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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

Notes from the Bananas 21.5 Panel Hearing

As announced by the WTO, the recent panel hearings in the EC - Bananas, Article 21.5 dispute brought by the U.S. were open to the public. Unlike some other recent open panel hearings, for this one the public could view the questions from the panel and the parties'

Coming Soon: The Gambling Arbitration Ruling

One of Antigua's lawyers says the Arbitrator's ruling in the Gambling case will be out on November 30. I will be very impressed if they can reach a decision by then -- they have a lot to sort through. He also said that any IP sanctions might

Trade in Everything: North Korean Tourism

The Economist provides the details: GLOBAL capitalism has worked many wonders, but where in the free world can one see 10,000 children dancing in synchronisation, dressed as eggs? Such weirdness makes North Korea, a basket-case state, a must for a certain sort of backpacker. Tourist visas have been

Mitt Romney's Trade Vision

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has put forward the outlines of his vision for trade, which he calls the "Reagan Zone Of Economic Freedom" (hat tip to Eyes on Trade). One aspect is the following: Starting with a core of U.S. free trade agreement partners, Governor Romney

Trade in Everything: Mercenary Services

I found this Bloomberg article on Fijian mercenaries very interesting from a trade perspective: Since the 1970s, this impoverished and remote remnant of the British Empire has positioned itself as a discount-soldier surplus store. Its best customer has been the United Nations' peacekeeping operations. Today, on the post-

The Return of PPMs

In defense of a proposed measure that would penalize production processes according to the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, to be imposed on both domestic and imported products, a French Minister says: ... France would press for an EU-wide surcharge that would ensure that the price of both domestic

More From The Gambling 22.6 Arbitration

In earlier posts on the Gambling arbitration, I focused on the figures involved, but there is an underlying interpretive issue that is very interesting which, as far as I know, has not been addressed before. Antigua argues that the amount of nullification or impairment should be based on the failure

More (Alleged) Canadian Tax Breaks

As mentioned a little while ago, the U.S. seems to have decided not to challenge alleged Canadian tax incentives to lure TV and film production. But now the UK is alleging that Canada is using tax breaks to get video game producers to locate there: UK Culture Minister Margaret

American Versus European Legal Thought

This post from the Antitrust Review blog is a little off-topic, but I found it interesting, and perhaps other trade lawyers who have worked in both American and European legal systems will as well: ... legal scholarship in the US is dominated by an external or policy point of view,

IEL Conference in New Zealand

For those in the neighborhood, or who want to take a nice trip, the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law is holding its inaugural conference on 14-15 December 2007 in Wellington, New Zealand. The conference is entitled: International Economic Law and National Autonomy: Convergence or Divergence? The program