This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of unbundling and, in particular, ownership unbundling policies from the perspective of international economic law. It does so by focusing on the prominent example of the EU's energy sector and its Third Energy Package. Unbundling has become an increasingly crucial competition instrument in network-bound industries worldwide. It is designed to ensure access to bottleneck infrastructures on fair and non-discriminatory terms and thus to suppress the anti-competitive potential deriving from vertical integration in natural monopoly situations. While promoting important public policy objectives, unbundling policies have also raised a number of legal issues. This book analyzes how international economic law limits the adoption and maintenance of unbundling and related measures and also outlines how international trade law can play a 'positive' role in this field. As a result, it provides a valuable reference for academics, practitioners and policy-makers.

This book gathers a selection of peer-reviewed chapters reflecting on the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement (AEUFTA). Since 18 June 2018, ten rounds of negotiations for a AEUFTA have been held in a constructive atmosphere, showing a shared commitment to move forward with this ambitious and comprehensive agreement. After a lengthy and arduous process interrupted by the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (EU), the United States' hesitations regarding the EU's global strategy and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the negotiations between Australia and the European Union finally appear to be nearing completion. In challenging times, both parties share a commitment to a positive trade agenda, and to the idea that good trade agreements benefit both sides by boosting jobs, growth and investment. This book explores the challenges, achievements and missed opportunities in the AEUFTA negotiation process, and examines current legal and political relations between the EU, its Member States and Australia. Furthermore, it examines in detail a wide and diverse range of negotiated areas, including digital trade, services, intellectual property rules, trade remedies and investment screening, as well as dispute settlement mechanisms. Lastly, it sheds light on the likely nature of future commercial relations between Australia and the EU. Written by a team of respected authors from leading institutions in both Australia and Europe, the book provides a valuable, interdisciplinary analysis of the AEUFTA.

This volume brings together significant contributions from leading voices in academia, the legal profession and government on the increasingly important topic of international investment and the legal system in which it operates. With the burgeoning size of international capital flows matched only by an explosion in international agreements intending to regulate the field, there is increasing potential for incoherence amongst and between treaties and arbitral decisions. The Columbia Program on International Investment, a joint undertaking of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute, has taken on the challenge of the international investment law system and in April 2006 held its first symposium, "Coherence and Consistency in International Investment Law." Appeals Mechanism in International Investment Disputes is one important result: It compiles, compares and contrasts the analysis and arguments of the leading scholars, practitioners and government officials on the future of the international investment law regime. Its special emphasis is on the question of an appellate body for international investment disputes. The authors also seek ways to streamline and improve the system, channeling the benefits of free trade and investment flows to people in both the developing and emerging markets. The Appendices provide readers with extensive background material to place the chapters into context. Selected sections include concise commentaries to further illuminate the timely themes covered by the chapters. The volume is singular in its success at bringing together so many exceptional individuals on a question of growing import-how to improve the international law regime to increase prosperity and further global development. If a reader wants to know what the influential voices in international law are saying right now, and in a concise and readable format, this is the publication to have.

This book analyses the egalitarian foundations of equality law from a classical liberal perspective by asking two central questions: does justice ideally demand equality? Are differences in abilities among people in some sense unfair? The book examines these questions in the context of racial diversity. Racial justice as a component of social justice is often considered to be so emotionally and morally compelling that its implications for economic freedom are rarely subjected to critical scrutiny. In defending the classical ideal of formal equality in contexts of racial diversity this book questions the ethical status of egalitarian social and moral ideals. Economic Freedom and Social Justice argues that egalitarian ideals, like all subjective value judgements, must be subjected to critical intellectual inquiry rather than treated axiomatically. Drawing upon the legal framework in the UK and other common law jurisdictions, this book shows some of the ways in which egalitarian ideals, in addition to resting on false premises, are costly, harmful, and ultimately inimical to justice and liberty. The book argues that legal entitlements and policy guidelines constructed upon notions of racial equity are wrongly constituted as the main prism through which liberal market democracies govern private relationships, including the employment relationship. Written in a clear and forthright style, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in law, economics, philosophy and political economy.

This volume brings together work by authors who draw upon sociological and criminological methods, theory, and frameworks, to produce research that pushes boundaries, considers new questions, and reshape the existing understanding of "art crimes", with a strong emphasis on methodological innovation and novel theory application. Criminologists and sociologists are poorly represented in academic discourse on art and culture related crimes. However, to understand topics like theft, security, trafficking, forgery, vandalism, offender motivation, the efficacy of and results of policy interventions, and the effects art crimes have on communities, we must develop the theoretical and methodological models we use for analyses. The readership of this book is expected to include academics, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of criminology, sociology, law, and heritage studies who have an interest in art and heritage crime.

This book presents the very first, interdisciplinarily grounded, comprehensive appraisal of a future "Common European Law on Investment Screening". Thereby, it provides a foundation for a European administrative law framework for investment screening by setting out viable solutions and evaluating their pros and cons. Daimler, the harbour terminal in Zeebrugge, or Saxo Bank are only three recent examples of controversially discussed company takeovers in Europe. The "elephant in the room" is China and its "Belt and Road Initiative". The political will in Europe is growing to more actively control investments flowing into the EU. The current regulatory initiatives raise several fundamental, constitutional and regulatory issues. Surprisingly, they have not been addressed in any depth so far. The book takes stock of the current rather fragmented regulatory approaches and combines contributions from leading international academics, practitioners, and policy makers in their respective fields. Due to the volume's comprehensive approach, it is expected to influence the broader debate on the EU's upcoming regulation of this matter. The book is addressed to participants from academia as well as to representatives from government, business, and civil society.

This book aims to contribute to the debate on global public goods, a debate which has been taking place for some time in the UN and the World Bank, among the regional development banks and bilaterally among states and donors. There is a need for new visions and strategies and to examine global infrastructure on the basis of the idea that global public goods, including human rights, contribute to cohesion at local, regional and international levels. The book investigates the possibilities and disadvantages of applying the idea of public goods in a global context. It explains the history of the concept and its significance for human rights. The authors include, in addition to academics, representatives from public institutions, civil society organizations, independent consultants, the media and the private sector.

Co-published by Oxford University Press and the International Law Institute, and prepared by the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State, the Digest of United States Practice in International Law presents an annual compilation of documents and commentary highlighting significant developments in public and private international law, and is an invaluable resource for practitioners and scholars in the field. Each edition compiles excerpts from documents such as treaties, diplomatic notes and correspondence, legal opinion letters, judicial decisions, Senate committee reports and press releases. All of the documents which are excerpted in the Digest are selected by members of the Legal Adviser's Office of the U.A. Department of State, based on their judgments about the significance of the issues, their potential relevance to future situations, and their likely interest to practitioners and scholars. In almost every case, the commentary to each excerpt is accompanied by a citation to the full text.

This book clearly chronicles the evolution of Chinese VAT regulations, with a particular focus on the reforms of recent years. Covering all the provisions of the laws related to VAT, it also provides examples and implementation instructions. Practically structured and easy to consult, it allows readers to quickly find answers to questions that may arise in the course of their work. As such, the book is a valuable tool for accountants, advisors, lawyers, public officials and anyone working in the sector.

This book deals with de minimis aid and demonstrates that it is both a sui generis legal concept in the context of State aid and subject to a complex regime. On the one hand, it is a sui generis concept in that (i) it seeks to strike a balance between simplifying the grant process and not distorting competition in the internal market, while being a tool that Member States are able to apply easily and (ii) it is subject to ex ante control by Member States. On the other hand, it is complex in that (i) it requires determining the sectors of economic activity it applies to; (ii) a few notions specific to the regime are not easy to understand, such as the notion of "single undertaking"; and (iii) it requires combining four de minimis regimes (one general and three special), which in turn requires reconciling those regimes with each other and with other aid, not least because of the cumulation rules. Lastly, these particularities were also reflected in the recovery regime for unlawful de minimis aid. Aimed at lawyers, legal consultants and those working in undertakings as well as students, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the current de minimis regimes and is clear and complete, while also proposing a fresh view on the area of EU State aid law. Ricardo Pedro is Researcher at the Centro de Investigacao de Direito Publico (CIDP), Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.

The institutional shortcomings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) became apparent during the Doha Round of Trade negotiations that began in 2001 and which aimed to improve the success of developing countries' trading by lowering trade barriers and adjusting other trade rules. This "development agenda " meant different things to rich and poor countries. In addition, many of the circumstances that supported success in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations of 1947 were no longer present after the WTO was founded in 1995. In Reconstructing the World Trade Organization for the 21st Century, Kent Jones examines the difficulties of the WTO in completing multilateral trade negotiations and possible ways to restore its ability to do so. The problem lies in the institutional structure it inherited from the GATT, which was designed for a more limited scope of trade negotiations among a relatively small number of wealthier, industrialized countries. Jones presents an institutional model of the GATT/WTO system, which describes why such an organization exists and how it is supposed to accomplish its goals. Institutional reforms will be necessary to restore the WTO's ability to complete global trade agreements, including a more flexible application of the consensus rule, a common understanding among all members about the limits of domestic policy space that is subject to negotiation, and clearer rules on reciprocity obligations. The popularity of bilateral and regional trade agreements, which have emerged as the alternative to WTO agreements, presents a threat to the WTO's relevance in trade negotiations, but also an opportunity to "multilateralize " new and deeper trade integration in future WTO agreements. Aid for trade may also play an instrumental role in bringing more developing countries into WTO disciplines. Above all, WTO members must develop new ways to find common ground in order to negotiate for mutual gains from trade.

The recent explosion of investment treaty arbitration marks a major transformation of both international and public law, above all because of the manner in which states have delegated core powers of the courts to private arbitrators. This book outlines investment treaty arbitration as a public law system and demonstrates how the system goes beyond all other forms of international adjudication in giving arbitrators a comprehensive jurisdiction to determine the legality of sovereign acts and to award public funds to businesses that sustain loss as a result of government regulation. The analysis also reveals some startling consequences of transplanting rules of commercial arbitration into the regulatory sphere. For instance, the system allows public law to be interpreted by arbitrators in private as a matter of course, with limited scope for judicial review. Further, arbitrators can award compensation to investors in ways that go beyond domestic systems of state liability, and these awards may then be enforced in as many as 165 countries, making them more widely enforceable than any other adjudicative decision in public law. The system's mixture of private arbitration and public law undermines accountability and openness in judicial decision-making. But, most importantly, it poses a unique and fundamental challenge - hitherto neglected by other commentators - to the principle of judicial independence. To address this, this book argues that the system be replaced with an international investment court, properly constituted according to public law principles, and made up of tenured judges.

International investment arbitration has been dubbed the "Antarctica" of international procedural law. This book explores international investment arbitration (IIA) using the searchlight of comparative analysis. Further, it provides answers to several questions, such as the role of ICJ judgments and WTO decisions as a source of inspiration for how proof and the burden of proof are approached in IIA. By investigating various evidence-related issues, the book also sheds light on overarching questions including the role of IIA as a subsystem of international economic law.

This book offers in-depth legal and political analysis concerning the compatibility of the Westphalian state model with globalization and the digital revolution. It explores the concept of democracy in a globalized world, discusses the legitimacy of economic integration in the global market, and presents three case studies (from Brazil, Taiwan and Spain) on the impact of social media on elections. It further entails novel perspectives on the impact of digitalization on national borders, and the role of citizens and experts in the shaping of globalization. A final chapter addresses the extent to which insights gained from the analysis of the abovementioned aspects will need to be considered in efforts to recover from the current global health and economic crisis.

This open access book examines the multiple intersections between national and international courts in the field of investment protection, and suggests possible modes for regulating future jurisdictional interactions between domestic courts and international tribunals. The current system of foreign investment protection consists of more than 3,000 international investment agreements (IIAs), most of which provide for investment arbitration as the forum for the resolution of disputes between foreign investors and host States. However, national courts also have jurisdiction over certain matters involving cross-border investments. International investment tribunals and national courts thus interact in a number of ways, which range from harmonious co-existence to reinforcing complementation, reciprocal supervision and, occasionally, competition and discord. The book maps this complex relationship between dispute settlement bodies in the current investment treaty context and assesses the potential role of domestic courts in future treaty frameworks that could emerge from the States' current efforts to reform the system.The book concludes that, in certain areas of interaction between domestic courts and international investment tribunals, the "division of labor" between the two bodies is not always optimal, producing inefficiencies that burden the system as a whole. In these areas, there is a need for improvement by introducing a more fruitful allocation of tasks between domestic and international courts and tribunals - whatever form(s) the international mechanism for the settlement of investment disputes may take.Given its scope, the book contributes not only to legal analysis, but also to the policy reflections that are needed for ongoing efforts to reform investor-State dispute settlement.

The 1994 agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulates over 95% of world trade amongst 148 member countries. The November 2001 Declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Doha, Quatar, has launched the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations in the WTo on 21 topics aimed at far-reaching reforms of the world trading system. On August 1st 2004, the WTO General Council reached agreement on a detailed Doha Work program with the aim of concluding negotiations in 2006. This volume provides discussion and policy recommendations by leading WTO negotiators and policy-makers, and analysis by leading economists, political scientists and trade lawyers on the major subjects of the Doha Round negotiations. Over 30 contributors explore the complexity of the world trading system and of the WTO negotiations for its reform from diverse political, economic and legal perspectives.

This book analyses the adequacy of Mongolia's legal system for foreign investment protection by conducting a multi-level assessment of international investment treaties, domestic legislation of the host State, and investor-State contracts from an international comparative perspective. The investigation distinguishes between three legal dimensions, each of which offers both substantive legal guarantees for the protection of investments in the host State and provisions for the settlement of investment disputes by arbitration. In the first dimension of Public International Law (PIL), Mongolia is bound by international investment treaties, which offer investors an international law setting. In the second dimension, a special domestic investment law defines the domestic framework for the establishment, promotion and protection of investments, but also for the conclusion of investor-State contracts. These contracts in turn open a third legal dimension, which represents a cross-section through the PIL and domestic-law dimensions of investment protection. Following the development of a multi-level system with legal dimensions that are not isolated but rather interrelated and mutually reinforcing, the book examines whether Mongolia's international investment treaties and domestic investment law reflect globally shared international and domestic standards of treatment and protection of foreign investments. Lastly, the author inquires whether the domestic laws applicable to investor-State contracts in Mongolia allow investors and the Mongolian Government to agree on protective terms according to the (not uncontroversial) standards of international contract practice.

This book provides a critical comprehensive summary of the coevolution of telecom markets, rules and public institutions over the last 25 years, focusing on the challenges that regulators and policy makers have been facing. Even if the perspective of the book is European (as the EU regulatory framework is examined), most of the economic and institutional issues addressed are common to all telecom markets in advanced economies. The book addresses some traditional fundamental topics in the telecom regulation literature, as well as some hot-button topics in the current policy debate, e.g., ultrafast broadband and 5G networks, the relationship between investments and competition, the sector digitalisation and the role of OTTs. All these are relevant to students, researchers, and policy makers interested to get a sound understanding of the sector, its many dimensions and coevolutionary patterns.

This book is the first attempt to establish a collaborative and interdisciplinary field of economics and legal studies. It is designed to help readers - advanced undergraduate and graduate students, but also fellow scholars who are interested in interdisciplinarity - to think through the dual lenses of economics and law. "Econo-Legal Studies," as we call it, is an economics that pays greater attention to the perspective and heritage of legal studies, and at the same time legal studies that fully utilize the views and methods of economics - while "law and economics" is just a one-way economic approach to law focusing on the effects of the latter on efficiency. The aim of this book is to encourage readers to think like economists and, at the same time, legal scholars as they analyze complex real-world issues. It presents stimulating discussions on the intersection of law and economics, the differences and unexpected similarities between the two perspectives, and the new insights to be gained when approaching a problem from both angles. For this purpose, the extensive corpus of knowledge produced within the framework of the Econo-Legal Studies interdisciplinary program at Kobe University can be capitalized on. Basic knowledge of both economics and law is also included in this volume, making it an engaging read for beginners in both fields as well.

This book is the first detailed and comprehensive research of the history of the Cape Town Convention and its protocols. It critically engages with the challenges faced by the developers of this treaty, analyses thousands of pages of archived materials and derives important lessons for the development of transnational commercial law globally. The book is an invaluable addition to the existing literature on the Cape Town Convention. It also informs the debate about harmonisation of secured transactions regimes generally, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary involved in secured transactions law around the world. Practising lawyers will better understand the rationale behind the key provisions of the Cape Town Convention, while the treaty-making lessons will assist governmental officials, representatives of international organisations and legal advisors engaged in harmonisation of commercial law. The text covers all four protocols to the Cape Town Convention, including the MAC Protocol adopted on 22 November 2019 in Pretoria.

This book discusses the most recent developments in the WTO regime. Issues such as E-commerce, security exception clause, China's compliance with the WTO obligations, sustainability development, IP protection in FTZs, trade controls and etc., are at the forefront of WTO studies. These issues strongly influence people's understanding of the current role of WTO and provides possible way to revitalize the function of WTO. Meanwhile,  as the world's second largest economy, the world's largest trading nation and the holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, China is apparently a powerful figure in leading these issues. Therefore, this book explores extensively these issues from a Chinese perspective to see what China could do to reboost the world trade.

In 1998, the city of The Hague commemorated its 750th anniversary. To emphasize that The Hague has been an international judicial center of activities for several decades, a special International Law Conference was organized by T.M.C. Asser Instituut in co-operation with the 'Stichting 750 jaar Den Haag'. The programme of The Hague's 750th Anniversary International Law Conference concentrated on the following themes: international criminal law, interstate dispute settlement, international commercial arbitration, international humanitarian law and the regulation of international trade. Within this framework, a number of panels were devoted to aspects concerning the International Court of Justice, the (future) International Criminal Court and the Iran-US Claims Tribunal. Leading experts as well as representatives of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and various international institutions based in The Hague participated in the programme. This publication is intended for anyone interested in an analysis of the law and practice in these institutions.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the alterations and problems caused by new technologies in all fields of the global digital economy. The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) not only on law but also on economics is examined. In the first part, the economics of AI are explored, including topics such as e-globalization and digital economy, corporate governance, risk management, and risk development, followed by a quantitative econometric analysis which utilizes regressions stipulating the scale of the impact. In the second part, the author presents the law of AI, covering topics such as the law of electronic technology, legal issues, AI and intellectual property rights, and legalizing AI. Case studies from different countries are presented, as well as a specific analysis of international law and common law. This book is a must-read for scholars and students of law, economics, and business, as well as policy-makers and practitioners, interested in a better understanding of legal and economic aspects and issues of AI and how to deal with them.

This book discusses selected frontier and hot theoretical and practical issues of international law in the 21st century and in the process of China's peaceful development strategy, such as interactions between harmonious world, international law and China s peaceful development; close connections of China rule of law with international rule of law; issues of international law resulted from the war of Former Yugoslavia, establishment of ICC, DPRK nuclear test, Iraq War, Independence of Crimea; features of WTO rule of law and its challenges as well as legal and practical disputes between China and other members in the WTO; recent tendency of regional trade agreements and characteristics of Chinese practices in this aspect; legal issues in relations between China and the European Union with a view of the framework of China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Does the WTO leave appropriate policy space to its Members to pursue legitimate objectives, such as the economic development of developing countries, the conversion to a greener economy, or recovery in times of a global economic downturn? This legal and normative analysis of the WTO rules on subsidies and countervailing measures sheds light on why governments resort to subsidization and, by tracing the historical origins of the SCM Agreement and the Agreement on Agriculture, on why they have been willing to gradually confine their policy space. This sets the stage for a systematic and comprehensive legal analysis of both agreements, which integrates the vast amount of case law and proposals tabled in the Doha round. A separate case study explores the complex rules on export credit support, and the book closes with an in-depth normative assessment of these WTO rules on subsidies and countervailing measures.