The panel and the Appellate Body have recently examined one of the national tobacco control measures (US – Measures Affecting the Productions and Sale of Clove Cigarettes). The dispute, which emerged between the United States and Indonesia, concerned the US ban on the use of certain flavouring...

State capitalism is reemerging today. Some governments, notably newly emerging economies such as China and Russia and oil producing countries in the Middle East are placing much emphasis on state-led economic development, and they are making much use of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to achieve...

On-going discussions on food security as both an element of the right to food and a goal for agricultural policy focus on the situation of the respective rights holders and the corresponding duty-bearers, i.e. individuals and the state. Yet, the coincidence of the recent food crisis and the...

China is a major recipient of foreign investment and has become a major investor internationally. Its active participation in international treaties relating to investment, in the form of bilateral investment treaties and, more recently, free trade agreements, when combined with the outward push...

The backlash against the expansive interpretation of key disciplines of international investment law by arbitral tribunals has prompted a host of strategies, implemented mostly by developing countries, aimed at walking away from the system. These range from denouncing the ICSID Convention and...

In this paper, I highlight that international investment law, as a subsystem, should evolve to accept rules from other subsystems of law, e.g., human rights, trade (WTO law and RTA law), and environmental. This proposed evolution would need to include the acceptance of new tools that would help...

This presentation considers the prospective development of policy frameworks for foreign direct investment in developing and emerging economies. It first considers the implications of two decisions on FDI in South Africa and the extent to which they dealt with potential inconsistencies between...

The recent stunning failure of banks has put regulatory intervention high on the agenda of governments. Adequate risk monitoring, including by credit rating agencies, as well as measurement and management have proven a daunting task, whereas regulation of innovative financial instruments has not...

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions), adopted on 20 October 2005, has breathed new life into the ‘trade and culture' debate. Witness the fact that several scholars have discussed the...

This paper argues that GSP labour rights conditionality is in conformity with WTO law. This hinges on the critical question of whether the realisation of labour standards can meet a ‘development need,' a term considered by the WTO Appellate Body report in the EC – Tariffs Preferences case,...