Simon Lester

This is from the EFILA blog: It has been argued that ISDS would not be necessary between developed States. ISDS would grant foreign investors additional rights and treat them better than domestic investors. That is – at least for Germany – not correct. And that is not due to an extraordinary high

The U.S. government has further modified its dolphin-safe labelling measure, in an attempt to bring the measure into compliance with the WTO rulings against it. Here are the various elements of the change: This interim final rule makes six amendments to the regulations, as explained below, none of which

There's a lot of talk these days in international economic law -- both in disputes and negotiations -- about the marketing of traditional tobacco products. My sense is that this issue is on its way out, and in the coming years the big issue will be the marketing

We are hosting a discussion at the Cato Institute on the politics of investment treaties in developing countries, on Friday, April 15th at 4:30-6:00. The discussion will take as its starting point a new book by Lauge Poulsen, entitled "Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy: The Politics of

In a recent talk at a European Community Studies Association conference in Salzburg on CETA, TTIP and TISA, Lorand Bartels said something along these lines (sorry, no link, but Lorand assures me he said it!): Trade is not the most important value and the GATT exceptions say that other values

Let's say that, eventually, CETA comes into force, and the new version of ISDS with an international investment court tribunal, as well as an appellate tribunal, is in effect. Presumably, the members of these tribunals will need some assistance with their work. Here's where CETA suggests

Mexico has moved forward in the Tuna WTO proceedings, announcing its proposed amount of retaliation: In accordance with Article 22.2, Mexico requests authorization from the DSB to suspend the application to the United States of tariff concessions and other related obligations in the goods sector under GATT 1994 in

Here is an exchange from a New Zealand parliamentary hearing on the TPP: Clark: On that point, the non-tariff barrier portion of the argument—the analysis, or the modelling, seems to have gone to a view that, crudely characterised as “Think of a number and then halve it.” in terms

Here is the abstract of a new paper from Krzysztof Pelc, entitled "Does the Investment Regime Induce Frivolous Litigation?": The treatment of foreign investment has become the most controversial issue in global governance. At the centre of the controversy lies the mechanism of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which

Apparently, I am going to have to learn a bit more about H-1B visas. They are the subject of a new Indian WTO complaint against the U.S., which I may have something to say about next week. And they came up in last night's Republican presidential debate: