Special economic zones (SEZs) have spread rapidly over the past 20 years, including in many low- and middle-income countries keen to attract private investment for industrial development. But while much debate has focused on their economic performance and success factors and on links with the wider architecture of international economic law, there are enduring concerns over respect for labour rights

Many governmental incentives unilaterally offered in special economic zones affect competition in international markets and thus fall within the scope of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Until very recently, products made in such zones could face countervailing duty investigations abroad on a charge of improper subsidization. In 2019, the World Trade

ABSTRACTThere have not been many studies to evaluate the tenets of international investment law from a feminist perspective. Thus, a study from a feminist perspective is not only desirable but also necessary to understand the position of women in this regime. To fill this gap, the article presents an analysis of the normative and structural frameworks of international investment law from a feminist

ABSTRACTThe number of investor–state arbitration disputes has increased to more than 1000 to date, but their determinants are still not fully understood. We argue that in the wake of severe macroeconomic turmoil—economic crisis—policymakers have strong incentives to implement regulatory changes, even if these allegedly breach protection standards are provided by International Investment Agreements

ABSTRACTInvestment treaties grant foreign investors legal rights to compensation for losses caused by certain host state conduct. Many states are reconsidering their involvement in these treaties because they perceive the risks to outweigh the benefits. We start from the normative premise that participation in investment treaties should benefit both ‘host’ and ‘home’ states. Using a law and economics

ABSTRACTWhen the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was founded 60 years ago, the contracting parties established a dispute settlement procedure that sought to strike a balance between the need to supervise compliance with the EFTA Convention and the need to respect the sovereignty of the member states. The procedure of Article 31 empowered the EFTA Council to hear interstate complaints, establish

ABSTRACTThe EU’s weak promotional policy towards sustainability in its free trade arguments is up for revision. Labour and environmental standards need to be tightened. They were given a boost on balance by a remarkable panel ruling of January 2021 in the long-standing EU–Korea labour dispute. Compliance ought to be subject to regular dispute settlement between governments. Sanctions must be added

ABSTRACTRecently, environmental and human rights (EHR) counterclaims in investment arbitration have attracted much attention as a vehicle to recalibrate the investor–state relationship. However, until now, successful instances of EHR counterclaims have been admittedly rare. As explained in this paper, some of the major barriers to EHR counterclaims in investment arbitration, and some of the concerns

ABSTRACTAfter the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), the EU’s trade defence measures no longer applied to the territory of the UK. This means that the UK now applies its own trade defence measures and has transitioned some of the EU’s trade defence measures. The EU applies its trade defence measures to the reduced territory of the EU27, while third parties that had imposed trade defence

ABSTRACTSince 2017, World Trade Organization members have been engaged in Structured Discussions aimed at agreeing on a multilateral framework on investment facilitation for development. The negotiations focus on establishing binding disciplines for investment facilitation, which will likely be made subject to the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Understanding. Investment facilitation, however

ABSTRACTIncorporating anti-corruption provisions into international investment agreements is a vital step for governments to address transnational corruption in international investment. This empirical study analyses a category of anti-corruption provisions that fosters compliance by investors. These anti-corruption provisions address anti-corruption issues either within corporate social responsibility

ABSTRACTInvestment law was not always about investor–state arbitration. Based on British and German archival materials from the Cold War, this paper shows how aims and priorities in the investment treaty regime changed over time. We find important differences in the role and relative importance of different legal rules then and now. Most notably, national treatment and free transfer clauses were key

Narratives of Hunger in International Law: Feeding the World in Times of Climate Change. By ANNE SAAB, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Studies in International and Comparative Law, 2019. ISBN 9781108473378, 177pp.

Patent Games in the Global South: Pharmaceutical Patent Law-Making in Brazil, India and Nigeria. By AMAKA VANNI, UK, USA: Hart Publishing, Studies in International and Investment Law, 2019. ISBN, HB: 9781509927395, 240 pp.

ABSTRACTThe ongoing reform of investment arbitration at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law can have a lasting impact on international investment protection for the decades ahead. This paper examines the current discussions at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law to explain why the current focus on reforming the procedural aspects of the system is too narrow

Trade and Environment Governance at the World Trade Organization Committee on Trade and Environment. By MANUEL A.J. TEEHANKEE, Den Haag, Kluwer Law International, Wolters Kluwer, 2020. ISBN 978-94-035-2210-4, 424 pp.

ABSTRACTWith its dispute settlement system in peril, the role of the World Trade Organization in mitigating commercial conflict is more important than ever, but its working practices need reform. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade committees have developed a mechanism for members to raise ‘specific trade concerns’ about the laws, regulations, and practices of their

ABSTRACTEconomics and security seem increasingly intertwined. Citing national security, states subject foreign investments to new scrutiny, even unwinding mergers. The provision of 5G has become a diplomatic battleground—Huawei at its center. Meanwhile, states invoke national security to excuse trade wars. The USA invoked the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade national security exception to impose

ABSTRACTThe digitalization of the economy combined with sophisticated tax planning has enabled some multinationals to avoid paying almost any income tax in most market jurisdictions from which they earn substantial profits. Faced with financial and political pressures to act, market states have sought to expand their tax bases so that these multinationals, especially those providing internet advertising

AbstractConsidering the new focus of the European Union (EU) trade policy on strengthening the enforcement of trade rules, the article presents the proposed amendments to the EU Trade Enforcement Regulation 654/2014. It analyzes the EU Commission proposal and the amendments suggested by the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA), in particular with regard to uncooperative third

ABSTRACTThe new countervailing duty proceeding rule of the United States on exchange rates aims to address currency undervaluation through a subsidy tool under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. As there is no prohibition in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) making macro-economic policies off-limits from the reach of subsidy norms, exchange rates can

The Law of Political Economy. Transformation in the Function of Law. Edited by POUL FKJAER, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 2020. ISBN 978-1-108-49311-6, 408pp.

ABSTRACTDebates about the meaning of ‘evolutionary interpretation’ reveal the existence of two conflicting views. Some see evolutionary interpretation as an inevitable step in the ordinary process of applying fixed written language to changing reality. Others see it as a means for interpreters—and, crucially, adjudicators—to update the agreement being applied, infusing into the text the interpreter’s

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief the gaps in global preparedness to address widespread outbreaks of deadly viral infections. This article proposes legal mechanisms for addressing critical issues facing the international community in terms of providing equitable access to vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and medical equipment. On the supply side, the authors propose the

For the second time this decade, the Court of Justice of the European Union has struck a blow against the principal mechanisms for personal data transfer to the United States. In Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland, Maximillian Schrems, the Court declared the EU-US Privacy Shield invalid and placed significant hurdles to the process of transferring personal data from the European Union

Abstract Health pandemics affect women and men differently, and they can make the existing gender inequalities much worse. COVID-19 is one such pandemic, which can have substantial gendered implications both during and in the post-pandemic world. Its economic and social consequences could deepen the existing gender inequalities and roll back the limited gains made in respect of women empowerment in

Dirty money is often a by-product or a symptom of political corruption in the jurisdictions in which it originates. It can also spread corruption and erode democracy on its journey to its final destination. This typically involves multiple jurisdictions and is the reason why it is so hard to detect. Recently, a series of money laundering scandals have highlighted weaknesses in the anti-money laundering

The last two decades of the XX century have been marked by a vigorous acceleration of international economic integration both at a global and regional level States accepted pervasive constraints on their national decision-making in the hope that stability and predictability would favor economic growth This model of international economic integration, however, has recently shown worrying signs of ‘disintegration’

In his influential book, Straight Talk on Trade, Dani Rodrik provides a cogent critique of the existing international economic order and concludes as follows: ‘So, I accept that nation-states are a source of disintegration for the global economy ’ This article critically engages with the idea that the nation-state is a legitimate force of disintegration of the international economic order, with particular

textabstractThis article looks at theories of differentiated integration and disintegration in the wake of the Eurozone crisis and the Brexit referendum. It advances four distinct, albeit interrelated, arguments with respect to these proposals. First, it could be contested whether certain policy areas should be pushed to the ‘outer core’ of European integration. Second, it would be very difficult to

Resistance to the law made through expansionist interpretation of investment treaties by arbitral tribunals has led to the disintegration of the resulting structure of investment protection The creation of an inflexible system of investment protection through arbitral interpretation undermines the exercise of power of states to take measures to protect the public interest The process of disintegration

In this paper, we discuss the limits of the architecture of the euro from an economic point of view We first highlight how the choice to create a monetary union was not supported by the accepted theory of optimal currency areas, and how its institutional set-up responded to a special and questionable view of the functioning of the economy, which recognized only a limited role to active macroeconomic

The Energy Charter Treaty is the most frequently used investment treaty worldwide to launch investment arbitration against host states. The vast majority of disputes is of intra-European Union nature in that they involve an EU investor as claimant and an European Union member state as respondent. The recent Achmea judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union may thus have ramifications for

The article introduces a new dataset that seeks to comprehensively trace developments in the area of digital trade governance. The TAPED (Trade Agreements Provisions on Electronic-Commerce and Data) dataset includes a detailed mapping and coding of all preferential trade agreements that cover chapters, provisions, annexes, and side documents that directly or indirectly regulate digital trade. This

In the last two decades, World Trade Organization law’s public interest exceptions (Article XX GATT, Article XIV GATS, Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement, and Article 20 TRIPS) have seen the emergence and evolution of the doctrine of ‘weighing and balancing.’ This paper provides a criticism of this doctrine through a comparative ontological analysis and demonstrates three propositions. First, it

Today’s trade agreements include “trade-plus” provisions such as intellectual property, labor, and environment commitments and subject them to the same dispute settlement mechanisms as the traditional commercial provisions. This Article queries whether the institutional design in which such trade-plus provisions operate is both appropriate and appropriately theorized. It argues that the trade-plus

The classic political economy of trade models state behavior on the international plane by reference to the formation of domestic interests. Voters, interest groups, and politicians are rational actors in this model, pursuing their economic preferences without cognitive or motivational distortions. This article questions the sufficiency of the rational choice model in the formation of contemporary

On 13 August 2018, US President Donald Trump signed a legislation called the ‘Export Controls Act of 2018’ (ECA) that is important for reinvigorating the export control regime in the USA. This paper argues that contents of the ECA will not only impact the USA but also the way that the ECA is structured will potentially have a long-lasting influence on international export control regimes and the

In the wake of the mega-free trade agreements, all of the 10 member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations are determined to participate in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and to maintain the centrality of the Association of South East Asian Nations whereas Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam have also opted for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for

A cross-cumulation arrangement helps manufacturers meet the demands of the global value chain economy by facilitating the sourcing of intermediate products within the territories of participants in the arrangement. It is a de facto free-trade area formed by a network of bilateral free-trade areas underpinning the arrangement. However, a cross-cumulation clause provided in a bilateral free-trade area

Recent developments suggest that the international economic order is transitioning away from the Neoliberal Order that has flourished for much of the post-Cold War period toward a new Geoeconomic Order. The shift to this new order, which is characterized by a growing ‘securitisation of economic policy and economisation of strategic policy’, will likely see the rules, norms, and institutions of international

Starting from the observation of an increased politicisation of the financial regulatory debate, the article analyses how this might impact the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The article first describes transnational financial networks after the global crisis and the shift from trust in technocratic autonomy to distrust and politicisation

Accountability is a key concern for international standard setters. If transnational actors set standards instead of national democratic authorities, then the standard setters might suffer from ‘apparent’ deficits in their democratic accountability and oversight. Consequently, most international standard setters rely on different processes to enhance their accountability and transparency to mitigate

Most financial systems around the world have imposed new capital requirements for banks in the past years. This policy seems to be justified on two powerful economic grounds. First, better capitalized banks promote financial stability by reducing banks’ incentives to take risks and increasing banks’ buffers against losses. Second, lack of compliance with a set of rules established by the Basel Committee

Soon after becoming a World Trade Organization Member, Turkey established a Customs Union with the European Union, its biggest trade partner. Despite negotiating an average 42.6 percent tariff on slightly more than one-third of industrial goods—leaving remaining industrial goods unbound from World Trade Organization commitments—Turkey, pursuant to the Customs Union, eliminated all tariffs on European

The free flow of data across borders underpins today's globalized economy. But the flow of personal data outside the jurisdiction of national regulators also raises concerns about the protection of privacy. Addressing these legitimate concerns without undermining international integration is a challenge. This paper describes and assesses three types of responses to this challenge: unilateral development

Several types of changes can take place between the conclusion of a treaty and when its provisions call for interpretation, e.g. changes in the political, social, historical or legal context; technological changes; linguistic changes; or changes in the law. Traditionally, interpreters refused to considerchanges that may have occurred since the treaty’s conclusion. Today, many argue that it is more

The Global Pact for the Environment has been proposed as an overarching framework for international environmental law, which would solidify and advance this regime in light of pressing challenges and the demands of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By codifying principles in legally binding form, the Global Pact has attracted high expectations that it can bridge normative gaps in international

In October 2015, the G20 Finance Ministers endorsed the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, which has been acclaimed as the most fundamental transformation of the international tax rules in almost a century. The BEPS project contains 15 actions, of which Action 14 aims to strengthen the mechanisms of international tax dispute resolution, particularly the mutual agreement procedure (MAP)

Anti-dumping is a fair trade mechanism of protecting domestic industries from certain underpriced imports. In December 2017, theEuropean Union made a remarkable amendment to its anti-dumping legislation to shift from a long-standing practice of specific dumping calculations for a pre-defined list of non-market economies to a ‘country-neutral’ approach of targeting significant market distortions

While ‘regulatory stability’ regularly features in the decisions of investment arbitral tribunals interpreting the fair and equitable treatment (FET) provision, the extent to which the FET standard disciplines ‘adverse regulatory change’ in the absence of an express stabilization commitment from the host State is far from clear. Based on the conceptual distinction between the requirement of

This paper illustrates how the work of World Trade Organization’s (WTO) standing bodies—its ‘Third Pillar’, as we will call it—is inspiring parties in regional trade agreements (RTA) negotiations and contributing to deeper integration. We focus on the work of the WTO technical barriers to trade (TBT) Committee and explore, as a case study, the extent to which the Committee's decision on principles

Conventional wisdom has it that, in recent years, the legalized mechanism of dispute settlement before the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been “busier than ever”, “a victim of its own success”. This paper uses count data to assess the WTO’s current caseload and examines how it has evolved since the WTO’s creation in 1995. We also forecast panel and Appellate Body (AB) caseload ten years from now

In 1941, John Maynard Keynes noted that “[n]othing is more certain than that the movement of capital funds must be regulated; which in itself will involve far-reaching departures from laissez-faire arrangements”. 77 years later, the international regulation of capital movements appears everything but certain. The purpose of this paper is to review the IMF’s jurisdiction over the capital account. While

Since the Canada – Renewable Energy/FIT Program (2013) dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has become almost conventional wisdom in the literature that a clash exists between international climate change mitigation goals and WTO law, with a growing consensus (if not anxiety) that WTO subsidy rules ought to be reformed in order to safeguard ‘policy space’ for government support to renewable

The Appellate Body (AB) in US – Washing Machines clarified the concept of targeted dumping and the way to apply the pertinent part of Article 2.4.2. Above all, by limiting the applicable scope for the second sentence of Article 2.4.2 to ‘pattern transactions’ which consist of only low-priced export transactions, the Appellate Body clarifies that the remedial action for targeted dumping is dumping margins

The de facto failure of the Doha Round has shaken the confidence in multilateral trade negotiations and governance. Policy-makers increasingly turn to plurilateralism—in the form of Plurilateral and Critical Mass Agreements—as a new strategy for global trade governance. The World Trade Organization (WTO) may develop into a ‘club of clubs’. The rise of plurilateralism creates opportunities and

This article presents the situation of ‘Missing Investment Treaties’ (MITs), defined as those International Investment Agreements (IIAs) that have been concluded by States, but their texts (and in some cases their existence) are not publicly available or incomplete. In order to determine the number of MITs, we examined the text and language availability of IIAs concluded by countries, that are publicly

Recent years have witnessed a surge in discussions relating to data and data flow in trade fora. This was predictable given the importance of data for trade in the digital economy, especially e-commerce. However, there is a major discord between WTO members on issues relating to data flows and data localization. This article sets out to understand how data flows across borders and the types of trade

The provisions on decision-making in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement) have fundamental constitutional significance for the running of the WTO. The decision-making procedures established in Articles IX, X and XII of the WTO Agreement are therefore foundational to any discussion on reform of WTO decision-making and the creation of a more pliable system