International Trade and Investment Agreements in Light of the Integration Principle

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger

This chapter asks how the principle of integration can translate to the international level, and reviews and discusses trade and investment treaties in the context of this principle. It begins by proving that sustainable development is a ‘purpose’ of over thirty treaties, and that they explicitly commit to achieve this purpose in very diverse sectors and ways, using the FAO Seed Treaty as an example to prove this point. It considers the role of the ‘purposive approach’ in treaty interpretation, in light of the interpretive rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), and the limitations of this approach, noting alternative views that are equally relevant. The chapter then goes on to discuss how the integration principle might assist in interpreting provisions of trade and investment agreements, as a basis for later examination of progress in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and in bilateral and regional economic negotiations which make an explicit commitment to sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 759-803
Author(s):  
Anna Ventouratou

Abstract This paper examines the role of general international law in the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, using the rules on state responsibility as a case study. It identifies and discusses instances in WTO case law where such rules were applied directly or were taken into consideration in interpreting relevant WTO provisions. The analysis demonstrates that direct application of general international law for the determination of indispensable matters not regulated by the WTO Agreements is part of the inherent powers of WTO adjudicative bodies. Moreover, under Article 3(2) Dispute Settlement Understanding and Article 31(3)(c) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, WTO adjudicative bodies have an obligation to take into account general international law in interpreting relevant WTO provisions. The paper delineates the methodology for assessing the interaction between general international law and WTO law and highlights the importance of adhering to this methodology to provide clarity and legal certainty regarding the scope and content of WTO obligations.



Fisheries ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Sauskan ◽  
Viktor Osadchii ◽  
Aleksandr Arkhipov

A role of Russian science is increasing along with domestic fisheries development in the world Ocean. One of the main tasks of researchers is to protect the interests of Russian fisheries on the international level. Such protection is based on living resources investigation and formulation of recommendations on their sustainable development, taking into account the international regulations’ and bilateral agreements’ demands.



Author(s):  
Cosette D Creamer ◽  
Zuzanna Godzimirska

This chapter sheds light on the relationship between the composition of the bench and the sociological legitimacy of the judicial branch of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Two identity characteristics are consistently part of the criticism of the WTO’s bench: the lack of female adjudicators as well as individuals with academic experience. Overall, however, the identity of the bench does not appear to matter greatly for how WTO Members evaluate its exercise of authority. We suggest that the role of the WTO’s Legal Affairs Division and the Appellate Body Secretariat in streamlining outcomes and procedures may best explain this, as it helps prevent such diversity from manifesting in dispute rulings. Alternatively, it tells us that judicial diversity matters more for the bench’s normative legitimacy—and for scholars—than it does for governments.





2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Daria Boklan ◽  
Olga Belova

Abstract Accession of Russia and Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) constitutes a landmark event in the history of this organization, especially in relation to trade in energy, in general, and trade in electricity, in particular. As a result, the role of the WTO in regulating trade in electricity has increasingly grown. However, the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, a treaty that binds both Russia and Kazakhstan, necessitates additional regulation for trade in electricity, concurrent with law of the WTO. Recently, this treaty was amended by the Protocol on Common Electricity Market on 1 July 2019. As a result, compatibility issues between the rules of the WTO and the Eurasian Economic Union arise. This article concludes that the law of the WTO can be relevant to trade in electricity between Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union and third countries because of the specific place of the rules of the WTO under the Eurasian Economic Union legal order.



2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Williams

This article assesses the first decade of the trade-environment debate, and explores the possibilities for reconciliation of competing positions on trade-environment issues. It explores three aspects of the continuing conflict over trade and environment in the World Trade Organization. Rejecting both optimistic and pessimistic accounts of the past and future of the trade-environment debate it argues that important changes have occurred that have transformed the debate. But, despite the normalization of the trade-environment debate around the concept of sustainable development significant points of contention remain among the various participants.



2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 118-139
Author(s):  
Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo

Abstract The role of education and research in social progress is vital. Since China was admitted into the World Trade Organization in 2001, its economic, financial and trade assistance with Africa has intensified, reflecting certain aspects of the claims associated with the Bandung Conference in 1955. And Japanese relations with Africa, which were at their peak from the end of 1980s through the beginning of the 1990s, have steadily been declining. Furthermore, as China has become the second largest economy in the World since 2010, it has begun projecting its influential power in Africa. Despite the newfound emergence of Chinese power in Africa, it is Japan that has created the strongest institutional support of its activities in the name of new Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA), which redefines Japan relationship with Africa through the TICAD initiative. The competition between these two powers can benefit Africa if she can build her political leverage in her own capacity to identify her priorities with confidence and determination. Using comparative and historical perspectives, this article focuses on the examination of the new trends regarding Chinese and Japanese assistance to Africa with a particular focus on education and research.



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