Simon Lester

In the comments, Tom Miles of Reuters asks a great question, one that I had been wondering about: I've been thinking about the question of tobacco control legislation from the perspective of a nascent marijuana industry, and would be interested to know if any of your readers think

From the FT: A marijuana hangover is starting to hit the beer industry. At the beginning of last month, Colorado became the first US state to allow the sale of pot for recreational use. The end of pot's prohibition has rattled the beer industry for years, raising fears

From the EU's other appellant submission in EC - Seal Products: 284. The European Union appeals the Panel's finding that it "do[es] not consider that the legal standard with respect to the non-discrimination obligation under Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement 'equally

This is from what looks like a fairly recent (November 2013) leaked draft of the CETA text: Article x-14: Claims Manifestly Without Legal Merit 1. The respondent may, either no later than 30 days after the constitution of a tribunal pursuant to Article x- (Constitution of Tribunal) and in

Canada's is here; Norway's is here. It's hard to predict how these appeals will go.  What issues will the AB focus on?  How much of the panel's findings will the AB revise?  Maybe the oral hearing will give us an indication. In

As all of you international law experts out there know far better than I do, Article 30(3) of the VCLT states: 3. When all the parties to the earlier treaty are parties also to the later treaty but the earlier treaty is not terminated or suspended in operation under

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht gave a speech on the TTIP today.  In it, he said this about investor-state: Investment agreements also exist for a reason. Europe's economy – and Germany's in particular – benefits from the investments our companies make in other countries. And it

The Faroe Islands' WTO complaint against the EU related to herring is going to be really interesting.  We might finally get some guidance on an issue I find challenging:  How to deal with "coercive economic measures."  Here's how the panel request in the case starts:

From the European Commission: EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht today announced his decision to consult the public on the investment provisions of a future EU-US trade deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The decision follows unprecedented public interest in the talks. It also reflects

From today's Presidential Policy Directive on Signals Intelligence Activities: (c) The collection of foreign private commercial information or trade secrets is authorized only to protect the national security of the United States or its partners and allies. It is not an authorized foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to