Simon Lester

The other day I mentioned the EU WTO complaint regarding "sequencing" of DSU Article 21.5 and 22 in the Clove Cigarettes case.  The EU consultations request is here. The EU is upset that Indonesia pursued the case by going directly to DSU Article 22.2 for suspension

From Inside U.S. Trade, this is Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talking food labelling in the EU and U.S.: Vilsack also seemed to urge a rethink of an EU law that requires food containing more than 0.9 percent GMO-derived product to be labeled as such. While hinting

From the Washington Post: The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.” The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was

From the American Embassy in Berlin: The U.S. Mission to Germany Public Affairs Section (PAS) is soliciting proposals from not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions that focus on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP).  The goal is to keep our publics informed

For you academics out there: University of Bern, Department of Economic Law Professorship in European and International Economic Law (100%, open rank) The Department of Economic Law at the University of Bern is seeking to fill the position of a professor of European and International Economic Law as of the

"Wait, what?", you might be saying. "I thought Indonesia was complaining about the U.S. clove cigarettes measure.  Why is the EU complaining against Indonesia now?" The full consultations request is not public yet, but here is the WTO news release: The EU considers that Indonesia

Recall that the Australia - Korea FTA had a general exception to the investment obligations.  Now here's the one in the just released Canada - Korea FTA: 3. For the purposes of Chapter Eight (Investment), subject to the requirement that those measures are not applied in a manner that would

Whether plain packaging is effective at discouraging smoking could be an important issue in the WTO plain packaging dispute.  What does the evidence show?  Not surprisingly, there is some disagreement. On the "it works" side, there's this: Australia’s landmark cigarette legislation banning logos and putting

For you law professors out there searching for a good exam question, take a look at this fact pattern from an Economist article: IN PALAU, the traditional prescription for an ailing reef is a fishing ban called a bul. Local chiefs may declare a bul to rest a busy fishing

A while back, I was thinking about the Australian plain packaging law, and it occurred to me that people were saying "plain package" and "cigarettes" together quite a lot, and the terms are now associated closely with one another.  With that in mind, wouldn't