International Trade Law Commons^™

The International Law Of Corporate Governance, Ram Sachs

Pace International Law Review

International economic agreements increasingly touch on fundamental principles of corporate governance. The trend contrasts with existing scholarship, which assumes corporate law evolves via domestic mechanisms. This Article introduces the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, with its dedicated chapter on corporate governance, as a case study. At the normative level, the emergence of corporate governance in international agreements represents a positive development by enabling countries to signal and put into action commitments for better governance. Given these recent developments, the field of comparative corporate governance should incorporate international agreements as an emerging source of law.

Washington’S 'Cutting-Edge' Solution To Combat Sales Tax Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Robert Chicoine, Andrew Leahey, Sunder Gee

Faculty Scholarship

Globally, consumption tax compliance (value added tax and retail sales tax) has gone digital – digital invoices are becoming mandatory, centralized monitoring of transactions and tax payments are increasingly common, and artificial intelligence is assessing fraud risks in real-time. When tax is collected, it is increasingly being remitted in near-real-time. This is the trajectory for the modern retail sales tax (RST) imposed by most states in the US. While this may appear to be revolutionary to the average American, it is a well-worn path among global nations using the value added tax (VAT). The RST will eventually be following suit. …

Improving Human Rights Compliance In Supply Chains, Kishanthi Parella

Notre Dame Law Review

Corporations try to convince us that they are good global citizens: “brands take stands” by engaging in cause philanthropy; CEOs of prominent corporations tackle a variety of issues; and social values drive marketing strategies for goods and services. But despite this rhetoric, corporations regularly fall short in their conduct. This is especially true in supply chains where a number of human rights abuses frequently occur. One solution is for corporations to engage in meaningful human rights due diligence that involves monitoring human rights, reporting on social and environmental performance, undertaking impact assessments, and consulting with groups whose human rights they …

‘Overreaching’ Or ‘Overreacting’? Reflections On The Judicial Function And Approaches Of Wto Appellate Body, Weihuan Zhou, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Since 2017, the US has blocked appointments to the WTO Appellate Body (AB), citing various concerns over its judicial approach, with the most significant being the issue of judicial overreach. This article provides a critical analysis of this issue and makes important contributions to the ongoing debate. Drawing on the fundamental function of the WTO, it offers a fresh approach to assess judicial overreach and shows that AB rulings in major non-trade remedy cases (that have consistently concerned the US) have served that function and hence should not be treated as ‘overreaching’. We argue that, the allegation of judicial overreach, …

How Countries Seek To Strengthen Anti-Money Laundering Laws In Response To The Panama Papers, And The Ethical Implications Of Incentivizing Whistleblowers, Carmina Franchesca S. Del Mundo

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Panama Papers is currently the world’s largest whistleblower case that involved 11.5 million leaked documents and over 214,000 offshore entities. It all linked back to one Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca. In 2016, over 400 investigative journalists collaboratively and simultaneously published stories that exposed the money laundering and tax-evading schemes committed by the rich and powerful. This included political figures and heads of states, celebrities, sports figures, criminal organizations, and terrorist groups.

This article aims to dissect the innerworkings of Mossack Fonseca’s asset-shielding strategy and investigate how the Panamanian law firm was able to circumvent the tax and anti-money …

Symposium On Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, Investment, And Inequality, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Symposium, co-hosted by Afronomicslaw and the Dalhousie Law Journal Blog is an outcome of one of the streams at the 2019 Annual Purdy Crawford Workshop at the Schulich School of Law. The theme of the Workshop which took place from Sept. 26–28 was “The Role of Business Regulation in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.” Co-organized by three Schulich School of Law Professors, the Workshop featured three inter-disciplinary and simultaneous streams as well as cross-over plenaries that focused on: “SDGs and Revenue Mobilization” – convened by Kim Brooks, the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law; “SDGs, Trade, Investment, …

Investment In Latin America Will Limit Migration North, Ryan J. O'Riordan, Stanley P. Kowalski

Law Faculty Scholarship

The refugee crisis at the US Southern Border is due to multiple compounding factors: Latin America’s over-reliance on commodities, failure to economically diversify to innovation, and a lack of coherent US strategic engagement with the region. The situation is hemispheric; imploding states and a serious humanitarian calamity loom ever larger on the southern horizon. Since this represents a long-term problem requiring strategic and sustainable development initiatives, a new Alliance for Progress for the 21st Century is proposed which will build partnerships to advance innovation-driven development across the region.

Logistics Performance And Its Impact To Exports Growth Of Sri Lanka, Sebastian Shanika Roshini

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Port Authority In Hybrid Governance Structure : A Comparative Case Study Of Laem Chabang Port And Bangkok Port, Thailand, Yatimaporn Poontai

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Umm Qasr Port On Iraqi Trade : Case Study Of Container Terminal In Umm Qasr Port, Asaad Saeed Desher

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Inconsistency's Many Forms In Investor-State Dispute Settlement And Implications For Reform, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Attracting investment in agriculture has been a key policy goal of governments in the global south. Development partners have supported these policies. But what do governments hope to achieve by attracting investment in the agricultural sector? Why are companies interested in investing? What is in it for local communities? And what is the role of lawyers? This primer provides an introduction to some of the key issues that arise in the negotiation of contracts linked to investments in agriculture, and practical guidance for how to approach common issues. Section 1 of this primer outlines the typical goals of three important …

What Do Chinese Clients Want?, Ji Li, Wei Zhang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The world’s two largest economies are locked in an escalating trade war, and caught in the crossfire are hundreds of Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) that have made substantial U.S. investments. Facing heightened legal risks in a less hospitable environment, the Chinese MNCs increasingly depend on local lawyers. Yet, their purchase of U.S. legal service, a topic of both practical and theoretical importance, has received little attention. To fill the gap, this article empirically investigates how Chinese companies in the United States select their U.S. legal counsel. By analyzing a unique dataset, the article finds that Chinese MNC managers uniformly prioritize …

Fourth African International Economic Law Network Biennial Conference Symposium, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Regis Y. Simo, Luwam Dirar, Ohio Omiunu

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In July 2019, the African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN), held its Fourth Biennial Conference under the theme “Africa and International Economic Law in the 21st Century” at the Strathmore University Law School (Nairobi, Kenya). This symposium contains some of the papers presented at this conference in their abridged forms. Before introducing the authors’ views on this Conference’s broader theme, we provide the important context under which the Conference took place.

The AfIELN Fourth Biennial Conference came at a time when the African Union Members had just launched the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose …

Foreign Arbitral Awards And The Second Circuit: Enforcement Considerations For Annulments, Calvin Jonker

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Many international business transactions integrate an arbitration clause into the agreement as companies choose to keep potential disputes out of the court systems. Enforcement of the awards rendered pursuant to such agreements is straightforward in the United States thanks to the Federal Arbitration Act, as long as the United States is the forum for the arbitration proceeding. Even if the forum is outside of U.S. jurisdiction, several treaties, namely the Panama Convention and the New York Convention, provide for recognition of a foreign arbitrated award by U.S. courts, as well as recognition by U.S. courts of any annulment or suspension …

Wto’Ing A Resolution To The China Subsidy Problem, Chad P. Brown, Jennifer A. Hillman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The United States, European Union, and Japan have begun a trilateral process to confront the Chinese economic model, including its use of industrial subsidies and deployment of state-owned enterprises. This paper seeks to identify the main areas of tension and to assess the legal-economic challenges to constructing new rules to address the underlying conflict. It begins by providing a brief history of subsidy disciplines in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) predating any concerns introduced by China. It then describes contemporary economic problems with China's approach to subsidies, their impact, and the …

Data First, Tax Next: How Fiji’S Technology Can Improve New Zealand’S ‘Netflix Tax’ (Part 4), Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

This is the fourth paper examining the recent amendments to the New Zealand Goods and Services Tax (GST); amendments that are collectively known as the Netflix Tax. These papers assess the effectiveness of the Netflix provisions, and how they could be enhanced if New Zealand adopted the technology and vision of Fiji’s VAT Monitoring System (VMS). The Netflix provisions were effective, July 1, 2017.

This final paper considers: (a) the treatment of domestic agents when they are used by remote service providers to facilitate sales to New Zealand customers; (b) how New Zealand intends to respond to resident consumers who …

Government-Sponsored Patent Monetizing Entities, Garry A. Gabison

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Government-sponsored patent assertion entities have materialized all over the world. This article looks at the market failure associated with the patent system. These entities have an opportunity to address these market inefficiencies. But, these entities can damage the innovation more by decreasing competition and increasing protectionism. This article looks at three such entities and argues that the US could use such an entity.

Regulating Through Trade: The Contestation And Recalibration Of Eu ‘Deep And Comprehensive’ Ftas, Billy Melo Araujo

Pace International Law Review

Contemporary international trade politics is primarily focused on deep integration – that is, the removal of regulatory barriers to trade. The EU, in particular, has long been one of the main proponents of the use of trade agreements to promote regulatory disciplines on issues such as intellectual property regulation, procurement, services, competition and investment protection. This so-called ‘EU regulatory agenda’ has rapidly gathered pace over the past decade and culminated, more recently, in attempts to conclude mega-regional trade agreements such as the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Such agreements have, however, proved highly contentious and are being fiercely contested …

Federalism: Necessary Legal Foundation For The Central Middle Eastern States, Issa Al-Aweel

Pace International Law Review

The Central Middle East—comprising of Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan—is in need of a legal foundation defined by a constitutional umbrella that governs it as a whole. This is a proposed broad structure of such legal foundation that serves regional legal and economic needs and includes recognition of human rights.

The need for such restructuring is evident from the persistence of regional conflict and instability. Conflict and instability have been constants in the region in general and certainly in the listed five states. The issues include political instability, terrorism, continuous threats of fundamentalism, and pervasive disregard to human life …

The Dialogic Aspect Of Soft Law In International Insolvency: Discord, Digression, And Development, John A. E. Pottow

Law & Economics Working Papers

Soft law is on the ascent in international insolvency, seeming now to occupy a preferred status over boring old conventions. An arguably constitutive aspect of soft law, which some contend provides a normative justification for international law generally, is its "dialogic" nature, by which I mean its intentional exposure to recursive norm contestation and iterative development: soft law starts a dialogue. The product of that dialogue, on a teleological view, may well be hard law. In the international insolvency realm, that pathway is through (soft) model domestic legislation that aspires toward enactment as municipal law. The happy story is that …