The Perils of Pandemic Exceptionalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-636
Author(s):  
Julian Arato ◽  
Kathleen Claussen ◽  
J. Benton Heath
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
International Economic ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Structural Weakness ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Trade And Investment

AbstractIn response to the pandemic, most states have enacted special measures to protect national economies and public health. Many of these measures would likely violate trade and investment disciplines unless they qualify for one of several exceptions. This Essay examines the structural implications of widespread anticipated defenses premised on the idea of “exceptionalism.” It argues that the pandemic reveals the structural weakness of the exceptions-oriented paradigm of justification in international economic law.

A Future Agenda for Crafting ‘Athena’s Treaties’ on Trade and Investment for Sustainable Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 324-328
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Process Innovations ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Trade And Investment

This final chapter briefly discusses the volume’s key findings, including that many trade and investment agreements contain provisions with potential to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It discusses the implications of the findings for international economic law more broadly, recognizing that no one single measure can provide ‘the solution’ to all trade- and investment-related sustainable development challenges and that many different provisions may be needed throughout the treaty, addressing potential impacts as they arise. It also highlights areas for further development, particularly in terms of ‘process’ innovations, such as sustainability impact assessments (SIAs). Further, the chapter canvasses areas of need for further legal research, which may be needed to monitor and propose improvements in State attempts to address regulatory elements in SIA and other processes. Finally, this chapter highlights the contribution of the volume to promoting sustainable development in trade and investment policy, serving as a useful tool for more sustainable international economic law and policy-making in the future.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Munro
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Treaty Interpretation ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Principal Parts ◽  
Trade And Investment

This book addresses whether and how emissions trading schemes to mitigate climate change are subject to the network of treaties comprising the international trade and investment regime, collectively referred to as international economic law. Chapter 1 introduces the broad structure and content of the book, which is divided into three principal parts. Part I, comprising Chapters 2 and 3, sets out the approach of the book, insofar as it involves initial process of treaty interpretation to determine the scope and content of relevant aspects of international economic law (including any relevant interaction with the international climate regime), followed by a subsequent process of applying the resulting interpretations to carbon units and the aspects of emissions trading schemes that affect their trade and investment in ways which attract the scrutiny of international economic law. Part II, covering Chapters 4–7, then seeks to ascertain whether carbon units are subject to international economic law by evaluating whether they qualify as ‘goods’/‘products’, ‘services’, ‘financial services’, and ‘investments’. Having determined that carbon units are, to varying extents, subject to international economic law, Part III (comprising Chapters 8 and 9) assesses the consistency of emissions trading schemes and their rules affecting carbon units with that body of law.

scholarly journals International economic law and the quest for universality

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
International Law ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
International Trade Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Enabling Clause ◽  
Trade And Investment

AbstractThe quest for universality in international economic law has met many obstacles. This article begins from the proposition that there are various ways to conceive of universality in international law, for example whether the rules are accepted widely among states (omnipresence) or whether they are broadly coherent (generality). Homing in on trade and investment law, the article assesses how each of these areas has functioned as a testing ground for these different conceptions. An in-built quasi-universality characterizes international trade law with the WTO as a seemingly centralized universal institution. Such universality, however, has often been achieved through differentiation of rights and obligations (e.g., the Enabling Clause and regional trade agreements). In investment law, attempts at universalization through the construction of centralized institutions have failed. Nevertheless, certain common standards have emerged in this fragmented regime. There is also a debate around the use of the MFN clause as a universalizing tool and renewed efforts to universalize investment law are afoot. More generally, it is clear that there is little appetite for codification of international economic law, and that states wish to control its content through the conclusion of treaties. In the final analysis, this article asks whether it is time to conceive of universality differently, and particularly whether equity and collective preferences should be a more central part of the quest.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in International Economic Law

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Transboundary Trade ◽  
Trade And Investment

While international trade and investment is still dominated by larger multinational enterprises (MNEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly reaching out beyond their traditional domestic habitat. A significant number of SMEs today are engaged in transboundary trade and investment and in the wake of the digital revolution the phenomenon of ‘born global’ SMEs can be increasingly observed. In addition, many SMEs enter the global economy indirectly via global value chains. International economic law, with its traditional focus on MNEs and their interests, is only slowly waking up to this new reality. At the same time, it is increasingly recognized that the internationalization of SMEs provides the key to creating more sustainable and inclusive global economic growth. The 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals, for example, expressly call for the facilitation of increased access for SMEs to international trade and investment. This book undertakes a first attempt at systematically analysing the interaction between SMEs and international economic law. The analysis covers a broad spectrum of international trade and investment law focusing on issues of particular interest to SMEs, such as trade in services, government procurement, and trade facilitation. Salient regional and transregional developments are taken into account, including the implications of the TPP and the TTIP negotiations for SMEs. Close attention is also devoted to the concern of many states that further liberalization of international trade and investment would unduly restrict the regulatory space necessary to protect and promote the legitimate interests of domestic SMEs.

Emissions Trading Schemes under International Economic Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Munro
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Investment Treaties ◽  
Trade And Investment

This book assesses whether—and how—emissions trading schemes are subject to international economic law. Through an analysis of trade and investment treaties and related jurisprudence, it argues that the objects of trade in these schemes, namely carbon units (also known as emissions permits or carbon credits), are capable of being legally characterized as ‘goods’, ‘services’, ‘financial services’, and ‘investments’ under international economic law. The sui generis properties of carbon units—such as their intangibility, their degree of permanence, their relationship to an economic activity performed, and their use as a regulatory instrument—make this a particularly complex question. Having ascertained whether and how carbon units are regulated in this regard, this book undertakes a comparative analysis of numerous emissions trading schemes and uncovers a raft of design elements affecting trade and investment in carbon units that could be impugned under international economic law. In particular, it demonstrates how all of the major schemes—from the nascent schemes in China, South Korea, and Ontario to the more established schemes in the European Union, Switzerland, New Zealand, Norway, California, and Quebec—engage in violations of international economic law that are, in many cases, unlikely to be justified under environmental or other exceptions or exemptions. Not only do these conclusions have implications for the relationship between the international economic and international climate regimes but, more broadly, these conclusions interrogate the efficacy of international economic law for covering market-based mechanisms designed to manage environmental problems. They also provide guidance to policy-makers seeking to inoculate their emissions trading schemes from legal challenges under international trade and investment treaties.

International Trade, Investment and Sustainability

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Need To Evaluate ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Trade And Investment

This chapter begins by discussing the potential negative effects of trade on sustainable development, and the changes in the rules of trade and investment regimes that could lead to these negative impacts. It also discusses the rise of impact assessment processes, which States, regions and international organizations have begun to commission, to model and analyse the potential environmental and social/human rights impacts of trade and investment liberalization. It introduces the new generation of regional and bilateral trade and investment treaties being negotiated, and the need to evaluate how States are addressing sustainability concerns that emerge from impact assessments of these treaties. It also provides a working definition of ‘sustainable development’ and uncovers the circumstances and provisions under which international economic law levers are more likely to foster sustainable development, as well as the most effective interpretive weight for them. Finally, it highlights the utility of insights on international economic law and sustainability.

Community Interests and the Right to Health in Trade and Investment Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Voon ◽  
Andrew Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
International Economic Law ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Trade And Investment

The authors examine the interaction between international trade and investment law on the one hand and the right to health as a human right on the other. They argue that international economic law has the potential to make a profound impact on the realization of the right to health. Yet the relationship between international economic law, on the one hand, and international human rights law and the right to health, on the other, is rarely acknowledged explicitly in the primary sources of trade and investment law. The chapter considers the U.N. treatment of this relationship as well as the right to health and human rights in WTO agreements, preferential trade agreements, bilateral investment treaties, and international disputes. Using tobacco control as a case study, the chapter concludes that international economic law has the capacity to balance health interests, such that the objectives of health, trade, and investment can be aligned.

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