From the European Commission: EU trade officials will today start analysing responses to a public consultation on investment protection and ISDS in TTIP, a new EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated. The survey closed yesterday, almost four months after its launch in March. European citizens and interest groups replied

I'm always on the lookout for good controversies on discrimination outside the WTO context, just to see how others do it.  From the Economist, here's a potential case: BAVARIANS have long been cranky about having to pay road tolls every time they drive through Austria, say,

Edited by Debra Steger, former Director of the Appellate Body Secretariat and now a law professor: With a membership of 160 countries, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international organization with responsibility for the global rules of trade between nations. Its stated principal function is to ensure that trade

That's one of the issues in an ongoing NAFTA Chapter 11 case.  Pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly is making an Article 1110 expropration claim related to the invalidation of certain of its patents in Canadian courts (it also makes an Article 1105 minimum standard of treatment claim).  More background

Our co-blogger Bryan Mercurio published an excellent policy brief at the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin. (“International investment agreements and public health: neutralizing a threat through treaty drafting”) This is his conclusion: “International investment agreements need not pose a threat to legitimate health measures. The addition of limitation clauses

Last week, Andrew posted about the possibility of an exception to investment obligations, as part of the TTIP.  I'm interested to see where exceptions of this sort can take us in terms of preserving policy space, but I think we should also consider the obligations themselves as part

GATT Article X:2 provides that: 2. No measure of general application taken by any contracting party effecting an advance in a rate of duty or other charge on imports under an established and uniform practice, or imposing a new or more burdensome requirement, restriction or prohibition on imports, or

Early next week, plurilateral negotiations on liberalization of trade in green goods will be launched at the WTO.  The negotiations are based on an agreement between a sub-set of WTO Members that was announced at Davos, and represent a new beginning for the treatment of environmental goods and services

Simon has noted on the blog before the increasing interest in including an Article XX-type exception in investment agreements, as a way of helping to resolve some of the regulatory issues raised by, eg, the FET and expropriation obligations. Indeed, many of you will have seen that Article XX