Rob Howse

The day began with the panel hearing from Third Parties. I had been eagerly anticipating Russia’s debut in WTO litigation but it didn’t happen.  Even though Russia pursued and attained Third Party status late in the game, and was present in the room during the hearing, they stayed

Canada’s oral presentation of the law, and the law as applied to the facts, threw no curveballs, and was a pretty clear and concise précis of its first written submission.  But some of the key fault lines and tensions in Canada’s position also emerged with great clarity. Let’

The public viewing room for the hearings is vast, sunken, dark-it makes the screen on which the images are displayed seem like an old-fashioned camera obscura.  I am reminded of Plato’s cave.  Small cluster of observers huddle in the different aisles of seats—like the gangs and cliques in

On the trip to Geneva for the Seal Products hearings I've been reading Benn Steil's account of the struggle of personalities, ideas and national allegiances in the creation of the post-war international economic order.  This is a fascinating tale, told with a sense of dramatic tension,

Along with two colleagues, Canadian jurists Joanna Langille and Katie Sykes, I have filed an amicus curiae brief with the panel in the Seal Products dispute.  While some of it may be familiar from my Yale article with Jo Langille, in our brief  the Canadian submission to the panel is

The submission can be found here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/wtodispute/show.cfm?id=475&code=2#_eu-submissions Canada appears to be still hiding its submission from the public.  The submission has been leaked to various individuals, however, and I have seen a copy.  Reading the EU submission

Russia's participation as a third party in the seal products dispute between Canada and the EU will be an early opportunity to see how it approaches WTO litigation.  As I have noted in previous posts, Russia has banned imports of seal fur and its market is understood to

Canada (or perhaps it's just the sealing lobby) is feeding the media spin that the EU seal products ban is hypocritical because the EU accepts the culling of seals for sustainable management of the marine environment. Here's my response (an excerpt of a letter to the

As promised, a further report from the World Trade Forum. Among the highlights (there were many-congrats to Thomas Cottier and his team for a great meeting) was the debate on the WTO and the issue of currency manipulation to gain an advantage in trade.  Particularly interesting were the diverse perspectives

A study by veterinary scientists in the September 2012 issue of Marine Policy shows that the conditions under which the Canadian seal hunt occurs are such that it is impossible to assure the humane treatment of the seals.  By implication, only a ban can succeed in addressing the EU concern