{"title":"Dynamic diffusion","authors":"Anu Bradford, Adam Chilton, Katerina Linos","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae034","url":null,"abstract":"Research on legal diffusion typically focuses on laws’ initial adoption and ignores their later evolution. We develop a typology of three subsequent diffusion patterns: convergence, when countries revise laws to move closer to leading regulators; customization, when countries revise laws to move away from leading regulators; and stagnation, when countries cease legislating, leaving initially adopted laws in place. We then propose a general theory suggesting that economic size and geographic distance from leading regulators predict which of the three patterns countries follow. We explore this theory with case studies on the dynamic diffusion of antitrust laws in Russia, Colombia, and Australia.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142257706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The automatic termination clause in the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement—brinkmanship for future negotiation or a time bomb for self-destruction?","authors":"Jaemin Lee","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae030","url":null,"abstract":"The Fisheries Subsidies Agreement (FSA) is an important stride forward, but its future is uncertain because of the embedded automatic termination clause. There is a substantial possibility that this provision comes into effect. It would be prudent to focus on how best to utilize the FSA before that scenario materializes. Most notably, international law jurisprudence and World Trade Organization precedents posit that panels can continue to review disputes and issue decisions even after the FSA is terminated as long as the disputes are brought to them before termination. The automatic termination clause is a unique, unprecedented feature, which may kill the hard-earned momentum of the fisheries subsidies regulation. If managed well, however, the potential damage can be controlled and the new agreement can be utilized for the ultimate success of global fisheries subsidies regulation.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142269262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rethinking the ‘Full Reparation’ standard in energy investment arbitration: how to take climate change into account","authors":"Yawen Zheng","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae033","url":null,"abstract":"One crucial measure to curb global warming is the phasing out of fossil fuel production, but doing so can deprive the value of foreign investments in fossil fuels and amount to breaches of investment treaties. Normally, investment treaties are silent about the standards of compensation when treaty violations are established. Tribunals mostly refer to the ‘full reparation’ standard in general international law, potentially resulting in high amounts of compensation that place a significant burden on States implementing climate actions. This paper argues that the amount of compensation under the ‘full reparation’ standard can be reduced on four grounds: (i) depressed energy price in the peak demand era, (ii) unviability of fossil fuel projects, (iii) international environmental obligations, and (iv) international environmental principles. An interpretation document entered into by States can clarify the application of the ‘full reparation’ standard and ensure that these factors are taken into account in quantifying compensation.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142178238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The utility of appellate review at the WTO and its optimal structure","authors":"Alan O Sykes","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae029","url":null,"abstract":"The impasse over the appointment of judges to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body shows no signs of abating, raising considerable doubt about the future of appellate review in WTO disputes. This paper examines the rationale for appellate review in the WTO, drawing on both the history of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the economic literature assessing the desirability of appellate review in judicial systems. It argues that the WTO does not present a compelling economic case for a two-stage judicial process. It further argues that if some form of appellate review is to be retained in the WTO, a discretionary ‘certiorari-like’ mechanism may be the best option.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142178237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Regulatory autonomy in digital trade agreements","authors":"Mira Burri, Kholofelo Kugler","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae025","url":null,"abstract":"Digital trade agreements have become integral fora for regulating cross-border digital commercial transactions, including data flows. Deeper commitments in the area of digital trade have however raised serious concerns over the erosion of countries’ regulatory autonomy, prompting the inclusion of an array of safeguards within these treaties. This article undertakes a comprehensive examination of these safeguard mechanisms, which include carve-outs, transition periods, the right to regulate, and exception clauses. By shedding light on the nuances of these safeguard provisions, as well as their complex interplay with commitments made, the article provides a deeper understanding of the evolving dynamics of digital trade governance and its implications for national regulatory autonomy. Based on existing jurisprudence and legal doctrine, the article also tests the scope of the provided policy space, the trade-offs between flexibility and legal certainty, and examines how future-proof the bounds of regulatory autonomy are, considering the highly fluid technological environment.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141772210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel D. Bradlow, Rosa M Lastra, Stephen Kim Park
{"title":"Re-thinking the sustainability of sovereign debt","authors":"Daniel D. Bradlow, Rosa M Lastra, Stephen Kim Park","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article explores the contributions that law can make to the development of a holistic approach to sovereign debt sustainability. We focus on debt sustainability assessments (DSAs) conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are linked to the IMF’s surveillance and lending functions, and determine whether it is necessary to restructure the debt of a country in debt distress and the timing, process, and terms of such a debt restructuring. While the precise causes of each country’s debt situation are unique, all countries are grappling with the rising costs and growing risks posed by climate change and other environmental and social factors. We suggest that the IMF’s current treatment of these environmental and social factors is opaque, unpredictable, and hard for the citizens of affected countries and other outsiders to understand. It also obscures the true burden that debt obligations impose on a sovereign and the country’s residents, and, thus, the amount of debt relief that it may need in order to achieve a sustainable debt position. To address these shortcomings, we identify financial, economic, environmental, and social (FEES) factors that we contend should be incorporated in the design of the frameworks governing DSAs and the operating principles and practices of the IMF through which DSAs are conducted. We argue that the IMF should draw on various hard and soft sources of international and transnational law to develop a FEES-based approach to sovereign debt sustainability that is more consistent, predictable, and legitimate than the current approach.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141352635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mining in investment arbitration: an analysis of mining companies’ legitimate expectations","authors":"Clara López","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 International investment agreements (IIAs) can be ‘obstacles’ to the green transition, but can also serve as potential ‘enablers’ of clean energy. This article analyses the role of IIAs in protecting mining investments, necessary to develop green technologies in the fight against climate change. As a result of increasing mineral extraction, more investment tribunals adjudicate mining disputes. The article provides a sectoral analysis of the legitimate expectations of investors in the mining sector. It argues that domestic norms are central to resolving investment treaty disputes and that investment tribunals must consider environmental and human rights domestic norms which impose limits on investment protection and configure investor’s property rights. Only by doing so can investment tribunals protect investments in accordance with the ethos of IIAs of promoting sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141270392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"International adjudication as interactional law-making: the incorporation of fair and equitable treatment elements in investment treaties","authors":"Chen Yu","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae022","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article collects data on fair and equitable treatment (FET) ‘elements’ from ISDS awards and investment treaties, respectively, and examines the extent to which States incorporate ISDS tribunals’ interpretation of FET into their subsequent design of treaty clauses. According to the empirical findings, States do incorporate tribunals’ interpretations in treaty design; nevertheless, the practices of incorporation vary according to the types of elements and the economy classification of treaty parties, and are subject to constraints such as bounded rationality and institutional capacity. The findings also reveal the substantive divergence between treaties and the ISDS jurisprudence in the enumeration of FET elements, which, I caution, may exacerbate legitimacy challenges against ISDS.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141268981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mitigating the rise of unilateralism: lessons from forestry management","authors":"Gregory Messenger","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article responds to the rise in unilateralism in trade policy (particularly from the EU and USA) and considers how its negative effects, especially concerning developing countries, can be mitigated through the use of instruments of trade law in the practice of economic diplomacy. It does this in three steps: first, it challenges the dichotomy between unilateral and plurilateral approaches to trade policy, and reframes this rise in unilateralism as conceptually and practically linked to the increasing plurality of trade law’s actors, sources, and institutions (the plural-unilateral dynamic); second, trade in forest products is used as a case study to examine this dynamic, identifying underlying tensions in the use of unilateral and plurilateral policies as well as potential mechanisms of accommodation; finally, in step three, the article identifies two related avenues of accommodation to improve participation and engagement—leveraging structures of meta-governance in trade (dialogues, committees, and standards bodies). In doing so, this article both reframes debates around unilateralism and plurilateralism in trade law and policy, and places the hitherto underexplored practice of economic diplomacy at the heart of means to improve trade relations.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141271292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The influence of legal scholars on the development of international investment law","authors":"William Hamilton Byrne","doi":"10.1093/jiel/jgae014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgae014","url":null,"abstract":"International investment arbitration is inhabited by actors who theorize the law as scholars and decide on it when arbitrating, which raises critical questions concerning their normative role within the legal system. This article explores empirically the influence of legal scholars on the development of inter-national investment law through a combined legal-empirical and sociological approach designed to capture the multidirectional nature of influence. It relies on a novel database of all citations to legal scholarship in International Centre for the Settlement of Disputes (ICSID) case law, which is analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and contextualized alongside interviews with 16 leading arbitrators and lawyers. The article firstly introduces the arbitrator/academic as an agent of international law, and then details the methodology. It then turns to provide an overview of citations to legal scholarship in ICSID case law, before considering why legal actors find it useful. The following parts show how legal scholarship influenced the development of the definition of an ‘investment’ in ICSID arbitration through an analysis of legal decisions and scholarship authored by arbitrators. The final part goes into conversation with the actors to further unravel how they manage competing and complementary obligations towards theory and practice, and the article concludes by reflecting on the ethical implications of their law-making function.","PeriodicalId":46864,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Economic Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141198283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}