The EU's Product Liability Directive (PLD) determines the rules for strict product liability in the EU. It establishes a framework in which manufacturers' liability is determined solely based on the presence of defects in the product, regardless of the manufacturer's fault. The PLD is intended...

The Brussels Effect, once emblematic of the EU's alleged influence in shaping global regulations, has now become a factor contributing to global regulatory fragmentation. The EU must recalibrate its trajectory towards a liberal and rules-based trading order, prioritizing widespread regulatory...

This is the season for regional-integration initiatives in Asia. There is talk of region-wide FTAs, and there are east-Asian initiatives on financial and monetary cooperation. But grand visions for Asian regional blocs are not achievable. Regional economic integration is most developed in east...

The global economic crisis has sparked short-term divergence of economic performance between the West and emerging markets, and thereby accelerated the longer-run convergence of the latter on the former. This Shift to the East is also even more evident in international trade and FDI than it is...

More, not less, competition in the EU's gas markets is required to achieve a Single Market and to therefore reduce Europe's vulnerability to gas supply cuts originating in Russia. In particular, the East-West divide within the EU in terms of competition policy revealed in this paper must be...

This paper weighs the case for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Taiwan. It focuses on the role Taiwan has to play in the EU's economic and geopolitical strategy in Asia. Taiwan is one of the key players in the world's Information and Communication Technology (ICT)...

This study examines the potential gains from a transatlantic zero-tariff agreement on trade in goods. The idea of deeper transatlantic economic integration has become more attractive in recent years. The hopes for an ambitious multilateral trade deal in the Doha Round negotiations have diminished;...

This paper surveys and discusses the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in the European Union and its compatibility with EU obligations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). More particularly, it intends to shed light on the evolvement of policies in Europe to protect biofuels producers from...

Covid-19 and its broader implications have highlighted the importance of Europe's digital transformation to ensure Europeans' social and economic well-being. It provides important new learnings about Europe's quest for "technology sovereignty". While the debate about technology sovereignty is...

In den vergangenen Monaten wurden von einigen führenden Europapolitikern Strategien zur Erreichung einer sog. "europäischen Technologiesouveränität" gefordert. Die Fokussierung auf technologische und zuweilen auch "industrielle Souveränität" durch Politiker in Brüssel, Paris und anderen...