The NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitral award on UPS v. Canada is out. Of particular interest is the difference of opinion on the relation between Canada's "Publications Assistance Program" and the Cultural Industries exception of Article 2106 NAFTA (Tribunal majority: it's a carve out, and conditioning periodical benefits on distribution via Canada Post benefits a cultural industry; Minority opinion (Dean Ronald Cass) what's cultural about a red/blue truck vs. a brown truck?). Much of this debate hinges on textual analysis of the NAFTA and CUSFTA language, and so is of limited non-NAFTA application, but interesting nevertheless. The full text is available on Todd Weiler's www.investmentclaims.org, at http://investmentclaims.com/decisions/UPSMeritsAward24May2007.pdf .
Timely fodder for a conference on trade and culture at National Taiwan University next week.
T.
