International Trade Law Commons^™

The Club Approach To Multilateral Trade Lawmaking, Nicolas Lamp

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The World Trade Organization (WTO) stands at the center of an emerging structure of global economic governance. Its rules affect important aspects of everyone's lives--how much people pay for the products that they purchase, what types of employment are open to them, and which medicines they can access. And yet, while the WTO was conceived as a "negotiating machine" that would develop rules in sync with an increasingly dynamic global economy, negotiations on a new set of global trade rules have now been deadlocked for over a decade. This impasse is all the more surprising in light of the fact …

Stopping The Circling Vultures: Restructuring A Solution To Sovereign Debt Profiteering, Elisa Beneze

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When a sovereign state becomes unable to repay its debts and enters into default, an ideal outcome involves a quick and mutually agreeable resolution with creditors, allowing the country to reenter the international markets and continue its recovery with limited impediments. However, the situation in Argentina, unfolding since 2001, has provided a stark example of why change is needed at the domestic and international level to address the growing problem of vulture funds' presence in the sovereign debt markets. These aggressive hedge funds have demonstrated an uncanny ability to hijack the sovereign debt restructuring process. Vulture funds purchase discounted debt …

Riding A "Friendly Elephant"? How African Nations Can Make The Best Of Economic Partnership With China, Austin Campbell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Modern China is a major trading partner with and investor in Africa. This Note examines its relationships with Nigeria and South Africa to evaluate whether the benefits they receive from Chinese involvement, like infrastructure or access to consumer goods, are outweighed by costs such as worsened corruption. It next discusses legal measures these countries have taken to mitigate any costs of Chinese involvement. At least in Nigeria and South Africa, the concrete benefits of Chinese trade and investment appear to outweigh the uncertain costs. However, legal protections adopted to reduce these costs are likely still inadequate. Given significant barriers to …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership:The Death-Knell Of Generic Pharmaceuticals?, Alexander Stimac

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

As global commerce continues to expand, many states find international trade agreements to be a useful tool to facilitate this continued expansion. Trade agreements permit developing or poorer nations to establish robust, mutually beneficial trade relationships with powerful economies such as the United States. In the face of regional competition from China, several nations bordering the Pacific Ocean, including the United States, have reached a far-reaching trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This Note will focus on one particular piece of the TPP: the pharmaceutical trade and the international availability of generic medicines. The TPP has the potential to …

Paradise Lost: Can The European Union Expel Countries From The Eurozone?, Jens Dammann

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

There was a time, not too long ago, when the introduction of the euro was hailed as a tremendous success. Yet the Eurozone now faces an existential crisis. A number of member states have, since 2008, been prevented from defaulting on their sovereign debt only by massive bailouts. Greece has teetered on the verge of insolvency for years despite repeated such measures. Many observers now believe that Greece should stay in the European Union but leave the Eurozone, a scenario often referred to as the "Grexit." This would allow Greece to devalue its currency and thereby render its economy more …

A New Model Of Sovereignty In The Contemporary Era Of Integrated Global Commerce, Kevin Sobel-Read

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Existing legal scholarship does not offer an effective or comprehensive definition of sovereignty. Sovereignty, however, matters. Indeed, many have lived and died for it; the term likewise appears with remarkable frequency in both academic and popular discourse. But, sovereignty is not what it used to be. The evolution of globalization generally, and transformations in global commerce specifically, have sutured together the peoples of the world-conventional nation-states and Indigenous groups alike--permanently altering the sovereignty of each. These developments make it that much more imperative to incorporate a functional definition of sovereignty into legal scholarship. But, given the complexities of sovereignty, the …

Reconsidering The Tax Treaty, Steven A. Dean, Rebecca M. Kysar

Faculty Scholarship

For nearly one hundred years, the international tax regime steadfastly pursued a single nemesis, double taxation. States armed themselves against this common enemy with their weapon of choice, the double tax treaty. Nearly uniform in language and approach, the treaties proliferated to more than three thousand in number,¹ resulting in a secure arrangement between and among states and taxpayers.

Yet in recent years, states have had to expand the war to multiple fronts in the face of globalization, technological changes, evolving taxpayer abuses, and shifts in both domestic and international political pressures. For instance, a growing recognition that the …

The External Dimension Of Eu Investment Law, Fernanda Nicola

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

EU trade and investment policy is in flux. The rate at which the global trade and investment architecture is evolving through the mega-regional Free Trade Agreements ("FTAs") is unprecedented. In this context, we explain how European lawyers and trade negotiators are addressing the newly acquired investment competence, while at the same time reforming investment arbitration and proposing new systems of dispute resolution at the international level. EU trade negotiators have put forward transformative proposals for investment chapters in their FTAs to safeguard, above all, the autonomy of the EU legal order in its relationship with international arbitration law. By mapping …

The External Dimension Of Eu Investment Law, Fernanda Nicola

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

EU trade and investment policy is in flux. The rate at which the global trade and investment architecture is evolving through the mega-regional Free Trade Agreements ("FTAs") is unprecedented. In this context, we explain how European lawyers and trade negotiators are addressing the newly acquired investment competence, while at the same time reforming investment arbitration and proposing new systems of dispute resolution at the international level. EU trade negotiators have put forward transformative proposals for investment chapters in their FTAs to safeguard, above all, the autonomy of the EU legal order in its relationship with international arbitration law. By mapping …

Private Standards And The Wto: Reclusive No More, Petros C. Mavroidis, Robert Wolfe

Faculty Scholarship

Private standards are increasing in number, and they affect trade, but their status in the WTO remains problematic. Standards-takers are typically countries with little bargaining power, who cannot affect their terms of trade and thus, even if they possess domestic antitrust laws, will find it hard to persuade standard-setters to take account of their interests. Our concern is to bring more of these standards within the normative framework of the trade regime – that is, we worry that these private forms of social order can conflict with the fundamental norms of transparency and non-discrimination. The WTO membership has consumed itself …

Trade, Social Preferences, And Regulatory Cooperation: The New Wto-Think, Thomas J. Bollyky, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

This paper advocates changes in the corporate governance of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reflect the decline in tariffs and other border restraints to commerce and the emerging challenges of advancing freer trade and better regulation cooperation in a world economy dominated by global value chains. Together, these changes form an integration strategy that we refer to as the new WTO Think. This strategy remains rooted in the original rationale of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) of reducing the negative externalities of unilateral action and solving important international coordination challenges, but is more inclusive of regulators …

Mfn Clubs And Scheduling Additional Commitments In The Gatt: Learning From The Gats, Bernard Hoekman, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Scheduling additional commitments for policies affecting trade in goods in the GATT has been plagued by two sources of ambiguity: the treatment of changes introduced unilaterally by members subsequent to an initial commitment, and the treatment of new commitments by WTO members pertaining to nontariff policy measures affecting trade in goods. This is not the case for trade in services, as the GATS makes explicit provision for additional commitments to be scheduled. Neither secondary law, in the form of decisions formally adopted by the WTO membership, nor case law has clarified the situation for trade in goods. This matter is …

The Wto Dispute Settlement System 1995-2016: A Data Set And Its Descriptive Statistics, Louise Johannesson, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we provide some descriptive statistics of the first twenty years of the WTO (World Trade Organization) dispute settlement that we have extracted from the data set that we have put together, and made publicly available.

The statistical information that we present here is divided into three thematic units: the statutory and de facto duration of each stage of the process, paying particular attention to the eventual conclusion of litigation; the identity and participation in the process of the various institutional players, that is, not only complainants and defendants, but also third parties, as well as the WTO …

Ask For The Moon, Settle For The Stars: What Is A Reasonable Period To Comply With Wto Awards?, Petros C. Mavroidis, Niall Meagher, Thomas J. Prusa, Tatiana Yanguas

Faculty Scholarship

The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement process allows a defending Member a “reasonable period of time” (RPT) to implement any findings that its contested measures are inconsistent with WTO law. If agreement on this RPT cannot be reached, Article 21.3(c) of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) provides for the possibility of arbitration on the length of the RPT. The DSU provides limited guidelines on the RPT, stating only that it should not normally exceed 15 months. In practice, Arbitrators have developed the standard that the RPT should reflect the shortest possible period …

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight: The Not So Magnificent Seven Of The Wto Appellate Body, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

The WTO Appellate Body (AB) has produced a volume-wise important body of case law, which is often difficult to penetrate, never mind classify. Howse (2016) has attempted a very lucid taxonomy of the case law using the standard of review as benchmark for it. His conclusion is that the AB is quite cautious when facing nondiscriminatory measures, especially measures relating to the protection of human life and health, while it has adopted a more intrusive (into national sovereignty) standard when dealing with trade measures (like antidumping), which are by definition discriminatory as they concern imports only. In my response, I …

Dispute Settlement In The Wto: Mind Over Matter, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

The basic point I advocate in this paper is that the WTO Dispute Settlement System aims to curb unilateralism. No sanctions can be imposed, unless if the arbitration process is through, the purpose of which is to ensure that reciprocal commitments entered should not be unilaterally undone through the commission of illegalities. There are good reasons though, to doubt whether practice guarantees full reciprocity. The insistence on calculating remedies prospectively, and not as of the date when an illegality has been committed, and the ensuing losses for everybody that could or could not be symmetric, lend support to the claim …

The Implications Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership For Smes: Opportunities And Challenges, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will have profound implications for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within and beyond the free trade area. SME issues get more attention in the TPP than previous FTAs. Since there is limited research on the impact of the FTAs on SMEs, it is of great significance to probe into the practical implications of the TPP for SMEs. The key question will be analyzed: what are the challenges and opportunities that the TPP hold for SMEs? It is argued that, first, the support to SMEs, tariff elimination or reduction, and the reduction of non-tariff barriers are major …

Making Ends Meet: Using A Market-Based Approach To Incentivize Foreign Vessels To Comply With The Air Emission Standards Of Marpol Annex Vi, Xiaoxin Shi

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

One More Brick In The Wall: The Impact Of Personal Jurisdiction Of Ex Juris Defendants On The Relationship Between The United States And Canada, Matthew Johnson

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Protection Of Intellectual Property Licenses In Insolvency: Lessons From The Nortel Case, Anthony Duggan, Norman Siebrasse

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.