Benn McGrady has more details on the US trade in tobacco proposal: through questioning it was possible to get a better sense of what is being proposed. So, this is my (incomplete) understanding of the proposal: 1. There will be some language recognizing the uniquely harmful character of tobacco products.

Call for papers Standard of Review in International Courts and Tribunals Rethinking the Fragmentation and Constitutionalization of International Law 26-27 October 2012 Sponsored by: COST Action IS1003, International Law Between Constitutionalization and Fragmentation http://www.il-cf.eu and University of Seville, Faculty of Law The fragmentation of international law is

In an amicus brief in the Canada - Renewable Energy case (DS412), several NGOs make the argument for GATT Article XX to be treated as an exception to the SCM Agreement.  Here's an excerpt: 1.3 The reference to ‘this Agreement’ in Article XX does not foreclose its

From USTR: TPP TOBACCO PROPOSAL We are currently consulting with stakeholders and Congress on our draft proposal. Below is a detailed summary of the current draft proposal, which we have prepared in order to facilitate meaningful engagement on its contents. The draft proposal has three elements: • It would explicitly recognize

From today's Tuna decision: 405. To us, it seems that the Panel's decision  to exercise judicial economy rested upon the assumption that the obligations under Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement and Articles I:1 and III:4 of the GATT 1994 are substantially the

Following up on my post from yesterday, here are a couple quick thoughts on the tuna decision (http://www.worldtradelaw.net/reports/wtoab/us-tunamexico(ab).pdf ). First, the Appellate Body upheld the finding that the measure is a "technical regulation". Second, they reversed the finding of violation under

... is coming tomorrow (May 16). It is almost certain to have a lot of interesting things in it. Some possible issues: – Is the measure at issue a technical regulation? And more generally, what exactly is the scope of "technical regulations"?  We have discussed this here on this blog

Trade lawyer Bernard O'Connor has more to say about China and market economy status: Introduction In a first note (published on VOXEU and re-posted on WorldTradeLaw net) I looked at whether China was automatically entitled to Market Economy Status (MES) in 2016 on the basis of the Accession

As mentioned in this post, a group of law professors wrote a letter criticizing the transparency of the TPP negotiating process. They received a reply from USTR Ron Kirk, and have posted it: I look forward to reviewing your letter, and will provide a more detailed response later.   In the

A group of law professors has written a letter criticizing the lack of transparency in the TPP negotiations. Here's an excerpt: Our concerns flow from the now-established observation that “trade” agreements no longer focus exclusively, or perhaps even predominantly, on the regulation of trade. Rather, the agreements increasingly