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...

This chapter in the forthcoming Elgar Encyclopedia of International Economic Law examines the following topics with respect to Australia: trade; investment; financial regulation; and artificial intelligence. Further information about Australia – including the legislative process, the relationship...

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...

This article provides an overview of the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a treaty the parties have described as comprehensive and ambitious, yet also representing a balance of competing interests. The article focuses on the TPP's chapters relating to investment,...

The relationship between the bilateral investment treaty (‘BIT') between Australia and China (1988) and the preferential trade agreement between those countries (‘ChAFTA') (2015) provides an interesting case study of the co-existence of successive treaties under public international law....

The 2020 Defence Strategic Update recognises that Australia’s interests are corroded where states evade the rules-based order to carry out subversive ‘grey-zone’ activities in pursuit of interests contrary to Australia’s. Weaponised Trade is a grey zone activity of particular concern for...

Many of the VCLT rules on the law of treaties are based on the assumption that the parties which entered into the treaty and are bound by its obligations are also the key beneficiaries of the treaty. While IIAs are agreements between states and part of public international law, they are...