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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

The Ukraine Plain Packaging WTO Dispute Has Been Suspended

This is from the Chair of the DS434 Plain Packaging WTO panel: On 28 May 2015, the Panel received a request from Ukraine to suspend the proceedings in Australia – Certain Measures concerning Trademarks and other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging (WT/DS434) pursuant to Article 12.

Guest Post on the US - COOL AB 21.5 Report

This is a guest post from Geneva-based trade lawyer Adarsh Ramanujan“Risks non-fulfilment would create” I wanted to follow-up from Simon’s post last week on the Article 2.2, TBT jurisprudence arising from the Article 21.5 AB Report in US – COOL. I believe there are

QRs Notified with a GATT Article XXI Defense

The WTO Secretariat has issued an interesting report on notified quantitative restrictions: 1.1. This report has been prepared at request of the Chairperson of the Committee on Market Access with a view to providing Members with factual information on the notifications of quantitative restrictions (QRs), which have been received

Can the TPP Fix the NAFTA Chapter 20 Dispute Process?

From a recent paper by Hugo Perezcano: Even though the United States committed to — and indeed required — eliminating tariffs and other barriers so that there would be free trade in all goods, it has also failed to live up to its obligations as regards trade in sugar. This breach of

Modelling the Benefits of Trade Agreements

I'm as skeptical about estimates of gains/losses from trade agreements as I am about trade polling. How many jobs will be added/lost? How much will GDP rise/fall? I'm not sure there are any good answers out there, although I think economists should keep

Trade Polling

Generally speaking, I don't think much of the polling done on trade issues. The questions are too vaguely worded to tell us much. So, I'm never sure what to make of news reports like this one: Most Americans say they support new trade deals, according to

More Plain Packaging

This time from Norway: Norway’s Ministry of Health and Care Services has proposed the imposition of a requirement for all tobacco products to be sold in standardized packaging, according to a World Trade Organization notification. It has not been decided when the measure should be adopted or when it

TPA is Half Done

The Senate half is done. From Reuters: President Barack Obama scored a major victory on Friday when the U.S. Senate voted to give him "fast-track" powers that would help wrap up negotiations on a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal central to projecting American influence in

Plain Packaging Litigation is Everywhere

Now it's in the UK and EU: Two of the world's biggest tobacco companies have challenged the legality of the UK government's plain packaging regulations. British American Tobacco and Philip Morris filed legal objections at the High Court in London on Friday. They claim

Long Liberalization Periods

This is from "The Puzzle of Agricultural Exceptionalism in International Trade Policy", by Michael Trebilcock and Kristen Pue: ... Hence, in explaining the resilience of the agricultural sector to efforts to liberalize trade in agricultural products we are left with a rather untidy amalgam of some elements of normative