From the proposed revision to the EU's tobacco products directive, mentioned in the last post: (15) The likelihood of diverging regulation is further increased by concerns over tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco products, having a characterising flavour other than tobacco, which may facilitate uptake of tobacco consumption or

From Reuters: The European Union's executive Commission is to propose larger health warnings on cigarette packets and a total ban on flavorings such as menthol, a draft revision of EU tobacco rules seen by Reuters showed on Monday. The proposals stop short of forcing all cigarettes to be

A few months ago, I mentioned the surge in WTO disputes this year.  Well, they keep coming, and it may be starting to strain the WTO's resources.  Reuters reports: A surge in trade disputes has forced the World Trade Organization to reallocate staff to cope with a flood

A recent poll in New Zealand asked the following: New Zealand is currently negotiating a free trade and investment treaty with ten other countries called the Trans Pacific Partnership. As part of the negotiations, there is a proposal to allow foreign investors to sue governments in private offshore tribunals if

You are forgiven if you have forgotten about the WTO Gambling dispute.  It has been a while since anything happened.  But apparently it is at long last on to the next stage, as Antigua announces (Word doc) that retaliation is coming: On 21 December 2007, the Arbitrators determined in document

This is from a Washington Post article on a recent survey of federal workers: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative ranks as the worst small agency, [with only 32.7 percent of employees saying they are satisfied]. Former employees said its sense of mission was eroded by an

From the ASIL-IEcLIG: Elizabeth Trujillo from Suffolk University Law School and Jason Yackee from University of Wisconsin School of Law have been elected to be Co-Chairs of the International Economic Law Interest Group for ASIL.   Jason and Elizabeth are stepping in after 2 years as being Co-Vice Chairs under the

One last post on the Eli Lilly NAFTA Chapter 11 complaint (unless someone else has something they want to add).  Eli Lilly's national treatment argument is as follows: 106.  The  measures in  issue  de facto  discriminate  against Lilly,  a  U.S. investor,  when compared to domestic investors, by

In the last post, Henning provided an excellent summary of the key substantive parts of the Eli Lilly NAFTA Chapter 11 complaint as it relates to IP law.  Let me just make a more general point here (and another more specific point in the next post). In Eli Lilly'

A Guest Post by Henning Grosse Ruse - Khan: Last week, Luke Peterson reported that the U.S. based pharma corporation Eli Lilly has put Canada on notice of its intent to submit a claim to arbitration under NAFTA Chapter 11 following the invalidation of some of its patents by