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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

An EU Model BIT?

From a recent EU DG Trade civil society meeting on trade and investment: Jean François Brakeland debriefed on the state of play of the preparatory work conducted by the Commission in order to implement the EU exclusive competence on FDI, as conferred by the Lisbon Treaty. He started his presentation

BP and Investor-State Dispute Settlement (or Lack Thereof)

From Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club: As we wait for President Obama's speech tonight on the oil catastrophe in the Gulf, it's important to understand that many of the options he has discussed -- from requiring BP to set funds aside in escrow for cleanup

Competing IEL Visions of Football/Soccer

From Marcus Cole: To the true football fan, the World Cup itself is part of an ideological struggle between two competing corporate goliaths, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) and the Union of European Football Associations (“UEFA”). Even the names of the two organizations are themselves indicative of the

The Clove Cigarettes Panel Request

Indonesia has now requested a panel in the U.S. - Clove Cigarettes (DS406) dispute. The request is here: http://www.worldtradelaw.net/pr/ds406-2(pr).pdf It's not much different from the consultations request, but does add some more specific TBT claims. I don't think

Krugman on Currency Undervaluation and WTO Law

From Paul Krugman: China says that accusing it of subsidizing its exports via its exchange rate policy — and imposing a countervailing duty — would violate WTO rules. Hmm. Before we talk legalese, let’s focus on the essentials. An export subsidy is WTO-illegal. An import tariff is WTO-illegal. A

Gambling Dispute Update

Have you been wondering what has been happening with the U.S.-Antigua WTO Gambling dispute? Is the U.S. ever going to implement? Is Antigua going to push for implementation? This article perhaps provides some insights about what the commercial interests involved have been up to: Atlantic City'

The Intersection of Investment Treaty Law and WTO Law

I think it has been pretty obvious from my blogging that I've developed an interest in investment law and disputes over the past year or so. As a result, this looks quite interesting to me: Walid Ben Hamida and Todd Weiler, will be editing a TDM Special Issue

Speaking of Dissents

Speaking of dissents, as we have been, I just noticed something from the U.S. China - Exportation of Raw Materials submission. As mentioned in the last post, the U.S. made the following argument: 363. The reasoning of a General Agreements on Tariff and Trade 1947 (“GATT 1947”) panel supports

China - Exportation of Raw Materials: The Dispute Gets Under Way

A couple weeks ago, former Appellate Body Member Jim Bacchus had an op-ed in the W$J, talking about China's export restrictions on raw materials: The international trading system is about to encounter an entirely new challenge. The global hunger for natural resources is inspiring a surge

More USTR TPP Chatting

Next week USTR will be doing more online chatting about the TPP. Here's the question I submitted this time: When do you anticipate that draft negotiating texts for specific topics will be completed? When will they be released to the public? You can submit your question here: http: