A quote from NZ trade minister Tim Groser: "Of course trade agreements involve concessions over the sovereign rights of countries to do things," he told the Weekend Herald. " That's the point of international law." New Zealand's problem had been the "excess

From law prof Jarrod Wong: The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) will be holding its Second Annual Winter Forum at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, Florida on January 24-25, 2013. The first half of the Winter Forum will showcase two works-in-progress selected pursuant to a Call-for-Papers, encompassing presentations by authors,

I mentioned the WTO law of foie gras bans here.  A WTO complaint may be unlikely, but apparently a commerce clause challenge (along with due process challenges as well) has begun.  Here is an excerpt from the complaint: 14 THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION 15 Declaratory Relief - Violation of the

Andrew Mitchell and I are editing a forthcoming special issue on Legal Issues in Tobacco Control in Transnational Dispute Management. It will examine legal issues surrounding international related disputes arising from tobacco regulation and control. This is a particularly urgent topic for examination in view of the ongoing investment arbitration

What struck me the most reading the recent AB report on COOL, is how, for the third time in a row, the AB found a violation of discrimination (under TBT Art. 2.1), but shied away from finding the measure “more trade restrictive than necessary” (pursuant to TBT Art. 2.

That's the question Rob and Joanna asked here.  Here's how I see it (and by that I mean, here's how I think it should be, not how it currently is in the jurisprudence!). There are three elements to determining whether a measure is discriminatory.

A couple months ago in Cloves, the Appellate Body had the following to say about the "less favourable treatment" standard" of TBT Article 2.1: 215. ... Where the technical regulation at issue does not de jure discriminate against imports, a panel must carefully scrutinize the particular circumstances

In the U.S., everyone is focused on today's health care ruling.  If you can tear yourself away (or if you are from somewhere else and/or just don't care), let me mention the Opinio Juris discussion of an article by Rob Howse and Joanna Langille.

Many years ago, Joel mentioned trade law issues related to Chicago's ban on foie gras.  Perhaps now that a bigger market (California) has passed its own ban, we may see the issue raised at the WTO: TOULOUSE, France -- France's foie gras industry says legislation due