This article uses Australia as a case study to identify the issues that may arise in ensuring compliance of plain tobacco packaging measures with international investment law. It explains how the tobacco industry could use investor-state dispute settlement under Australia’s investment...

Cross-border paperless trade is increasingly important to generate economic gains in a digitalised economy. Several developing and least developed countries will need to modernise their domestic laws and regulations to facilitate cross-border electronic transmissions, particularly to promote...

This chapter introduces the general and security exceptions in Articles XX and XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (‘GATT 1994’) and Articles XIV and XIV bis of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (‘GATS’). The general exceptions are key provisions of the GATT...

The Australian federal government recently released an exposure draft of legislation to introduce a scheme for the mandatory ‘plain packaging’ of cigarettes and other tobacco products from 2012. The scheme will prohibit the use of brand logos, graphics and colors on tobacco products and...

China’s currency policy is one of the most hotly debated subjects in recent international monetary history. This chapter sets out the current legal framework at the International Monetary Fund (“IMF” or “Fund”) governing its members’ exchange rate policies, and the global system of...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a number of strategies to combat non-communicable diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, by targeting the risk factors of tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, and poor diet. A number of the...

Intellectual property is routinely regulated by international investment agreements (‘IIAs’) as a protected class of investment. However, it has only emerged as a subject of investment claims in recent years and in relatively few niche cases, and as such the relationship between intellectual...

Australia’s introduction of plain packaging of cigarettes, which is a world first, has prompted international legal challenges under both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the bilateral investment treaty between Australia and Hong Kong. These international legal challenges raise questions...

This chapter provides a snapshot of how international trade and investment law can protect foreign investments in the resources sector. It first considers the applicability to the resources sector of international trade law, primarily found in the law of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’)...

This is a submission to the New Zealand Ministry of Health on its Proposal to Introduce Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products in New Zealand set out in the Ministry’s Consultation Document of July 2012. The submission addresses the implications for the Proposal of New Zealand’s obligations...