重塑国际投资法

随着昔日的发展中国家，像中国和印度，逐步成为发达国家，大量资本流动加速了经济秩序的变化，从而导致了国际投资法的危机。投资协定仲裁所采取的的监管限制更加剧了这个危机。对上述危机的回应，包括了所谓的既不保证投资安全，也不带来明确规则的"平衡条约"。我们急需一个新的开始

An International Investment Court: panacea or purgatory?

EU officials have proposed the establishment of a permanent court for investment disputes. But there is no guarantee that bias, the reason for the lacking legitimacy of investment arbitration, does not affect judges. This Perspective suggests that it may be preferable for investment disputes to be settled by domestic courts

Starting anew in international investment law

There is a crisis in international investment law brought about by rapid changes in the economic order resulting in movements of capital from erstwhile developing countries like China and India into developed ones. This is accentuated by the stances taken in investment treaty arbitration that restrict regulatory control. The reaction has been to bring about so called "balanced treaties" that neither secure investment protection nor bring about clear rules on regulatory control. There is a need for a new beginning

国际投资法院——优化还是倒退？

EU officials have proposed the establishment of a permanent court for investment disputes. But there is no guarantee that bias, the reason for the lacking legitimacy of investment arbitration, does not affect judges. This Perspective suggests that it may be preferable for investment disputes to be settled by domestic courts

Reimagining the Framework for Resolving Intra-African Commercial Disputes in the Context of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement

This article examines the effectiveness of the framework for the resolution of intra-African cross-border commercial disputes, arising from the projected increase in intra-African trade in goods, services, and investments under the African Continental Free Trade Area. It examines the peculiar nature of intra-African trade and of the participating entities to provide the context to discuss the three major processes adopted in commercial dispute resolution (litigation, mediation, and arbitration) in Africa. It then argues for the promotion of arbitration as the dispute resolution process of choice for such disputes. It reimagined the framework for arbitration at the continental level and made two proposals targeted at the greater efficiency of the process: the designation of Regional Arbitration Centres across the African Union's eight recognized Regional Economic Communities, to administer such references; and the establishment of an African Commercial Court as a one-stop court for the enforcement or annulment of the final award

The Future of International Investment Regulation: Towards a World Investment Organisation?

With growth in foreign investment and in the number of companies investing in foreign countries, the application of general principles of public international law has not been deemed adequate to regulate foreign investment and there is, as yet, no comprehensive international treaty on the regulation of foreign investment. Consequently, states have resorted to bilateral investment treaties (BITs), regional trade and international investment agreements (IIAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) to supplement and complement the regime of protection for foreign investors. In the absence of an international investment court, states hosting foreign investment or investor states have opted for investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS). This mechanism has brought about its own challenges to the international law of foreign investment due to inconsistency in the application and interpretation of the key principles of international investment law by such arbitration tribunals, and further, there is no appellate mechanism to bring about some cohesion and consistency in jurisprudence. Therefore, there are various proposals mooted by scholars to address these challenges and they range from tweaks to BITs and IIAs, the creation of an appellate mechanism and the negotiation of a multilateral treaty to proposals for reform of ISDS only. After assessing the merits and demerits of such proposals, this study goes further, arguing for the creation of a World Investment Organisation (WIO) with a standing mechanism for settlement of investment disputes in order to ensure legal certainty, predictability and the promotion of the flow of foreign investment in a sustainable and responsible manner

Pakistan's Cold War(s) and International Law

Against a great deal of contemporary Cold War scholarship, this chapter argues that Pakistan’s complex relations with the United States—as well as with the Soviet Union, China, India and Afghanistan—place it firmly at the centre of global Cold War politics. What’s more, as a curious site of many a ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ regional war since its inception, including those occurring well after the supposed end of the global Cold War, Pakistan’s story to date is one of seemingly infinite warfare and political instability. This chapter contends that this story is a reflection of the state’s continuous internal class struggle as well as its early less-than-successful attempts to excel in Cold War international lawfare in which its neighbouring states and the two global superpowers have arguably been more successful. The chapter shows that often-idiosyncratic interventions of Pakistan’s diplomats and international lawyers form a distinct legal and political trajectory, which is at odds with arbitrary, yet ubiquitous, conceptual delineations between ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ wars, in particular in the Global South

International trade law, plain packaging and tobacco industry political activity:the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Tobacco companies are increasingly turning to trade and investment agreements to challenge measures aimed at reducing tobacco use. This study examines their efforts to influence the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major trade and investment agreement which may eventually cover 40% of the world's population; focusing on how these efforts might enhance the industry's power to challenge the introduction of plain packaging. Specifically, the paper discusses the implications for public health regulation of Philip Morris International's interest in using the TPP to: shape the bureaucratic structures and decision-making processes of business regulation at the national level; introduce a higher standard of protection for trademarks than is currently provided under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; and expand the coverage of Investor-State Dispute Settlement which empowers corporations to litigate directly against governments where they are deemed to be in breach of investment agreements. The large number of countries involved in the TPP underlines its risk to the development of tobacco regulation globally

Calcyon Forms a Novel Ternary Complex with Dopamine D-1 Receptor through PSD-95 Protein and Plays a Role in Dopamine Receptor Internalization

Calcyon, once known for interacting directly with the dopamine D-1 receptor (D1DR), is implicated in various neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although its direct interaction with D1DR has been shown to be misinterpreted, it still plays important roles in D1DR signaling. Here, we found that calcyon interacts with the PSD-95 and subsequently forms a ternary complex with D1DR through PSD-95. Calcyon is phosphorylated on Ser-169 by the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate or by the D1DR agonist SKF-81297, and its phosphorylation increases its association with PSD-95 and recruitment to the cell surface. Interestingly, the internalization of D1DR at the cell surface was enhanced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and SKF-81297 in the presence of calcyon, but not in the presence of its S169A phospho-deficient mutant, suggesting that the phosphorylation of calcyon and the internalization of the surface D1DR are tightly correlated. Our results suggest that calcyon regulates D1DR trafficking by forming a ternary complex with D1DR through PSD-95 and thus possibly linking glutamatergic and dopamine receptor signalings. This also raises the possibility that a novel ternary complex could represent a potential therapeutic target for the modulation of related neuropsychiatric disorders.close5