This article contributes a counter-example to the discussion about the negative effects of regionalism on the multilateral trading order. The article analyses the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations during the Uruguay Round and shows that France was induced to accept a...

This paper provides a legal analysis of the significance of standards, technical regulations and SPS provisions (collectively, "TBTSPS") in regional trade agreements ("RTAs") in relation to the multilateral trading system. From a normative perspective, it examines the way in which RTA regulation...

We provide a synthesis of the theoretical models that study the use of escape clauses, also known as safeguards, in multilateral and preferential trade agreements. We consider models that explain this type of flexibility based on economic efficiency, political economy shocks, and...

The recent Covid-19 global health crisis not only brings into sharp relief the current problems afflicting the international intellectual property regime (IIPR) but also calls into question its legitimacy as an interna- tional authority. Against this backdrop, the article aims to launch an...

This article reflects on the suitability of including non-legal arbitrators in certain investment arbitrations. It presents different mechanisms that have been used in the investment arbitration context to aid legal arbitrators with scientific-technical issues and contemplates the drawbacks of...

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become an indelible feature of the international trading landscape. Most, if not all, RTAs contain provisions that establish procedures for resolving disputes among their signatory members. Yet, the design and functioning of these dispute settlement...

This paper addresses the paradox of trade dispute settlement in which countries allocate resources to the creation of dispute settlement mechanisms in regional trade agreements even as the WTO's system has become the primary forum for the arbitration of state-to-state disputes. I argue that...