'Interim agreements' under Article XXIV GATT

AbstractThis note looks at the WTO rules and procedures applicable to the implementation period of regional trade agreements on trade in goods. In addition, it highlights some differences between law and practice and explores the implications of these divergences. Where the GATT and subsequent instruments draw a distinction between ‘full’ regional trade agreements and ‘interim’ agreements, in practice all agreements are notified as ‘full’ agreements with an implementation period. It analyses the possibility that this deviation from the law, now sanctioned in the 2006 Transparency Decision, might have some practical implications for the regulation of regional trade agreements in the WTO.This material is copyright Cambridge University Press or reproduced with permission from other copyright owners. It may be downloaded and printed for personal reference, but not otherwise copied, altered in any way or transmitted to others (unless explicitly stated otherwise) without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. Hypertext links to other Web locations are for the convenience of users and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by Cambridge University Press

The EU's Human Rights Obligations in Relation to Policies with Extraterritorial Effects

That states can be responsible for the effects of their economic policies in third countries is not controversial. Thanks to a network of international trade agreements, virtually all states are under obligations designed to protect the economic interests of the producers of imported goods and services. And yet the proposition that states should also be responsible for the human rights effects of such policy measures is not universally accepted. Thus, a subsidy that causes injury to the domestic industry of a WTO Member or a market access barrier that negatively affects conditions of competition for imported products can violate trade obligations. But even if those effects on the producers of those products are severe, it is debatable whether they are capable of violating any given human rights obligations. In short, the extent to which human rights obligations apply to policies with extraterritorial effects is still very much an open question. This article considers the extent to which EU law applies to such policies, which is to say EU policies with extraterritorial effects on persons outside of EU territory. Section A discusses the human rights aspects of Article 3(5) and Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which date from the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. Second B looks at the jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice on EU fundamental rights as these exist as general principles of EU law and in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as influenced by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Section C discusses the EU’s obligation to comply with its international obligations, including with the human rights clauses found in all EU trade and cooperation agreements and with customary international law. Section D considers the enforceability of these obligations by the EU institutions and individuals. Section E summarises and concludes.This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in the European Journal of International Law ( http://www.ejil.org/ ) following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is forthcoming and a link to the published version will be added here on publication

The Relationship between the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and the SCM Agreement: An Analysis of Hierarchy Rules in the WTO Legal System

This is the final version of the article. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Wolters Kluwer

Eine menschenrechtliche Modellklausel für die völkerrechtlichen Abkommen der Europäischen Union

Die Studie gibt Anregungen und Empfehlungen, wie die Aufforderung der UN-Leitprinzipien für Wirtschaft und Menschenrechte umgesetzt werden könnte: "Staaten müssen den Schutz vor Menschenrechtsverletzungen gewähren." Mit dieser Feststellung beginnen die UN-Leitprinzipien für Wirtschaft und Menschenrechte, die im Juni 2011 vom UN-Menschenrechtsrat angenommen wurden. Mit der Annahme der Leitprinzipien liegt ein international abgestimmter Rahmen vor, der von Staaten verlangt, wirtschaftliche Beziehungen so auszugestalten und geeignete Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, "um Verletzungen zu verhüten, zu untersuchen, zu ahnden und wiedergutzumachen". Die Leitprinzipien beziehen sich explizit auch auf internationale Abkommen im Bereich der Handels- und Investitionspolitik

Trade and Agriculture Commission: Advice to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the UK’s Accession Protocol to CPTPP

Advice on the extent to which the measures in the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which are applicable to trade in agricultural products are consistent with the maintenance of UK levels of statutory protection in relation to: . animal or plant life or health . animal welfare . environmental protection

THE SEPARATION OF POWERS IN THE WTO: HOW TO AVOID JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

As with other legal systems based on a separation of powers, the World Trade Organization is marked by a degree of tension between its political organs and its quasi-judicial organs, in particular the Appellate Body. In late 2000 this tension spilled out into the public domain, when the Appellate Body announced a procedure for the filing ofamicus curiaebriefs in theEC-Asbestoscase.1The question of public participation in WTO dispute settlement proceedings is sensitive to many WTO Members, and in expressly encouraging the submission ofamicusbriefs in this way the Appellate Body was felt to be overstepping its functions.2In the end, this dispute settled with a draw, the Appellate Body deciding that it had no need to consider any of theamicusbriefs submitted in that particular case, and yet still maintaining that panels and the Appellate Body have the right to take unsolicitedamicusbriefs into account, should they so choose.</jats:p