Simon Lester

There has been a lot of hand-wringing about the post-Brexit UK-EU trading relationship as it relates to regulations. Here's an example: Sigurd Braathen worked for a lifetime to build his family’s industrial company into a profitable venture with sales across Europe. Then an environmental diktat from Brussels

From Inside US Trade: In advance of the negotiating round for a Trade In Services Agreement that kicked off today (July 8), the European Union proposed a text on dispute settlement that does not reflect the EU's previous demand for a dispute settlement system with an appeals process,

Two good (and free) edited collections are available. Here's one on subsidies, edited by Luca Rubini and Jennifer Hawkins: What shapes the law? : reflections on the history, law, politics and economics of international and European subsidy disciplines This book puts together several contributions that, from various time, system

From TDM: We are pleased to announce a forthcoming Transnational Dispute Management (TDM, ISSN 1875-4120) special issue on "Non-Legal Adjudicators in National and International Disputes". This special issue will analyse the current scenario, as well as new trends, developments, and challenges that non-legal adjudicators face when resolving national

This is from last week's Philip Morris v. Uruguay investment arbitration award: 266 The Claimants also argue that a trademark is a property right under Uruguayan law which thus accords a right to use. Again, nothing in their argument supports the conclusion that a trademark grants an inalienable

From the Economist: The state-owned China National Tobacco Corporation controls the production and sale of all tobacco in China. That the government profits from puffing perhaps explains why it has taken so few anti-smoking measures since China signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. Packets carry

Gary Born's separate opinion in the Philip Morris v. Uruguay award (see Annex B) is referred to as a "concurring and dissenting opinion," but I'm going to focus on the dissent part. Read his whole opinion, of course, but a good summary comes early

From the FT: Uruguay has won a landmark lawsuit against Philip Morris International, which was suing the South American country for its strict regulations on smoking in what was seen as a test case for the tobacco industry. The full decision can be found here. A good summary of the

This is from the USTR summary of the TPP SPS chapter: Cooperative Technical Consultations (CTC) To help encourage the early and expeditious resolution of SPS matters, the SPS chapter establishes a consultative mechanism under which relevant agencies will work to find science-based solutions to SPS issues that emerge between TPP

This year's EUI/WTI/CEPR World Trade Forum is 23 - 24 September in Florence, focusing on behind-the-border policies and global trade: This year’s World Trade Forum – an annual event that is organised by the World Trade Institute (Bern), the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (European