawmaking process. These actors work not just through formal processes, but also through an array of informal ones. Most importantly, their presence matters to the content of the legal norms that take hold around the world. The book …

Singapore Convention Presents An Opportunity For Georgia In Mediation, Peter B. Rutledge, Katherine M. Larsen

Popular Media

On Dec. 20, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Singapore Convention. The Singapore Convention ensures that a mediation settlement reached by parties will be binding and enforceable in accordance with a streamlined procedure. The convention will compel contracting states to recognize international mediation settlement agreements in commercial disputes. On Aug. 7, the opening day of the convention, a record 46 nations signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation, including the United States.

The Singapore Convention presents a unique opportunity for Georgia to become a forum for hospitable mediation. Much like it adopted an international arbitration code, the state could …

Interstitial Space Law, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

Conventionally, customary international law is developed through the actions and beliefs of nations. International treaties are interpreted, in part, by assessing how the parties to the treaty behave. This Article observes that these forms of uncodified international law—custom and subsequent treaty practice—are also developed through a nation’s reactions, or failures to react, to acts and beliefs that can be attributed to it. I call this “attributed lawmaking.”

Consider the new commercial space race. Innovators like SpaceX and Blue Origin seek a permissive legal environment. A Cold-War-era treaty does not seem adequately to address contemporary plans for space. The treaty does, …

Reimagining Trade Agreements For Workers: Lessons From The Usmca, Alvaro Santos

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A backlash against the post-Cold War order of liberal globalization has taken hold in the rich North Atlantic countries. Concerns about wages, working conditions, and economic opportunity are central to the critique of international trade agreements of the last three decades. While labor rights have progressively been included in trade agreements, they have done little to reshape workers’ well-being and workplace conditions. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) may signal a pivot to a new model requiring reforms of domestic labor law and other issues important to workers. However, there is much more to be done to rebalance the power …

Reflecting On Straight Talk On Trade, Alvaro Santos

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A question that motivates this essay is: What insights can we offer from legal scholarship that Dani Rodrik could take on board and put to good use?

Rodrik is an economist, but he might as well have been a lawyer in the way he builds his argument and anticipates counterarguments. I mean that as a compliment. As a bonus, he delivers the punch line with humor and grace. In his book I recognized several of the many contributions Rodrik has made: his argument for policy space and revitalization of industrial policy, the globalization trilemma, the idea and process of growth …

World Trade And Investment Law In A Time Of Crisis: Distribution, Development And Social Protection, David M. Trubek, Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

World trade and investment law is in crisis: new and progressive ideas are needed. Rules that facilitated globalization and supported global economic growth are being challenged. A system of global governance that once seemed secure is now at risk as the US ignores the rules while developing countries struggle to escape restrictions. Some want to tear global institutions and agreements down while others try desperately to maintain the status quo. Rejecting both options, we convened a group of trade and investment law experts from 10 countries South and North who have proposed ideas for a new world trade and investment …

Data Exclusivities In The Age Of Big Data, Biologics, And Plurilaterals, Peter K. Yu

Texas A&M Law Review

The past decade has seen many new developments impacting the intellectual property system. The introduction of big data analytics has transformed the fields of biotechnology and bioinformatics while ushering in major advances in drug development, clinical practices, and medical financing. The arrival of biologics and personalized medicines has also revolutionized the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, the emergence of bilateral, regional, and plurilateral trade agreements have raised serious, and at times difficult, questions concerning the evolution of domestic and international intellectual property standards.

One topic linking all three developments together concerns the establishment of international standards to protect clinical …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …

The New Frontier For Labor In Trade Agreements, Alvaro Santos

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the spring of 2015, I took my students of international trade law to visit the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. It was a two-day trip, organized around lectures and discussions with staff from different divisions of the organization, the Advisory Centre of WTO Law and the permanent missions of two countries. None of my students had been there before, and even though I had taught international trade law for several years, it was also my first time visiting the headquarters of the organization. We were excited and curious. The building looked big and majestic. The back side opened …

Corporations As Semi-States, Jay Butler

Faculty Publications

When Ebola came to West Africa in 2014, Liberia could not cope. The State’s already fragile public health infrastructure was largely ineffective in responding to the illness and preventing its spread. And, the World Health Organization’s support was slow and stilted. By contrast, Firestone, a tire company that operates a vast rubber plantation in Liberia and runs its own hospital for 80,000 employees, family dependents, and persons in neighboring localities, responded to the virus much more effectively.

This Article uses Firestone’s Ebola response as an entry point to study a phenomenon too frequently overlooked. Many for-profit firms that maintain operations …

Helping David Fight Goliath: Preserving The Wto In The Trump Era, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

The Trump presidency and other reactionary conservative governments present an immensely powerful danger to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO is largely built on Members’ willingness to comply with its rules, and the current Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) is too weak to deter an avowed enemy of the WTO, such as President Trump. This poor enforcement system particularly hurts developing countries, which lack the power under the DSU to effectively deter economic giants like the United States.

The recent Doha Round was supposed to create a more effective enforcement mechanism under the DSU, but it fell apart before any …

The United Nations Commission On International Trade Law (Uncitral) And The Significance Of The Singapore Convention On Mediation, Corinne Montineri

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This paper outlines how the UNCITRAL drafting process that produced the Singapore Convention on Mediation functions within the United Nations and explains the significance of the Singapore Convention for the United Nations and for promoting cross-border trade and investment.

The Singapore Convention Is Live, And Multilateralism, Alive!, Natalie Y. Morris-Sharma

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Hal Abramson

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Reference Book focuses on the new Singapore Mediation Convention for enforcing cross-border mediated settlement agreements. It is designed to deliver on its title-as a reference book. We hope that it will inform discussions as states contemplate ratifying the Singapore Convention and will aid users when interpreting the Convention.

The Life Of Arbitration Law Has Been Experience, Not Logic: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, And The Federal Arbitration Act, William F. Fox, Ylli Dautaj

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Over the past 50 years, the international business community has settled on the device of international commercial arbitration to resolve the overwhelming number of disputes that arise in their commercial agreements. One reason is that many business people are suspicious of the domestic courts of many host countries and have always sought the comfort of a neutral forum. Arbitration is neutral (i.e., not tied directly to any particular domestic legal system), efficient and confidential. Much of this evolution has been triggered by events in the United States-in particular a long series of United States Supreme Court decisions that ended the …

Encouraging Food Safety Standard Negotiations In The One-Belt-One-Road Initiative, Yi Seul Kim

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

Participation and attendance in food safety negotiations such as Codex meetings are of critical importance. Common problems have existed throughout history in the area of food safety standards and their formulation regulations. First, there is a lack of interest by the public. Second, the public becomes interested only after a food safety crisis. Consequences are two-fold: with lack of public interest, governments often do not allocate enough budget and resources. Then, when the government turns to face the problem with a sudden spike in public interest, it is often too late. The situation becomes more of a crisis management, rather …

Is Strict Reciprocity Required For Fair Trade?, Daniel C.K. Chow, Ian Sheldon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The administration of Donald J. Trump has repeatedly claimed that reciprocity is required for "fair" trade. While this concept is not new in US political discourse, the Trump administration's insistence that strict or absolute reciprocity is required goes beyond any claims made by previous US administrations. By strict reciprocity, the United States means that all trade volumes and terms and conditions of trade must be mirror images of each other. As the United States has a trade deficit with all of its largest trading partners, the Trump administration claims that this is evidence of unfairness in trade harming the United …

An Empirical Study Of Dispute Resolution Clauses In International Supply Contracts, John F. Coyle, Christopher R. Drahozal

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International transactions present unique legal risks. When a contract touches several different nations, a party may not know where it will be called upon to defend a lawsuit or, alternatively, which nation's law will be applied to resolve that dispute. To mitigate these risks, parties will often write dispute resolution provisions into their contracts. Arbitration clauses and forum selection clauses help to reduce uncertainty relating to the forum. Choice-of-law clauses help to reduce uncertainty as to the governing law. Over the past few decades, such provisions have become commonplace in international contracting. And yet there exist vanishingly few empirical studies …

Building Bridges: International Trade Law, Internet Governance, And The Regulation Of Data Flows, Neha Mishra

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The regulation of internet data flows touches upon various distinct disciplines including internet governance and international trade law. In internet governance, three fundamental principles, namely, internet openness, internet security, and internet privacy apply to regulation of internet data flows. This Article argues that internet privacy and security, when implemented in a reasoned and transparent manner by different stakeholders, enable internet openness--thus, challenging the dominant perspective that cybersecurity and privacy requirements constrain the free flow of data. Further, this Article introduces a unique perspective by arguing that these three principles (notwithstanding their nonbinding nature) play an important role in applying trade …

Using The Wto To Facilitate The Paris Agreement: A Tripartite Approach, Antonia Eliason

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Climate change is the greatest threat humanity has faced, and its challenges can only be addressed through multilateral means. Lacking in accountability and enforcement mechanisms, however, the Paris Agreement requires additional support to achieve its full effect. Although not perfectly aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, the WTO's multilateral framework could provide the necessary flexibilities to work toward meeting the Paris Agreement's targets. This Article proposes a novel three-pronged approach for refocusing the multilateral trading system and facilitating the Paris Agreement.

First, the preamble to the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization explicitly recognizes sustainable development as a …

Us And Eu Efforts To Combat International Money Laundering In The Art Market Are No Masterpiece, Timothy E. Burroughs

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Despite the lack of significant, tangible evidence of money laundering through fine art and antiquities dealers, the EU recently passed the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive adding art dealers to the list of businesses obligated to comply with record keeping and due diligence requirements. Shortly thereafter, a similar measure was proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, one-size-fits-all unilateral regulations will fail to protect the fine art and antiquities industry and will place crippling burdens on many art market participants. Instead, soft law agreements, used for most international finance regulation, should be the main tool to establish international standards. This …

Emerging Market Economies And International Investment Law: Turkey-Africa Bilateral Investment Treaties, Uche E. Ofodile

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article offers a critical and penetrating insight into the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) between Turkey and countries in Africa. Since 2003, Turkey has concluded BITs with twenty-eight countries in Africa. This Article seeks answers to some very important questions. In the BITs between Turkey and countries in Africa, is Turkey merely conforming to the norms and standards established by Western countries, or is Turkey changing these norms in fundamental ways? Compared to BITs between Western nations and countries in Africa, are Turkey-Africa BITs more oriented towards sustainable development and, if so, in what respects? In what ways are emerging …

From Territorial To Universal-The Extraterritoriality Of Trademark Law And The Privatizing Of International Law, P. Sean Morris

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Legal doctrines, aided and abetted by interpretations of the courts, carry the force of law. The implication is that when courts settle matters, they often go beyond the scope of current intellectual property legislation. Furthermore, global problems in intellectual property may require the participation of private intellectual property rights owners to bring suit. This, in turn, often creates more problems due to the territorial, trans-territorial, and extraterritorial reach of the law, especially with respect private trademark rights. I explore this and other legal conundrums in this Article. The key concern addressed in the Article is how far trademark law is …

Exhaustion In The Service Of Progress, Ofer Tur-Sinai

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Under the doctrine of patent exhaustion, an authorized sale of a patented item exhausts the patentee's rights with respect to that item, leaving the purchaser and subsequent owners free to use or resell it without fear of an infringement lawsuit. In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Impression Products v. Lexmark International, which strengthened the exhaustion doctrine in various significant ways. The Court held that an authorized sale of a patented item exhausts all patent rights with respect to that item, regardless of any restrictions on use or resale the patentee purports to impose. The Court …

The Vital Role Of The Wto Appellate Body In The Promotion Of Rule Of Law And International Cooperation: A Case Study, Padideh Ala'i

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The New Social Contracts In International Supply Chains, David Snyder

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Article considers, from legal, practical, moral, and policy perspectives, Model Contract Clauses (MCCs) to protect the human rights of workers in international supply chains. The product of the ABA Business Law Section Working Group to Draft Human Rights Protections in International Supply Contracts, the MCCs are an effort to provide companies with carefully researched and well-drafted clauses to incorporate human rights policies into supply contracts (purchase orders, master vendor agreements, and the like). The Article discusses the impetus, goals, and strategies of the MCCs and explains the paradigm of the corporate, operational, and political landscape for which they are …

The Law And Politics Of Socially Inclusive Trade, Timothy Meyer

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

American ambivalence toward international institutions is nothing new. In his farewell address, George Washington famously warned against foreign entanglements. After World War I, the U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, leaving the United States outside the formal post-war order it helped establish and neutering the new League of Nations. Throughout the late twentieth century, the United States refused to ratify multilateral agreements ranging from the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to a host of human rights agreements. Nor did the dawn of the twenty-first century change the …