International Law Commons^™

A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam

Articles

The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.

Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …

Extrajudicial Killings In Bangladesh: Exploring The Phenomenon Of Human Rights Violations As A Means Of Maintaing Power, M. Ehteshamul Bari

Emory International Law Review

When the South Asian nation of Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on December 16, 1971, the founding fathers sought to establish a liberal democracy that would uphold the rule of law and the fundamental human rights of individuals. To this end, they incorporated extensive guarantees, including safeguarding the enforcement of an impressive eighteen fundamental rights, in the Constitution of Bangladesh of 1972. However, this Article will demonstrate that after almost fifty years of independence, the promise of a liberal democracy has remained elusive in Bangladesh due to the frequent violation of human rights through extrajudicial killings as a convenient …

Non-Income Tax Legislation Across Latin America: An Effective Policy To Raise Revenues?, Nicolás José Muñiz Arias

Emory International Law Review

In the past decades, there has been a proliferation of non-income levies throughout Latin America designed to stimulate collections. Tax administrators favor them for being easier to enforce as compared to traditional taxes on net income, as well as harder to evade.

To make sense of the rather dysfunctional conglomeration of levies, this Article proposes a classification into three broad categories: (1) taxes on revenues; (2) alternative levies on income and assets, whether on a gross or net basis, along with taxes on net equity; and finally (3) transactional-type levies such as stamp taxes, export duties, remittance taxes, and registration …

Trademark Thrower: Using Banksy's Recent Eu Trademark Misadventures To Assess Why Copyright Is Not "For Losers", Shelly Kurland

Emory International Law Review

This Comment seeks to distinguish the protections and protection requirements of trademark and copyright in an international context, specifically using a recent case in which internationally known street artist Banksy lost his European Union trademark protections despite registration. This EU trademark proceeding will be utilized to analyze the requirements to maintain trademark protection in an international context and explain why those requirements are important to the integrity of intellectual property protections.

This Comment will first give an overview of trademark and copyright as intellectual property in general, then go into the specifics of the U.S. and EU trademark systems. This …

Righting The Rift Between Muslim And American: Celebrating Abdullahi An-An'im, Khaled A. Beydoun

Emory International Law Review

This Essay is a special contribution to the Journal of Law and Religion and the Emory International Law Review, honoring the work of Professor Abdullahi An-Na’im and his impact on my work, and more broadly, discourses on Islam in America, rights, and citizenship.

This Essay, celebrating the landmark work of Professor An-Na’im and its impact on my scholarly and public work, will examine these two fronts. By challenging the political constructions of Americanness and Muslim identity that prevailed on the right, left, and in-between, An-Na’im inspired new frontiers of thought and thinkers that followed his footsteps. This line of intellectual …

Secularism, Religion, And The State In A Time Of Global Crisis: Theoretical Reflections On The Work Of Abdullahi An-Na'im, Rohit Chopra

Emory International Law Review

This Essay presents a primarily theoretical examination of critical aspects of Abdullahi An-Na’im’s body of work. Drawing on my earlier work, the essay describes the current historical moment as one of “crisis globalization,” a normative condition characterized by the rise of authoritarianism and erosion of democracy across the globe, a backlash against religious and other kinds of minorities, as well as by a general sense of existential uncertainty stemming from the impact of climate change, terrorism, and our vulnerability to pandemics like Covid-19. I argue that An-Na’im’s work speaks especially powerfully to several aspects of this new condition. An-Na’im’s theorization …

Introduction: International Law And Inequalities, Diane Desierto

Journal Articles

Equality is both a premise and a promise (or at least much lip service is paid to such) of today’s international law. Customary international law and instruments such as the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other foundational treaties of the multilateral system are premised on the equality of states, the right to self-determination and the fundamental equality of human beings. With the era of decolonization, international law also became a battleground for material equality. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, (economic in-)equality once again entered the limelight in a number of disciplines, not …

The Inclusion Of Anti-Corruption Clauses In International Investment Agreements And Its Possible Systemic Implications, Yueming Yan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Empirical studies have demonstrated a recent trend of incorporating anti-corruption provisions into international investment and trade agreements. Some treaties, i.e. the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, include both substantive and procedural obligations such as establishing corruption as criminal offenses, promoting integrity among public officials, and raising public awareness of the threat of corruption. Others like Japan prefer to insert rather general and abstract provisions in its bilateral investment treaties, stating that they agree to take efforts to prevent and combat corruption without indicating specific measures. This article attempts to take a closer look at these anti-corruption provisions by …

The Parthenon Marbles Case And The Universal Museum Myth: Policies And Politics: Panel 4: Cultural Property And International Human Rights Trends, Sandy Cobden, Leila Amineddoleh, Kristen A. Carpenter, Lawrence Kaye

Publications

No abstract provided.

Dissent And Legitimacy In International Criminal Law, Nancy Armoury Combs

Faculty Publications

Throughout history, dissenting opinions have been subject to soaring praise as well as vitriolic criticism. Although some commentators nominally acknowledge that the normative value of dissenting opinions necessarily varies depending on the unique context in which the relevant court operates, in fact, we see the same arguments advanced to support or oppose dissenting opinions, regardless of the court in which those opinions appear. Dissents are particularly prevalent in international criminal courts--those courts established to prosecute the worst crimes known to humankind: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Although dissents in these courts have garnered little scholarly attention, the few …

'The Perfect Shouldn't Be The Enemy Of The Good' — What Canada Can Do Today, Tomorrow & Next Week To Enhance Equitable Access To Covid-19 Biopharmaceutical Interventions, Matthew Herder

Reports & Public Policy Documents

There is overwhelming evidence of inequitable access to a range of COVID-19 targeting biopharmaceutical interventions, including not only vaccines but also anti-viral drug therapies, diagnostic tests, and various materials that are incorporated into these products. As recently explained by Yamey et al. in the British Medical Journal, inequitable access is baked into every phase of the biopharmaceutical system—from production and allocation to affordability and deployment. Yet, it is still possible to improve access to these critically important biopharmaceutical interventions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Intellectual property (IP) rights are one crucial site where policy intervention can make an immediate …

Negotiating Bilateral Tax Treaties: Should Tax Treaties Involving Low-Income Countries Contain A Sunset Clause?, Okanga Ogbu Okanga

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This policy brief reflects on an underexplored proposition: that bilateral tax treaties – particularly treaties involving (middle- and) low-income countries – should contain an expiration or sunset clause. The brief examines some reasons why it may be sensible for a low-income country to make its bilateral tax treaty expirable, from its onset. It also highlights a few reasons why such a policy may not be advisable – or tenable. The brief concludes by exploring the design of a model sunset clause for inclusion in the UN Model Tax Convention.

A Review On Drug Regulation Policy In The Netherlands And India: The History Of Current Policy Development, And Policy Analysis, Tapashi Adhikary, Pratik Kumar Bal, Kumar Sumit

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Background

Drug use and illicit trafficking of drugs have been a common problem in both the Netherlands and India since historical times. The Dutch Drug Policy (DDP) model is a combination of both leniency and strict laws whereas the Indian Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) went from being a stringent policy in the past to a more flexible lenient policy in recent years. The objective of the current review was to explore the history of the development of the Netherlands and India's drug regulating policies, followed by the analysis of the policies using the Walt & Gilson …

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Hernández V. Mesa: A Case For A More Meaningful Partnership With The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights, Peyton Jacobsen

Seattle University Law Review

Through an in-depth examination of Hernández, the Inter-American Human Rights System, and the success of Mexico’s partnership with said system, this Note will make a case for embracing human rights bodies— specifically, the Inter-American System on Human Rights—as an appropriate and necessary check on the structures that form the United States government. Part I will look closely at the reasoning and judicially created doctrine that guided the decision in Hernández, with the goal of providing a better understanding of the complicated path through the courts that led to a seemingly straightforward yet unsatisfying result. Part II will illustrate the scope …

Floors And Ceilings In International Copyright Treaties: Berne/Trips/Wct Minima And Maxima, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This paper addresses “floors” – minimum substantive international protections, and “ceilings” – maximum substantive international protections, set out in the Berne Convention and subsequent multilateral copyright accords. While much scholarship has addressed Berne minima, the “maxima” have generally received less attention. This Comment first describes the general structure of the Berne Convention, TRIPS and WCT regarding these contours, and then analyzes their application to the recent “press publishers’ right” promulgated in the 2019 EU Digital Single Market Directive. Within the universe of multilateral copyright obligations, the Berne maxima (prohibition of protection for facts and news of the day), buttressed by …

The Role Of Investor-State Tribunals In Determining The Scope And Content Of The Fair And Equitable Treatment Standard – Legitimate Expectations And Proportionality, Simon Bianchi

LL.M. Essays & Theses

In recent years, the legitimacy of the investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS”) has been called into question and several initiatives, such as the UNCITRAL Working Group III, are currently looking at various ways to enhance such legitimacy and ensure the sustainability of ISDS. In this respect, certain scholars like Professors Sornarajah and van Harten claim that the interpretative process undertaken by investor-State tribunals has contributed to this legitimacy crisis among others because the application of vague standards, such as fair and equitable treatment (“FET”), involves applying subjective notions of what adjudicators perceive as desirable developments of investment law. By contrast, other …

Cooperation Without Convergence: Border Carbon Adjustment And Heterogeneity Of Climate Actions, Lucas Moreira Jiminez

LL.M. Essays & Theses

Border Carbon Adjustment measures (“BCAs”) were originally conceived to help solve a problem that arises when countries ask firms to internalize the costs of environmental depredation in an open economy. Environmental regulation raises costs to domestic producers who feel and are — both are relevant — disadvantaged vis-à-vis their foreign competitors subject to lower regulatory costs, in ways that impact economic competitiveness but also the effectiveness of the regulation itself, to the extent it is directed at a ‘global commons’ problem such as reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions in an attempt to mitigate climate change. However, BCAs create issues of …

Conflicting Fundamental Rights Under The Indian Constitution: Analyzing The Supreme Court’S Doctrinal Gap, Nikhil Pratap

LL.M. Essays & Theses

The Constitution of India recognizes a wide variety of fundamental rights: civil and political, socio-economic, and group rights. A conflict between these rights is a common occurrence. The Supreme Court of India’s method of resolving conflicts has been ad-hoc, nebulous, and vague. The Court rarely locates the conflict at a granular level and, on the rare occasion that it does, the decision lacks comprehensive reasoning. This paper attempts to demonstrate the doctrinal, structural, and reasoning gap in the Court’s jurisprudence. The paper does so by analyzing a subset of cases where the Court has adjudicated on conflicts between the right …

The Role Of Arbitral Tribunals In Determining The Scope Of The Fair And Equitable Treatment Standard, Thomas Ferguson Whip

LL.M. Essays & Theses

Whether or not investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS”) faces a “legitimacy crisis,” there is a “growing consensus” that it requires reform. The development of the fair and equitable treatment standard (“FET standard”) by arbitral tribunals been a salient factor in fomenting this consensus and is the subject of several reform proposals. A number of scholars, including Professors Sornarajah and Gus van Harten, claim the interpretative process undertaken by tribunals in relation to the FET standard has contributed to ISDS’ legitimacy crisis because it involves applying subjective notions of what adjudicators perceive to be desirable developments of the law. On the other …