Chapters relating to regulatory coherence or cooperation are becoming significant features in new preferential trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While the existing literature has considered in detail the potential for harmonisation of standards or institutional...

This chapter examines the prominent role that Australia has played in the multilateral trading system, with a specific focus on the WTO and Australia's preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Australia has been actively involved in the WTO, through GATT and WTO negotiations, WTO committee work,...

Chapters relating to regulatory coherence or cooperation are likely to be significant features of new preferential trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While the potential for harmonisation of standards or institutional cooperation to impact on the regulatory autonomy...

International trade and international investment agreements typically contain provisions requiring the parties to comply with good governance principles, such as procedural fairness and transparency. These provisions are increasingly the subject of disputes before international tribunals. The...

Since the adoption of the World Health Organization’s WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, governments have been pursuing progressively stronger and more wide-reaching tobacco control measures. In response, tobacco companies are frequently using international trade and investment...

Under existing food labelling rules in Australia, palm oil can be classified generically as a ‘vegetable oil' on labels. The Community Affairs Committee of the Australian Senate is currently conducting an inquiry into the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling — Palm Oil) Bill 2010...

Democracy and administrative law concern ideas of governance, legitimacy, and accountability. With the growth of bureaucracy and regulation, many democratic theorists would argue that administrative law mechanisms are essential to achieving democratic objectives. This article considers the World...

When deciding whether a general rule is inconsistent with the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a distinction has been drawn between rules that 'mandate' violations of WTO law, and rules that provide the 'discretion' to violate WTO law. Measures that include a discretionary element...

Commitments to facilitate climate friendly FDI increasingly feature in investment facilitation agreements, in broader trade agreements and in non-binding green economy agreements. This Perspective argues that commitments for ongoing cooperation, which identify shared priorities and establish...