It is of course unwise to say very much about the Biotech ruling without having the reasons.  In fact, it is probably even misleading to say that the EC "lost" or the US "won."   The reasons of the panel may overall be of more assistance to

WIth the addition of Joost Pauwelyn, Debra Steger and Chantal Thomas, the blog now has three new formidable contributors.  I look forward with great anticipation to their posts.

The following quick and dirty summary is based on the panel's conclusions and recommendations in the interim report from the Trade Observatory website (focusing on the U.S. complaint).  It summarizes the summary, and is perforce wholly ignorant of the panel's legal reasoning and detailed assessment

As noted in an earlier post, the interim panel report in the GMOs case was issued to the parties yesterday.  Despite the confidentiality requirement that applies to interim reports, there has been some discussion of the case in the press.  It is unclear at this point how accurate this discussion

ABB is cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department regarding suspect payments that it made in at least one middle eastern country.  The question that may come to mind is why the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act would seem to apply to actions by a Swedish/Swiss corporation in

I am extremely pleased to welcome Jeff Dunoff of Temple Law School and Joanne Scott of University College London (visiting this year at Harvard) to the blog.  I look forward very much to their contributions.

The preliminary report has apparently been distributed to the parties, and it indicates, as many expected, that the EU has lost.  As suggested earlier, we will have to wait until the report is available to the public, but as details leak out, we will try to note them here.

Frederick Kempe writes in today's WSJ: The initial responses to Mr. Mittal's bid last week were quasi-racist, questioning his non-European values. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker vowed to use "all necessary means" to block the bid. Yet the rhetoric has now

I would like to welcome Greg Shaffer and Todd Weiler, and soon Steve Charnovitz, to the band of bloggers.  I look forward with great anticipation to their insightful contributions.  I also look forward to announcing further additions to the group soon.

It is remarkable that the media's focus on the WTO is exhausted in the question will it or will it not yield an outcome this time (Doha round)? The WTO is a public institution, and public perceptions matter. Its biggest accomplishment, I would submit, is its very existence: