Simon Lester

I've been reading the U.S. - Animals (yes, that's the official short title!) WTO panel report.  It's over 200 pages long, and goes into great detail about foot and mouth disease and the relevant international standards, before delving into a variety of claims

I recently came across this: According to US trade lawyer Simon Lester, dispute settlement between states under the TPP or TTIP would then require them to invoke their rights within the WTO and seek the jurisdiction of the WTO’s dispute settlement understanding (DSU). However, the right to invoke the

From the NY Times: Cost transparency bills [for pharmaceuticals] have also been introduced in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania. Three of the bills require disclosures for drugs costing $10,000 or more per year. The others have different criteria. Besides development costs, some of the bills would require

This is from Charles Kenny and Sarah Dykstra of the Center for Global Development: Use US trade and investment treaties to foster greater gender equality in the workplace. US bilateral trade and investment treaties frequently contain language about labor laws and working conditions. For instance, US bilateral investment treaties include

Todd Tucker points me to this from the NY Times: Shut out from borrowing in traditional markets, Ecuador turned to China to fill the void. PetroChina, the government-backed oil company, lent Petroecuador $1 billion in August 2009 for two years at 7.25 percent interest. Within a year, more Chinese

Just recently, I wondered why Canada needs an Agreement on Internal Trade.  Doesn't, or at least shouldn't, its constitution provide for internal free trade?  Well, it appears that someone has decided to push this issue in Canadian courts: A man whose drive from New Brunswick to

This is from the University of New South Wales (UNSW): The CIBEL (China International Business and Economic Law) Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship is an opportunity for early career researchers of exceptional calibre who have completed their doctorate (PhD or SJD) in the last five years to undertake research in a CIBEL

Australia will have mandatory country of origin labelling for food soon: Australia will introduce mandatory country-of-origin food labeling from 2016, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, a move given impetus by a hepatitis outbreak earlier in the year blamed on contaminated berries from China. Under the new rules, food

It should be obvious to long-time readers that I am concerned about policy space and regulatory autonomy under trade and investment agreements.  However, I have doubts that the "right to regulate" is a good way to describe the issue: Talk of "rights" can be unproductive when

This is from Canada's Premiers (a group made up of Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial Premiers.) Premiers also announced the coming into force of an improved Person-to-Government dispute settlement process under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). The new dispute process includes the introduction of monetary penalties