Simon Lester

Boston College law prof Frank Garcia has a new book called "Global Justice and International Economic Law." There's a lot going on in the book, and I can't do a full review here, but I wanted to mention one point he makes: Trade agreements

This is from a Washington Post article about USDA's revision to its country of origin labeling (COOL) measures, in response to a WTO ruling that the measures violate WTO obligations: But the regulations, posted Friday by the Department of Agriculture, are the latest move in a trade dispute

From the ASIL-IEcLIG: The American Society of International Law’s International Economic Law Interest Group (ASIL IEcLIG) is pleased to issue a Call for Proposals for its inaugural Junior Scholars Research Forum, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, in Philadelphia, on November 22, 2013.

The latest WTO complaint, on various EU measures related to the biodiesel industry, is now available here: http://www.worldtradelaw.net/cr/ds459-1(cr).pdf  There are some complicated measures involved, and I don't claim to fully understand it all yet.  Here are some excerpts: The measures

Following up on the post from the other day, let's see what the EU member states think of an investment agreement with China: The European Commission decided today to ask the Member States for their agreement on a mandate to open negotiations on an investment agreement with China.

Well, sort of: The WTO’s Appellate Body ruled that the program’s requirement that meat producers gather a greater amount of information about meat origins than is ultimately conveyed to consumers downstream violated WTO requirements. To address this concern, USDA’s new rule will offer consumers more precise labels

The issue of trade in lethal injection drugs came up a while ago in relation to U.S. excecutions.  But we are not the only executioner around, and similar issues have now arisen in Viet Nam: Vietnam has issued a new law allowing domestically produced chemicals to be used in

I've always thought that the importance of production and process methods for the analysis of WTO rules is greatly overstated, but I recognize that others find it relevant, or at least interesting.  Hence, I feel obligated to point to the following statement by the AB in para. 5.

From Reuters: Some EU member states are also concerned that a procedure included in the mandate to allow for resolving disputes between investors and states. While such dispute mechanisms are increasingly common in free trade agreements, some EU diplomats say they are not necessary for two parties with strong legal

Commenting on the panel report, economist Amar Breckenridge says no: The reason governments choose to support the development of renewables is not primarily because of concerns regarding the adequacy and affordability of supply. Rather it is because lower emissions sources of energy, such as renewables, confer a positive benefit to