International Trade Law Commons^™

Deconstructing Development, Ruth E. Gordon, Jon H. Sylvester

Working Paper Series

Whether it is being praised or excoriated, defended or condemned, the concept of development shapes and dominates our thinking about the Third World. Indeed development has evolved into an essentially incontestable paradigm with such a hold on our collective imaginations, that it is almost impossible to think around or beyond it. This article, however, interrogates development to its very core, demonstrating that although it is presented as something that is universal, natural and inevitable, in truth it is part of the Western political and cultural imagination. Moreover, the interlocking ideological assumptions that support this paradigm are inherently hierarchical and by …

Not Enough? An Examination Of China’S Compliance With The Intentions Of The Trips Accord, Jonathan Mark W.W. Chu

ExpressO

As China is in its third year as a member of the World Trade organization, there is much anticipation as to whether its protection of intellectual property rights is up to international standards. Being one of the largest trading nations in the world, much attention has been given to China’s development since its accession to the WTO. The US Chamber of Commerce has recently made a visit to China in order to examine its progress on implementing WTO rules and the WTO’s Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference will be hosted by Hong Kong, China. As an increasing amount of …

Trips' Rebound: How The Agreement On Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights ("Trips") Can Ricochet Back Against The United States: An Historical Analysis, Donald Harris

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Patent Wars In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death: The Pharmaceutical Industry, Ethics And Global Trade, Uche Ewelukwa

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

How Do The Social Benefits And Costs Of The Patent System Stack Up In Pharmaceuticals?, Daniel J. Gifford

ExpressO

This paper explores the workings of the patent system in the context of the generation of new pharmaceutical products. First it identifies the relevant characteristics of the patent system and its relation to the market. The paper concedes that, in general, the patent system is probably the best way of generating new technology, in substantial part because that system uses the market to provide both incentives and rewards. The paper also identifies downsides of this patent/market system: deadweight loss and the unresponsiveness of that patent/market system to the needs of the poor. The paper then explores the social costs and …

Partnerships With Monarchs: Univeiling And Re-Examining The Pattern Of "Third World" Economic Development In The Petroleum And Energy Sector, Diane M. Bales

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Will The Wto Turn Green? The Implications Of Extending Observer Status To Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Richard L. Skeen

ExpressO

This article addresses whether the WTO should extend permanent observer status to multilateral environmental agreements and analyzes the impact of injecting environmental issues into the multilateral trading system. The paper begins with a chronological analysis of the transition from the GATT governance of international trade to the formation of the WTO and will also examine influences upon the formation and the agenda of the Committee on Trade and the Environment. The discussion continues with a look at the Committee on Trade and the Environment’s first year of progress and discussion of the critical report entitled Special Studies 4: Trade and …

After The Argentine Crisis: Can The Imf Prevent Corruption In Its Lending? A Model Approach, Juan Carlos Linares

ExpressO

This paper focuses on curtailing the corruption inherent in the lending practices of the IMF and, subsequently, preventing another economic disaster as has occurred in Argentina. In fact, if it is at all to succeed in future attempts to restore a state’s monetary and fiscal standing, the IMF should incorporate language of the Accounting and Record-keeping provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act into its loan agreement policies, thereby conditioning its loans upon transparency and good governance over borrowed funds. Part I of this article introduces corruption and its affect on international lending. Part II describes the IMF and …

Beggar-Thy-Neighbor? Why The Wto Appellate Body’S Enforcement Of A Rigorous “Parallelism Requirement” Limits The Exemption Of Regional Trade Agreement Partners From The Application Of Safeguard Measures, Jordan Taylor

ExpressO

The recent WTO Appellate Body decision in U.S. – Steel Safeguards provided a new wrinkle in the AB’s treatment of Regional Trade Agreement members who seek to exempt each other from the application of safeguard measures. Previously, the AB had supported a rigorous “parallelism requirement” compelling Members to equate the scope of the countries investigated with the scope of the countries upon which the safeguard measures would be applied before it would consider whether Article XXIV provided an affirmative defense permitting the exclusion of RTA partners from the application of such measures. Where there was an impermissible “gap” as between …

Arthritic Flexibilities: Analysis Of Wto Action Regarding Paragraph 6 Of The Doha Declaration On The Trips Agreement And Public Health, Brook K. Baker

ExpressO

This paper explores the tortured history of developing countries’ pursuit of access to affordable generic medicines that they are unable to produce efficiently on their own. Having lost rights to treat medicines as essential commodities and as generalized exceptions to patent protections in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, developing countries and public health activists temporarily reasserted the primacy of health over profits in the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in November of 2001. However, since most developing countries lack meaningful pharmaceutical capacity to manufacture medicines efficiently on their own, they needed flexibility to import medicines from countries …

Developing Internationally Uniform Liability Principles For Harms From Genetically Modified Organisms , Ryan C. Hansen

ExpressO

This paper analyzes the current legal principles regarding liabillity for harms from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the U.S. and E.U., as well as the various international policies and mechanisms affecting GMOs

Wto Plus: Creating Liberal Investment Through Regulating Tax Incentives, Jeremiah Johnson

ExpressO

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) narrow reading of the Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) should be expanded to prohibit specific and targeted tax incentives aimed at attracting foreign investment. These tax incentives restrict investment and trade liberalization. This paper proposes that trade and investment are intrinsically linked, and as such, the WTO is the proper forum to regulate investment measures. This paper argues the case against specific foreign investment attracting tax incentives. These incentives do little to actually attract investment, and are harmful to development. Individual tax incentives also limit the collective global benefits of investment. This paper …

A Gradual Shift In U.S. Privacy Laws Towards A Comprehensive Regime , Kamaal R. Zaidi

ExpressO

This paper examines the current trends in a predominantly sectoral U.S. privacy regime that appears to be becoming more comprehensive in nature with respect to data privacy protection. This trend has been greatly attributed to the European Union's comprehensive position on data privacy protection. This paper investigates the growth in U.S. data privacy protection in relation to federal and state legislative history, federal administrative procedures, and private industry efforts. This shift from sectoral to comprehensive regimes is significant in the backdrop of U.S-EU trade relations.

A Broader View Of Corporate Inversions: The Interplay Of Tax, Corporate And Economic Implications, Orsolya Kun

ExpressO

Multinational corporations have, in substantial numbers, moved their corporate residence from the U.S. to Bermuda, for the purpuse of minimizing U.S. taxation on their worldwide income. This study reviews the forms of these "corporate inversion transactions," and explores their tax implications, as well as their corporate governance implications and motivations. It is the first scholarly study to examine the corporate governance implications of inversions, and it concludes that previously unexplored aspects of the change of corporate domicile result in substantial reduction of accountability of directors and officers and significant impediments to enforcement of shareholder rights.

Atca, Doe V. Unocal: A Paquete Habana Approach To The Rescue, John Haberstroh

ExpressO

The article's centerpiece is the Ninth Circuit litigation (Doe v. Unocal) charging Unocal Corp. with complicity in the Burma’s government’s use of forced labor. The article first examines the Alien Tort Claims Act, under which the action is brought, through an exploration of that statute’s original purpose and historical context. The article then looks at the modern revival of ATCA in international human rights claims, and finally closely considers the Unocal litigation, in particular the September 18, 2002 decision favoring the plaintiffs. (The 2002 decision is undergoing review by an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit, with the panel’s …

Institutional And Substantive Reform Of The Anti-Dumping And Subsidy Agreements – Lessons From The Israeli Experience, Arie Reich

ExpressO

This article proposes several amendments to the Anti-Dumping (AD) Agreement and the chapter on Countervailing Duties (CVD) of the Subsidies Agreement, drawing from the experience of the State of Israel in AD and CVD administration over more than a decade. In particular, the Article argues for the need for international regulation of the institutional settings of such administration within Member States. To this end, provisions should be added to the relevant WTO agreements that relate to the nature and composition of the national administering authorities, with the guiding principle being to ensure independence of the authorities and objectivity, fairness and …

Punitive Damages: A Comparative Analysis, John Y. Gotanda

Working Paper Series

In light of expanding international trade, it is increasingly likely that politicians, courts and tribunals will wrestle with whether punitive damages are appropriate in transnational disputes, and whether countries that traditionally do no allow exemplary relief should recognize and enforce foreign awards of such damages. Furthermore, by seeing how different systems address these problems, we can gain a deeper understanding of the role of punitive damages in our own legal system and be better able to deal with punitive damages issues in the international arena. This Article undertakes a thorough comparative study of punitive damages in common law countries. It …

Imf Conditionality As Investment Regulation - A Theoretical Analysis, Daniel R. Kalderimis

ExpressO

This article examines the intersection between the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) and foreign investment. Although the IMF was not originally designed to regulate foreign investment, IMF policies have famously required capital account liberalization as a condition for access to IMF credit. This article explores the implications of such conditionality and finds it problematic. Investment conditionality is outside the IMF’s mandate, difficult to reconcile with other existing investment regulation instruments, inimical to democracy and potentially destabilizing to the debtor country, and ineffective at ensuring long-term stable change. These conclusions necessitate a reappraisal of the governance and operations of the IMF.

The African Union And The New Pan-Africanism: Rushing To Organize Or Timely Shift?, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

Treaties In Collision: The Biosafety Protocol And The World Trade Organization Agreements, Sabrina Safrin

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

In the event of a conflict between the requirements of the Biosafety Protocol, a multilateral agreement governing the trade in genetically modified organisms, and the requirements of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and associated agreements (collectively WTO Agreements), which treaty's requirements prevail? This question lies as the legal heart of the perceived conflict between trade globalization and environmental protection. This issue is particularly timely given the present trade dispute between the United States and European Union over the European Union’s restrictions on the importation of genetically modified agricultural commodities.

In this piece, I analyze the relationship between these …

The World Trade Constitution, John O. Mcginnis, Mark L. Movsesian

Articles

Conventional wisdom holds that the World Trade Organization (WTO) necessarily poses a threat to sovereignty and representative government within its member nations. Professors McGinnis and Movsesian refute this view. They argue that the WTO can be understood as a constitutive structure that, by reducing the power of protectionist interest groups, can simultaneously promote international trade and domestic democracy. Indeed, in promoting both free trade and accountable government, the WTO reflects many of the insights that inform our own Madisonian Constitution. Professors McGinnis and Movsesian reject recent proposals to grant the WTO regulatory authority, endorsing instead the WTO's limited adjudicative power …

The Political Economy Of Global Multilateralism, John O. Mcginnis

Articles

Many conservatives (at the least the subset who are classical liberals) approve of global multilateral trade agreements and allied agreements that keep global capital markets open. Conservatives, however, tend to be openly skeptical of other global multilateral agreements, be they environmental accords, human rights conventions, military pacts, or an agreement on an international criminal court. In this paper I offer the beginnings of a framework of sound political economy that justifies these divergent intuitions and shows that they are rooted in more than just a reflexive liking for trade combined with a disdain for the environment, human rights, criminal justice, …

Foreward: Mergers, Market Access And The Millennium, Eleanor M. Fox

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The symposium issue is a nice microcosm of the competition law issues facing the world. It presents the tensions between national control and world integration. It presents the twin, conflicting impulses to eschew internationalization, hoping to do well enough by deepened positive comity (Waller), and to embrace internationalization at least cautiously to address concerns where unharnessed operation of national interests obstructs efficient solutions and where internationalization is most likely to sidestep the political landmines (Fiebig).

An International Drug Administration: Curing Uncertainty In International Pharmaceutical Product Liability, Katherine A. Davis

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This comment will demonstrate how discrepancies among product li- ability standards and different interpretations of their application have cre- ated fear and uncertainty in the pharmaceutical industry. This fear has caused distortions in the market, increased costs for both manufacturers and consumers, and chilled the research and development of new products. To combat these problems, this comment proposes that the United States, the European Union, and Japan work together to create a new international, uniform system of product liability for pharmaceutical products. Harmo- nizing the standard of liability for pharmaceuticals among these regimes has proven inadequate to stop inconsistency and …

Combating The Ilicit Art Trade In The European Union: Europol's Role In Recovering Stolen Artwork, Jennifer Sultan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In order to provide a context for a discussion of how to effectively combat the art theft problem, Part II of this comment will examine the vari- ous incentives that encourage art theft. Parts I, IV, and V will explain the background and key provisions of two international conventions and one regional directive that address the problem of art theft in the EU. Part VI will analyze the strengths and shortcomings of the existing legal regime ac- cording to the two conventions and a directive. Part VII will discuss three mechanisms that have been somewhat successful in the recovery of …

National Legal Restructuring In Accordance With International Norms: Gatt/Wto And China's Trade Reform, Thomas Man

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

"Trade And": Recent Developments In Trade Policy And Scholarship - And Their Surprising Political Implications, Jeffrey L. Dunoff

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Lately, I've been thinking about the richly suggestive phrase "trade and." What does it mean? Is it shorthand for new topics on the expanded trade agenda, such as "trade and environment" or "trade and intellectual property"? Does it describe new movements in legal scholarship on trade issues? How is it similar to, or different from, "law and"? Until fairly recently, most scholarship about international trade law fell within a relatively well-defined domain. The substantive focus of this traditional scholarship' typically has been on a series of tradi- tional, core "trade" issues: tariffs, quotas, most-favored-nation treat- ment, nondiscrimination, permissible safeguards and …

Dispute Resolution As A Catalyst For Economic Integration And An Agent For Deepening Integration: Nafta And Mercosur?, Cherie O'Neal Taylor

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

An economic integration arrangement between nations cannot exist without the creation of the necessary institutions. Any free trade, customs union or common market agreement1 must have, at a minimum, political institutions and a dispute settlement mechanism. The political institutions are necessary to allow the countries to reach decisions about how to implement the treaty obligations and objec- tives and to oversee that implementation. The dispute settlement mechanism is needed to resolve disputes that may arise over the meaning and application of the agreement's legal obligations and objectives. A dispute settlement mechanism is crucial to the viability of an economic integration …

Trade Protection In The New Millennium: The Ascendancy Of Antidumping Measures, Christopher F. Corr

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article will first examine why the antidumping law will become the weapon of choice for import protection in the new millennium. It then will provide an overview of the antidumping regulatory regime, and the controversy it has engendered. Finally this article will discuss the compli- ance measures that global exporters should consider in order to avoid anti- dumping liability in the future.

Foundation-Building For Western Hemispheric Integration, Frederick M. Abbott

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The United States is embarked upon an ambitious program of western hemispheric economic integration about which its domestic body politic is decidedly ambivalent. The process in which the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was approved in 1993 re- vealed deep divisions between the major political parties and their various interest group constituencies concerning the appropriate scope of an economic integration agenda. The Mexican peso crisis that began in December 1994 provoked a deep crisis of confidence regarding Mexico's readiness to participate in a mature economic partnership with the United States and Canada. Subsequent revela- tions relating to corruption infecting …