This book presents a conceptual framework for analysing the definitions of State aid and subsidy in EC and WTO law. This is done through a comparative analysis, examining the coherence of the conceptual understanding of the crucial, but still elusive, issue of the definition of subsidy. The first, important finding is that the topic is not only technical but raises more fundamental questions about the objectives of subsidy control in a given legal system and, more radically, about the goals of that system itself. The analysis does not only concentrate on the state of the law but critically looks forward offering suggestions for new interpretations and law reform. The book focuses on the substantive provisions of the EC and WTO relating to what are identified by the author as the core properties of a notion of subsidy, ie a form of public action, the grant of an economic advantage and the ensuing impact on the competitive process. The current regulation in EC and WTO law is analysed, compared and assessed in depth, and tested against a baseline represented by of a notion of subsidy inserted in a subsidy regulation pursuing certain objectives. Drawing on the results of the comparative exercise, the book argues that both systems can learn valuable lessons from each other to achieve a greater coherence and a more efficient regulatory system.

Governments spend huge amounts of money buying goods and services from the private sector. How far should their spending power be affected by social policy? Arguments against the practice are often made by economists - on the grounds of inefficiency - and lawyers - on the grounds of free competition and international economic law.Buying Social Justice analyzes how governments in developed and developing countries use their contracting power in order to advance social equality and reduce discrimination, and argues that this approach is an entirely legitimate and efficient means of achieving social justice. The book looks at the different experiences of a range of countries, including the USA, the UK, and South Africa. It also examines the impact of international and regional regulation of the international economy, and questions the extent to which the issue of procurement policy be regulated at the national, European or international levels. The role of EC and WTO law in mediating the tensions between the economic function of procurement and the social uses of procurement is discussed, and the outcomes of controversies concerning the legitimacy of the integration of social values into procurement are analyzed.
Buying Social Justice argues that European and international legal regulation of procurement has become an important means of accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative in both the social and economic uses of procurement.

This book explores the journey of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as it is interpreted and translated from International Human Rights Law into domestic law and policy in different cultural contexts. Beginning with reflections on 'culture', 'disability' and 'human rights' from different disciplinary perspectives, the work is then organised as 'snapshots' of the journey of the CRPD from the international level to the domestic; the process of ratification, the process of implementation, and then the process of monitoring the CRPD's implementation in States Parties cultural contexts. Leading global contributors provide cutting-edge accounts of the interactions between the CRPD and diverse cultures, revealing variations in the way that the concept of 'culture' is defined. This collection will appeal to academics and students in Law and Socio-Legal Studies, Disability Studies, Policy Studies and Social Work, Sociology, Anthropology; and those training to be service providers with persons with disabilities.

This book explores the insights that can be gained by looking at the criminal justice system from an economic point of view. It provides an economic analysis of the institutional structure and function of the criminal justice system, how its policies are formulated, and how they affect behavior. Yet it goes beyond an examination of specific policies to address the broad question of how law influences behavior. For example, it examines how concepts such as the possibility of redemption affect the decisions of repeat offenders, and whether individual responsibility is (or should be) a pre-requisite for punishment. Finally, the book argues that, in addition to the threat of criminal sanctions, law inculcates principles of acceptable behavior among citizens by asserting that certain acts are "against the law." This "expressive function" of law can influence behavior to the extent that at least some people in society are receptive to such a message. For these people, the moral content of law has more than mere symbolic value, and consequently, it can expand the scope of traditional law enforcement while lowering its cost. Another goal of the book is therefore to use economic theory to assess this dualistic function of law by specifically recognizing how its policies can both internalize an ethic of obedience to the law among some people irrespective of its consequences, while simultaneously threatening to punish those who only respond to external incentives.

This book provides an original and critical analysis of the most contentious subjects being negotiated in the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It focuses on the pathway of reforming investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) from both Chinese and European perspectives in the context of the China-EU CAI and beyond. The book is divided into three parts. Part I examines key and controversial issues of the China-EU CAI negotiations, including market access, sustainable development and human rights, as well as comparing distinct features between the China-EU CAI and the China-US BIT. Part II concentrates on the institutional reform of investor-state arbitration with an extensive analysis of the EU's approach to replacing the private nature of investment arbitration with the public nature of an investment court. Part III addresses the core substantive and procedural issues concerning ISDS, such as the role of domestic courts in investment dispute settlement, the status of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as investors, transparency and the protection of victims in investment dispute resolution. This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of international investment and trade law, particularly investment dispute settlement.

The essays in this volume attempt to explore and elucidate some of the legal and constitutional complexities of the relationship between the EU and the WTO,focusing particularly on the impact of the latter and its relevance for the former. The effect of WTO norms is evident across a broad range of European economic and social policy fields, affecting regulatory and distributive policies alike. A number of significant areas have been selected in this book to exemplify the scope and intensity of impact, including EC single market law, external trade, structural and cohesion funding, cultural policy, social policy, and aspects of public health and environmental policy. Certain chapters seek to examine the legal and political points of intersection between the two legal orders, and many of the essays explore in different ways the normative dimension of the relationship between the EU and the WTO and the legitimacy claims of the latter.

The ITBLA is the official publication of the Australian Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law. The annual publishes leading articles, casenotes and comments, as well as book reviews dealing with international trade and business law issues. The text is supervised by an international board of editors consisting of leading international trade law practitioners and academics from the European Community, the United States, Asia and Australia.

Attempts at developing a theory of international investment law are complicated by the fact that this field of international law is based on numerous, largely bilateral treaties and is implemented by arbitral panels established on a case-by-case basis. This suggests a fragmented and chaotic state of the law, with different levels of protection depending on the sources and targets of foreign investment flows. This book, however, forwards the thesis that international investment law develops, despite its bilateral form, into a multilateral system of law that backs up the functioning of a global market economy based on converging principles of investment protection. In discussing the function of most-favored-nation clauses, the possibilities of treaty-shopping and the impact of investor-State arbitration with its intensive reliance on precedent and other genuinely multilateral approaches to treaty interpretation, it offers a conceptual framework for understanding the nature and functioning of international investment law as a genuinely multilateral system.

Nationalization disputes in natural resources development are among the most disputed issues of international investment law. This book offers a fresh insight into the nature of nationalization disputes in natural resources development and the rules of international investment law governing them by systematically analyzing (1) the content of investment contracts in natural resources development, and (2) the results of nationalization disputes in natural resources development from the perspective of dynamic bargaining theory. Based on the comprehensive and systematic empirical analyses, the book sheds new light on contractual renegotiation and renewal as a hardly known but practically normal solution of nationalization disputes and presents a set of soft law rules governing contractual renegotiation and renewal.

Plant genetic resources are crucial for world agriculture, food security and the global economy. The patents and intellectual property rights (IPRs) associated with the development of new crops and other products are often critical to trade. Yet there is no unified international framework for a fair IPR regime in genetic resources.This book examines the international agreements relevant to IPRs: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement; and the Convention of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). It sets out to establish an equitable IPR regime for biodiversity taking into account: ethical concerns over patenting life forms; environmental and social impacts; technology transfer; and the relation between traditional knowledge and IPRs.The book provides the first full-scale account of how to integrate the requirements of the CBD into the global IPR regime.Published in association with the World Conservation Union.

The relevance of the WTO legal system for environmental protection is a central topic in general international law, WTO law and international environmental law. The relationship between WTO law and international and domestic efforts to protect the environment has moved to centre stage in WTO and international environmental law. It has also spurred the discussion on fragmentation in international law in recent years.
This book analyzes these issues by examining the 'horizontal' interaction between WTO law and 'other' international law, the 'vertical' relationship between WTO law and domestic law, and the contents and the interrelations between fundamental provisions of WTO law. This study relies on established insights from legal theory in order to achieve greater clarity in legal argumentation. The main results of this analysis are applied to two topical instances of international regime interplay, namely the relevance of WTO law for international and domestic measures protecting the earth's climate and the ozone layer.
A series of controversial topics in WTO and general international law are addressed in this book, including the notion of conflicts of norms, and the resolution of conflicts of norms; the role of international law in WTO proceedings; extraterritorial jurisdiction and unilateral trade measures; proportionality and balancing of interests in international and WTO law; the core disciplines of the GATT and the TBT Agreement; process and production-based measures (PPMs) in WTO law; climate protection, protection of the ozone layer, and WTO disciplines.

Nation states have long and successfully claimed to be the proper and sovereign forum for determining a country's international economic policies. Increasingly, however, supranational and non-governmental actors are moving to the front of the stage. New forms of multilateral and global policy-making have emerged, including states and national administrations, key international organizations, international conferences, multinational enterprises, and a wide range of transnational pressure groups and NGOs that all claim their share in exercising power and influence on international and domestic policy-making. In honour of Professor Mitsuo Matsushita's intellectual contributions to the field of international economic law, this volume reflects on the current state and the future of international economic law. The book addresses a broad spectrum of themes in contemporary international economic regulations and focuses specifically on the significant areas of Professor Matsushita's scholarship, including the rise of the soft-law mechanism in international economic regulation, the role of the WTO and dispute settlement, and specific areas such as competition, subsidies, anti-dumping, intellectual property, and natural resources. Part one of the volume provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of the rule-based international dispute settlement mechanisms; Part two investigates the normative influences to and from WTO law; and Part three focuses on policy and law-making issues.

In the twentieth century there were two great political and social paradigms, the liberal-democratic and the libertarian (in its various socialist, anarchist, and communist delineations). The central idea of the first approach is isonomy: the exclusion of any discrimination on the basis that legal rights are afforded equally to all people. The central idea of the second approach is rather to acknowledge and address a broader spectrum of known inequalities. Such an approach, Bellanca argues, allows the pursuit of pluralism as well as a more realistic and complex view of what equality is. Here he analyzes the main economic and political institutions of an isocratic society, and in so doing, effectively outlines how a utopian society can be structurally and anthropologically realized. This book is ideal reading for an audience interested in the critique of contemporary capitalism through a renewed perspective of democratic socialism and leftist libertarianism. Nicolo Bellanca is Associate Professor of Development Economics at the University of Florence, Italy. He is the author of a broad array of scholarly articles, books and textbooks about both the history of economic thought and development economics. His current research focuses on the theory of institutional change.

This volume assembles a stellar group of scholars and experts to examine preferential trade agreements (PTAs), a topic that has time and again attracted the interest of analysts. It presents a discussion of the evolving economic analysis regarding PTAs and the various dysfunctions that continually place them among the priority items for (re)negotiation by the WTO. The book explores recent empirical research that casts doubt on the old 'trade diversion' school and debates why the WTO should deal with PTAs and if PTAs belong under the mandate of the WTO as we now know it.

Many of the most controversial areas of reform initiated by the Lisbon Treaty were not negotiated in the Treaty itself, but left to be resolved during its implementation. Since the Treaty's entry into force, the implementation process has already had a profound impact on many areas of EU law and policy, and consolidated new areas of power, such as over foreign investment. This collection gathers leading specialists in the field to analyse the Treaty's implementation and the directions of legal reform post-Lisbon. Drawing on a range of expertise to assess and comment on the Treaty, the contributors include both academics and practitioners involved in negotiating and implementing the Treaty. Focusing on the central issues and changes resulting from the Lisbon Treaty, the contributors examine the Treaty in the broader background of how the EU, and EU law in particular, has been developing in recent years and provide a contextual understanding of the future direction of EU law in the post-Lisbon era.

This book describes and examines three EU legal frameworks (EU competition law, EU consumer law, and EU fundamental rights law) that may affect the extent to which consumers purchase more sustainably. In doing so, this book goes beyond a rationalist understanding of the interpretation and application of EU law. Rational approaches have severely impacted the interpretation and application of EU law. Practice shows, however, that the implications of using a noncritical application of rationalist approaches in the interpretation and application of EU competition law, EU consumer law, and EU fundamental rights law to sustainability labels may have an inhibiting effect on sustainable consumption. The book offers remedies to overcome this inhibitive effect by critically applying insights from cognitive science and behavioral economics in the legal interpretation and application of EU law.

From human trafficking to smuggling small arms to looting antiquities, illicit trade poses significant threats to international order. So why is it difficult to establish international cooperation against illicit trade? Governing Guns, Preventing Plunder offers a novel, thought-provoking answer to this crucial question. Conventional wisdom holds that powerful criminal groups obstruct efforts to suppress illicit trade. In contrast, Asif Efrat explains how legitimate actors, such as arms manufacturers or museums that acquire and display looted antiquities, often act to hinder policing efforts. However, such efforts to evade regulation often fuel intense political conflicts between governments that demand action against illicit trade and others that are reluctant to cooperate. The book offers a framework for understanding the domestic origins of this conflict-and how the distribution of power shapes the conflict's outcome. Through this framework, Efrat explains why the interests of governments vary across countries, trades, and time. In a fascinating empirical analysis, he solves a variety of puzzles: Why is the international regulation of small arms much weaker than international drug control? What led the United States and Britain to oppose the efforts against plunder of antiquities and why did they ultimately join these efforts? How did American pressure motivate Israel to tackle sex trafficking? Efrat's findings will change the way we think about illicit trade, offering valuable insights for scholars, activists, and policymakers.

This book develops and applies the methodology of Tawhid ("monotheism") as law and the Sunnah (the teachings of Prophet Muhammad) in the Qur'an in establishing a transdisciplinary foundation for the study of Islamic economics, finance, society, and science. It employs the Tawhidi String Relation (TSR), a new theoretical framework in contemporary Islamic sciences, in the methodological formalisation and application of the Tawhidi worldview - as the primal ontological law of monotheism. It employs a deeply Qur'anic exegesis, and a mathematical, philosophical, and socio-scientific mode of inquiry in deriving, developing, and empirically applying the Qur'anic methodology of "unity of knowledge". It is the first book of its kind in rigorously studying the true foundation of the Qur'anic concept of 'everything' - as the world-system extending between the heavens and Earth. The qur'anic terminology of the precept of this "world-system" in its most comprehensive perspective is A'lameen, the terminology in the Qur'an that accounts for the generality and details of the world-systems that are governed by the method of evaluation of the objective criterion of wellbeing. Wellbeing objective criterion is evaluated subject to inter-causal relations between systemic entities, variables, and functions. The cardinal principle of Tawhid in its relationship with the world-system conveys the corporeal meaning of monotheism in its cognitive implication of abstraction and application. Such a study has not been undertaken in existing Islamic socio-scientific literature in analysing Islamic economics, finance, science, and society collectively, using Tawhidi law as a theoretical framework. This book will be relevant to all such scholars who are interested in studying the monotheistic law and the Islamic principles, particularly Tawhid, Shari'ah, and Islamic philosophical thought.

This volume provides the most comprehensive contemporary academic writing on Ukrainian competition and intellectual property law in English. Especially over the last few years, these areas have been in considerable flux, a main driver being the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The chapters cover a broad range of different topics and share a forward-looking perspective. They also outline the basic background that is necessary to understand the context of the issue discussed, especially with regards to the legal system of Ukraine. The publication is the result of a two-year project, and it is addressed to a wide range of international scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. It aims to make the state-of-the-art in Ukrainian legal scholarship visible and accessible to the international research community and to stimulate global debates in academia and politics. Therefore, it may be of interest and use to anyone who is interested in competition and intellectual property law, and/or in Ukraine.

In recent years the European Union has developed a comprehensive strategy to conclude free trade agreements which includes not only prominent trade partners such as Canada, the United States and Japan but also numerous developing countries. This book looks at the existing WTO law and at the new EU free trade agreements with the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa through the lens of the human right to adequate food. It shows how the clauses on the import and export of food included in recent free trade agreements limit the capacity of these countries to implement food security policies and to respect their human rights obligations. This outcome appears to be at odds with international human rights law and dismissive of existing human rights references in EU-founding treaties as well as in treaties between the EU and developing states. Yet, the book argues against the conception in human rights literature that there is an inflexible agenda encoded in world trade law which is fundamentally conflictual with non-economic interests. The book puts forward the idea that the European Union is perfectly placed to develop a narrative of globalisation considering other areas of public international law when negotiating trade agreements and argues that the EU does have the competences and influence to uphold a role of international leadership in designing a sustainable global trading system. Will the EU be ambitious enough? A timely contribution to the growing academic literature on the relation between world trade law and international human rights law, this book imagines a central role for the EU in reconciling these two areas of international law.

The EEA Agreement extends the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital to the EEA/EFTA States: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It provides for equal conditions of competition and abolishes discrimination on grounds of nationality in all 31 EEA States. The successful operation of the EEA depends upon a two-pillar system of supervision involving the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority. A two-pillar structure has also been established in respect of judicial control with the EFTA Court operating in parallel to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The EFTA Court, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2014, has jurisdiction with regard to EFTA States which are parties to the EEA Agreement. The jurisdiction of the EFTA Court accordingly corresponds to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union over EU Member States in matters of EEA law. The essays in this collection, assembled to celebrate the 20 year landmark, and written by members of the Court and external experts, review the successes and shortcomings of the Court, its interface with EU law, and the prospects for its future development.

Published in 1997, in this book an attempt has been made to analyze the legal structure of GATT and the WTO as well as those agreements which control trade in textiles. One of the GATT's major failures was its inability to come into line with the new economic reality and the needs of those states who created this system for controlling international trade. Trade in textiles was an excellent example of this. Now, the WTO aims to overcome this problem thanks to its greater pragmatism and its search for solutions to free trade difficulties. The WTO is not, however, the perfect solution. Its highly political character allows room for improvement even though the key to its success still lies with the effective cooperation of member states. As for the textile sector, this new panorama for trade in goods provides it with a new opportunity to finally return to the general legal framework in the year 2005.

To reflect the need for increasing expertise in a highly complex legal arena, the Conseil International du Batiment pour la Recherche L'Etude et la Documentation (CIB) inaugurated an international task force, TG15, to study the area of construction disputes around the world, which now has more than 120 members in 30 countries. Drawing from an international expert author based from the CIB taskforce, and edited by coordinators of TG15, experts representing both the legal and construction professions, this book aims to provide a first reference for those considering, or already, working in the international workplace. Each of the 25 national monographs report on construction dispute practice and procedure according to a standard format, providing the reader with the necessary tools for managing conflicts and resolving disputes on construction projects in different countries.

This authoritative collection demonstrates the increasing application of the law and economics methodology to the problems of developing countries. At the foundation of this application is the institutional approach to economic development, which emphasises the success or failure of key institutions in facilitating development. The impact on future research will be far-reaching and is expected to dominate the debate on development issues for a long time to come. There has been an outpouring of literature, both theoretical and empirical, that examines various facets of development from an institutional perspective and emphasises the crucial role played by the legal system in the economic development of nations. The editors have drawn together a careful selection of the key papers for inclusion in this volume, which will be an invaluable reference for lawyers, economists and development practitioners.

World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade remedies (antidumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard agreements) are instruments used by WTO members to counter the economic injury caused by dumping, subsidies and the sudden and unforeseen increased imports. They are exceptions to the WTO principle of free trade and to the prohibition for States to react unilaterally to protect their own rights and interests, and as a result they have been accused by some as being the new tools of protectionism. This book analyses of the role and principles of WTO trade remedies in international law. In particular, it focuses on their aims, their structure, and their position within the WTO and more in general, the international legal system. The book considers trade remedies in light of fragmentation theories of international law and addresses the question how, and to what extent WTO law reflects and influences public international law.