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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

Chilean Junk Food Regulations

From the latest TBT Committee meeting: Several delegations ... raised new concerns regarding Chile's proposed amendments to its Food Health Regulations — which would place “STOP” signs on junk food. Pursuant to the amendment, certain categories of food would need to bear labels designated to inform and encourage consumers to

GATT BISDs for Sale

This is from GATT/WTO expert and trade lawyer Chris Parlin: Selling complete set of original GATT BISD's -- 2 initial volumes & all 42 annual supplements (1948-1994). All GATT decisions – including dispute settlement reports, waivers and interpretations. WTO reprint edition costs 1850 Swiss Francs. Will sell for

Amicus Submissions in the Canada - Renewable Energy/FIT Appeal

I'm not sure whether any of the parties' submissions will be available in the Renewable Energy/Feed-In Tariff (DS412,426) appeal prior to the completion of the proceedings, but for those who are interested, here are two amicus submissions: -- from Professor Luca Rubini: http://www.worldtradelaw.

"Economic Statecraft" and Trade Rules

Edward Alden of CFR has a blog post telling us that new Secretary of State John Kerry will continue Hillary Clinton’s signature “economic statecraft” initiative, which worked like this: … Clinton began to use State Department assets to strengthen the U.S. economy. That meant deploying embassy staff to promote

Complying with the COOL Ruling

The compliance deadlines in the three TBT cases (Clove Cigarettes, Tuna, and COOL) are coming up soon. COOL is up first: May 23. USDA has just issued a proposed rule designed to bring the U.S. COOL measure into compliance. As they explain: The proposed rule would modify the labeling

Canadian Investor-State Issues

Having mentioned some Canada - EU investment text tension the other day, let me follow-up with some additional notes on Canadian happenings in investment law. First, some Canadian groups are challenging the signed, but not yet ratified, Canada - China investment treaty in domestic court: If Canadian legislators do sign a

Call for Candidates: DISSETTLE PhD Fellowships in Economics

Call for Candidates: DISSETTLE PhD Fellowships in Economics Applications are invited for three Researchers at early stages of their career to join the Warsaw node of the DISSETTLE network as PhD candidates in Economics from August/September 2013 or at an earlier date to be agreed The recruited people would

Suddenly, Americans Like Trade Again

Here are some Gallup poll numbers on Americans' feelings about trade: Of course, the question is terribly phrased. It contrasts "growth through exports" with a "threat from imports." It has mercantilism embedded in it! But nevertheless, the most recent polling is kind of surprising. The

The Difficulty of Negotiating Investment Rules

Canada and the EU are having some trouble, apparently: A set of leaked documents obtained by The Canadian Press show Canada and the European Union are still far apart in deciding how much power investors should have under their pending free-trade agreement. A Feb. 7 draft of the investment

Iceland, Clean Energy, and Trade Policy

This NY Times article about Iceland's geothermal energy is fascinating from a trade and investment perspetive. Basically, Iceland has lots of cheap, clean geothermal energy. They currently use it to attract investment. And they may lay a long cable so that they can export it: the power company