International Trade Law Commons^™

The United States, Developing Countries And The Issue Of Intra-Enterprise Agreements, Joel Davidow

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

Antitrust issues have become one of the main concern of the world economy community and the United Nations. For many years, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has multiplied the meetings to discuss the relationship between transnational enterprises and international investment and has engaged in reflections on methods to avoid a decline in international investment. However, these meetings failed to resolve the fundamental issue of the impact of international antitrust principles on restrictive arrangements between a foreign parent corporation and its local subsidiary, particularly where that subsidiary is in a developing country. If applied, multinational enterprises would be …

Rethinking Article 422: A Retrospective On Ecuador's 2008 Constitutional Isds Recalibration, Alexander B. Avtgis

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Is Ecuador’s adoption of Article 422 in the 2008 Constitution properly viewed as a “re-statification”1 of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)? And, since its implementation, has the constitutional article been effective in institutionally insulating Ecuador from the jurisdictional reach of international ISDS? This paper answers both questions in the negative—but qualifies such an outlook by balancing the drawbacks of Article 422 against its successes. Article 422’s provisions, strident in its attempt to create an alternative development vision, did not achieve all that the Constitution’s drafters had hoped. Nevertheless, in its limited effect of detaching Ecuador from certain ISDS fora, it …

The Intellectual Property Hostage In Trade Retaliation, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Maryland Law Review

Intellectual property law has become bound up in a debate about appropriate remedies for violations of the World Trade Organization Agreement. As an alternative to traditional countermeasures that consist of retaliation under the violated agreement, the World Trade Organization “(WTO”) contemplates that violations of one of its covered agreements may be remedied through “cross-retaliation,” or retaliation under another agreement. One form of cross-retaliation has garnered interest in recent years: the threat to suspend intellectual property rights in response to unrelated trade violations.

Cross-retaliation through intellectual property rights suspension is theoretically appealing for its potential to avoid problems inherent in traditional …

The International Maritime Law Response To Climate Change: The Quest For The Shipping Industry's 'Fair Share' Of Ghg Emissions Reduction, Aldo Chircop

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper discusses the role of international shipping in climate change mitigation, i.e., its emerging contribution to reduce carbon emissions in the wake of the Paris Agreement, 2015 and the expectation that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will orchestrate the industry's contribution. The adoption of appropriate targets and standards is expected to be a particularly difficult task because of the global and transnational nature of the shipping industry and the difficulty in establishing the basis for a fair contribution for this industry. While considerable progress has been achieved in enhancing technical and operational regulations to improve efficiencies and reduce harmful …

International Investment Agreements: Impacts On Climate Change Policies In India, China And Beyond, Lise Johnson, Brooke Güven

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Mitigating and adapting to climate change will require a fundamental reorientation of our global economy as we move away from fossil fuels and transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient world. This reorientation depends on government actions to help catalyze and channel financial flows in new directions and away from business-as-usual practices.

International investment agreements (IIAs) – treaties that now number over 3,000 and have the objective of promoting and protecting cross-border investment flows_could potentially play a key role in these efforts to scale up and (re)direct investments to meet climate change mitigation and adaptation needs. As presently drafted and …

Conference Report: Climate Change And Sustainable Investment In Natural Resources: From Consensus To Action, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment has produced this conference report on CCSI’s Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Investment in Natural Resources: From Consensus to Action. A shorter outcome document, which was disseminated at COP22, is also available. These documents summarize the discussions at the eleventh annual Columbia International Investment Conference, which took place on November 2-3, 2016, at Columbia University. The Conference offered a high-level opportunity to discuss how countries can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement, while also advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular the important implications for the …

Tpp, Ceta And Ttip Between Innovation And Consolidation-Resolving Investor-State Disputes Under Mega-Regionals, Stefanie Schacherer

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The United States concluded in 2015, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with 11 other countries and the European Union (EU) concluded a revised version of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada in 2016. The provisions on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) of the two agreements could not be more different. While the TPP sticks to the traditional system of investor-state arbitration, CETA now contains a two-layered court system with pre-elected tribunal members. The present contribution seeks to analyse the convergences and differences between the two first concluded mega-regionals in greater detail with a special focus on the CETA court …

The Tpp: Threat Or Treat To China, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The conclusion of the TPP has raised many challenges for China, especially on rules issues. This article discusses the possible responses by China, as well as how this may lead to a window of opportunity for mutual cooperation between the US and China.

The Tpp: Threat Or Treat To China, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The conclusion of the TPP has raised many challenges for China, especially on rules issues. This article discusses the possible responses by China, as well as how this may lead to a window of opportunity for mutual cooperation between the US and China.

Gcc Vat: The Intra-Gulf Trade Problem, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Musaad Alwohaibi

Faculty Scholarship

It seems reasonably clear that by January 1, 2018 events will be set in motion for the adoption of a community-wide 5% value added tax (VAT) in the six Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The GCC’s Framework VAT document is expected to be published by the end of October 2016. One of the clearest, consistently placed observations is that the Arabian VATs will be destination-based and modeled on a European credit-invoice design. Intra-Gulf business-to-business (B2B) transactions will be effectively zero-rated by the supplier, and the buyer’s VAT will be directed to the destination jurisdiction. It is not …

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Continuity And Breakthroughs In U.S. Investment Treaty Practice, Charles Hendrickson Brower Ii

Law Faculty Research Publications

In October 2015, the United States completed negotiations for the Trans- Pacific Partnership (“TPP”), a free trade agreement among twelve Pacific Rim states.1 According to the White House, TPP will “rewrite the rules of trade,” will include “high standards . . . that . . . upgrade our existing agreements,” and will “have a profound impact on . . . how we invest in the developing world.”2 By contrast, the leading presidential candidates from both parties offer distinctly negative assessments of TPP. Hillary Clinton has opined that TPP does not meet the “very high” bar she would set for producing …

Basel Iii And The Future Of Project Finance Funding, Tianze Ma

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

This paper seeks to analyze the new requirements in the Basel III banking regulatory framework and explore their impact on commercial banks’ project finance portfolio. The paper begins with a general introduction of the Basel Accords, followed by an analysis of the changes in the Basel III requirements and their potential impact on project finance, in particular the effects of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and the net stable funding ratio (NSFR). The paper ends with a discussion of alternative sources of project finance funding that emerged as a result of the new regulatory regime.

Will We Ever Close The Gaap?: A Look Into The International Convergence Of Accounting Standards, Melanie Rosin

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

This Note examines the trend toward the international convergence of accounting standards and then identifies the factors contributing to the process of this trend as well as the obstacles standard setters face in moving to one high quality, unified set of standards. The Note next identifies the possible outcomes for the future of convergence, including the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the United States, the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) encouragement of the voluntary of adoption of IFRS by the United States, requiring public companies to comply with both U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) …

Economic Law, Inequality, And Hidden Hierarchies On The Eu Internal Market, Damjan Kukovec

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article has several aims. First, the aim is to show the continuing importance and relevance of antitrust and international trade lawyers in countering the concentration of power in the hands of the few or in some geographic areas of the world, if some of the assumptions of antitrust and trade are adjusted. Second, the goal is to articulate a particular analysis from the perspective of the (European) periphery. As the recent Euro crises and the near exit of Greece from the Union show, the European prospect of development for all has not arrived. This Article will articulate the privilege …

Currency Wars And The Erosion Of Dollar Hegemony, Lan Cao

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines how and why the dollar is being challenged. Part I provides a brief history of the U.S. dollar, showing how it has evolved from something with intrinsic value to something that has no intrinsic value, except via government fiat. Part I traces the evolution of money in the United States, from its original foundation in commodities and gold and silver coins, to the creation of money via Federal Reserve notes which function as money substitutes, that is, paper instruments that represent gold and silver and presumably can be converted into real money. The aim of Part I …

Trade Law’S Responses To The Rise Of China, Wentong Zheng

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a systematic examination of trade law’s responses to the emergence of China as a major player in world trade. As an intricate set of rules written largely prior to the advent of the China era, trade law had to readjust to the powerful newcomer in ways that eventually changed trade law itself. This Article investigates these changes in four major areas of trade law: antidumping, countervailing duties, safeguards, and managed trade. In almost all of those areas, trade law witnessed a protectionist shift against Chinese products at the expense of sound, consistent principles. But, at the same …

Reasonable Standards For Contract Interpretations Under The Cisg, Donald J. Smythe

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The United Nations ("UN") Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Good ("CISG") offers the promise of harmonizing international sales law and facilitating international trade and global commerce. But there is a "homeward trend bias" that may encourage domestic courts to construe the gaps in the CISG broadly and fill them with non-uniform domestic legal rules. Questions about contract interpretation under the CISG raise the same concerns about a homeward trend bias as questions about the interpretation of express CISG provisions. The CISG has express provisions governing contract interpretation but their application may not provide an unambiguous interpretation. This …

Human Development As An Intellectual Property Metric, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles

No abstract provided.

Subsidies Issues In Renewable Energy Trade, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The chapter analyzes several issues regarding the renewable energy subsidies in trade law. There are uncertainties regarding the WTO-consistence of renewable energy subsidies for goods. It is partially due to the vagueness of WTO rules and insufficient jurisprudence. Among them, issues such as the specificity of subsidies turn to be quite controversial. Given the unclear WTO disciplines on the susidies for goods, renewable energy subsidies for services could be more popular. The “collaboration” between the WTO law and FTAs is desirable to reform the WTO rules on trade remedies and to strike a balance between trade disciplines and environment protection.

Deterring Foreign Component Cartels In The Age Of Globalized Supply Chains, Jae Hyung Ryu

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.