2. The implications of the status quo for non-product related PPMs measures The issue of the assessment of non-product-related PPMs measures under the GATT is critical for climate policies and trade. As noted in Part 1, WTO Members wishing to implement non-product related PPMs measures will likely be blamed for infringing WTO law, regardless of…

Processes or production methods (PPMs) of goods are connected to many environmental crises the world is facing. The most notable in this respect are PPMs leading to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Naturally, many of the measures of environmental protection that are increasingly taken or under consideration by governments (especially those taken to comply with their…

Striving to become the first climate neutral continent globally, the European Union announced the European Green Deal to decouple economic growth from resource use with just and inclusive transition. With the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by at least 55% by 2030, an Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Strategy was communicated by the…

Is there any practical value to international agreements without enforcement instruments? And can the multilateral rules of the world trade system hold the trust of the member states, so that they continue to adhere to the mutual benefits and obligations under WTO law – even if the WTO dispute settlement system is totally or even…

Click here for Part I Blowin’ in the wind. (Or the failed promises of the WTO’s Sustainable Development Agenda) The trumpets of Sustainable Development blew heartily at the creation of the WTO, which succeeded the GATT in 1994, just two years after the Rio Summit. For starters, The Marrakech Agreement establishing the WTO[1] explicitly listed…

At the end of 2020, the long overdue conclusion of the fisheries subsidies negotiation was once again postponed in the WTO. Any reasonable observer would have long ago concluded that the environment was the “the lost cause” in this organisation. Reasons to think so are many. Yet there are also strong grounds to believe the…

President-elect Biden’s victory has been met with relief by many in the international trade community. Despite a plethora of obstacles he faces, Biden is expected to conduct U.S. international trade policy in a different way, including the use of multilateral approaches rather than “going it alone,” diplomacy instead of taunts and insults, collaboration not flying…

In the aftermath of the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference held at Buenos Aires in December 2017, four groups of WTO Members launched negotiations, agreeing to advance discussions on four vital trade issues – investment facilitation, domestic regulations in services, electronic-commerce (E-Commerce), and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). These joint initiatives were launched through independent…

1. Introduction On 20 October 2020, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (“PTS”) decided to approve Hi3G Access AB, Net4Mobility HB, Telia Sverige AB and Teracom AB as participants in auction proceedings regarding the granting of licenses to use radio transmitters in the frequency bands 3,5 GHz and 2,3 GHz.  In laying down the requirements…

President-elect Biden’s victory has been met with relief by many in the international trade community. Despite expected obstacles he faces, Biden is expected to conduct U.S. international trade policy in a different way, including the use of multilateral approaches rather than “going it alone,” diplomacy instead of taunts and insults, collaboration not flying “solo,” and…

India imposed a ban on 247 Chinese mobile application including TikTok, PubG, Helo, and WeChat on the basis that these applications are involved in activities which are detrimental to the sovereignty and security of India. The Government stated that it has received complaints from many sources regarding the misuse of these apps to steal and…

Since December of last year, the WTO Appellate Body has been unable to hear new appeals[1]. Some WTO members have created the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). It offers a path forward, but how does it work and what is its future? Who are the MPIA parties? In April, a group of WTO Members…

I. Introduction In Part 1 of this post, we examined the draft amendment to the Polish Act on the National Cybersecurity System [“Polish National Cybersecurity Act”] introduced by the Polish Minister for Digitization on 7 September 2020.[1] We explained that Draft Article 66a of the Polish Act sets out new regulations for the Polish telecommunications…

The popular video-sharing mobile app TikTok has been in the news of late. President Trump signed an executive order on August 6, banning TikTok unless it is acquired by a U.S. company by September 15th.[1] This order comes on the heels of similar action taken by India, which banned 59 applications owned by companies in…

Recent events, most notably the Covid-19 pandemic, have brought home the point as never before how inter-connected and inter-dependent the world that we live in has become, and how vulnerable humans are to nature and natural phenomena, and how fragile human societies and enterprises are in the face of forces and science that are beyond…

On 22 April 2020, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, announced a “Proclamation  suspending entry of immigrants who present risk to the U.S. Labour Market during the economic recovery following the COVID-19 Outbreak” (“Proclamation”). Is the Proclamation compatible with the United States’ WTO obligations?  Specifically, is in line with obligations relating to the supply of services…

In a recent US WTO challenge, the Panel decided that certain Indian export incentive schemes were prohibited export subsidies. The Panel Report demands that these schemes be phased out, despite the fact that it will adversely affect exporters and India’s large current account deficit.[1]  Developing nations, like India, resort to export subsidies to stimulate industrial…

Between a rock (trade wars) and a hard place (U.S. critiques), the WTO Appellate Body has been passing through some turbulent times. Due to the paralysis of the Appellate Body, the European Union (EU) and some other twenty countries have agreed on an arrangement, known as the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which allows…

1. Introduction The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the frontline many national law and policy issues, from the importance of national health systems to work security. Similarly, in the international arena the outbreak of COVID-19 has shown the fragility of global supply chains and global cooperation.[1] While appeals not to destroy supply chains abound,…

I am not going to get involved in the discussions that have followed the blog post by Jorge Miranda and Manual Sanchez-Miranda, or even to speculate on what is likely to happen after December 10th when the World Trade Organization (WTO) no longer has a functioning Appellate Body.  Instead, I want to reflect briefly on…