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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

Menthol Cigarette Discrimination in the EU

Poland is going to to challenge the EU ban on menthol cigarettes under EU law: Poland will appeal to Europe's top court over a European Union ban on flavoured tobacco products, saying it will be unfairly affected as one of the region's biggest consumers and producers

State Owned Enterprises at Home and Abroad

One aspect of the TPP negotiations that I have not followed closely is rules for state owned enterprises. I'll take a look at it all eventually, but I've been waiting for more leaks and commentary, to explain the different views. In the meantime, though, I wonder

The Scope of the Prudential Exception

We talked about the "prudential exception" here, here, and here. I have a short law journal article coming out on this soon, where I basically argue that the exception is badly worded, nevertheless probably works as an exception, but could and should be redrafted in future trade agreements

Is There a Middle Ground on ISDS?

From the European Commission: EU trade officials will today start analysing responses to a public consultation on investment protection and ISDS in TTIP, a new EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated. The survey closed yesterday, almost four months after its launch in March. European citizens and interest groups replied

Non-Discrimination on German Roads

I'm always on the lookout for good controversies on discrimination outside the WTO context, just to see how others do it. From the Economist, here's a potential case: BAVARIANS have long been cranky about having to pay road tolls every time they drive through Austria, say,

Five Volumes on the WTO

Edited by Debra Steger, former Director of the Appellate Body Secretariat and now a law professor: With a membership of 160 countries, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international organization with responsibility for the global rules of trade between nations. Its stated principal function is to ensure that trade

Can Patent Invalidation Constitute Expropriation?

That's one of the issues in an ongoing NAFTA Chapter 11 case. Pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly is making an Article 1110 expropration claim related to the invalidation of certain of its patents in Canadian courts (it also makes an Article 1105 minimum standard of treatment claim). More background

What about FET and Indirect Expropriation?

Last week, Andrew posted about the possibility of an exception to investment obligations, as part of the TTIP. I'm interested to see where exceptions of this sort can take us in terms of preserving policy space, but I think we should also consider the obligations themselves as part

WorldTradeLaw.net

Many of you have probably noticed a new WorldTradeLaw.net web site. Some aspects of the site are free for everyone, so I thought I'd mention one particular issue here on this blog: How to link to PDF versions of WTO DS documents on the site. On the

Regulatory Cooperation Needs the Cooperation of the Regulators

This is from Inside U.S. Trade ($): Representatives of two U.S. regulatory agencies yesterday (June 24) expressed varying degrees of skepticism toward the idea of expanded regulatory cooperation with the European Union under a U.S.-EU trade deal, and raised fears that an agreement could slow down their