Andreas R. Ziegler

European yearbook of international economic law 2017

Volume 7 of the EYIEL focusses on critical perspectives of international economic law. Recent protests against free trade agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) remind us that international economic law has always been a politically and legally contested field. This volume collects critical contributions on trade, investment, financial and other subfields of international economic law from scholars who have shaped this debate for many years. The critical contributions to this volume are challenged and sometimes rejected by commentators who have been invited to be “critical with the critics”. The result is a unique collection of critical essays accompanied by alternative and competing views on some of the most fundamental topics of international economic law. In its section on regional developments, EYIEL 7 addresses recent megaregional and plurilateral trade and investment agreements and negotiations. Short insights on various aspects of the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) and its sister TTIP are complemented with comments on other developments, including the African Tripartite FTA und the negotiations on a plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Further sections address recent WTO and investment case law as well as recent developments concerning the IMF, UNCTAD and the WCO. The volume closes with reviews of recent books in international economic law.

How to Reform WTO Decision-Making? An Analysis of the Current Functioning of the Organization from the Perspectives of Efficiency and Legitimacy

This paper describes a close analysis of the functioning of WTO decision-making intended to provide a better view on the various reform proposals put forward in recent years. After explaining that these proposals are meant to enhance either the efficiency or the legitimacy of decision-making, we consider separately what we identify as the three components of decision-making: the object, the organ and the procedural mode. We first enumerate WTO powers and define the characteristics of the legitimacy requirements that result from the nature of these powers, pursuant to the idea of a varying legitimacy requirement. Then we take a close look at the WTO procedural modes and the composition of its organs, and assess to what extent the features of these two components fulfill the legitimacy requirements discussed earlier. We then examine some reform proposals and their potential impact on the efficiency and the legitimacy of WTO decision-making, arguing that a balance must be struck between the two imperatives since they can sometimes collide. We conclude that the scope for reforming the WTO organs and procedural modes is limited and that combining the three components of decision-making in a manner that would fulfill legitimacy requirements may imply making some corrections on the object of decision-making; which would mean limiting WTO powers.

Waste Management and the Green Economy

Can waste become a profitable business rather than a costly problem, creating green business opportunities and green jobs while protecting the environment? Might this reduce illegal trade and improper recycling of hazardous wastes by making the legitimate alternatives more attractive? Addressing these questions, this book examines environmentally sound waste management as a driver in the transition to a green economy, and discusses how this transition is challenged by technical limitations, weak regulatory environments and lack of financial incentives.

Reflections on modes of decision-making in the World Trade Organization

For a long time, the GATT led a life of its own as a self-contained regime. The evolution from tariff to non-tariff barriers brought about increasing overlaps with other regulatory areas. WTO rules increasingly interface with other areas of law and policy, including environmental protection, agricultural policies, labour standards, investment, human rights and regional integration. Against this backdrop, this book examines fragmentation in international trade regulation across a wide array of regulatory fields. To this end, it uses a conceptually coherent theoretical framework which is based on the effort to bring about greater coherence among different policy goals and fields, and thus to embed the multilateral trading system within the broader framework of international economics, law and relations. It will appeal to those interested in a forward-looking discussion of the most pressing issues of the international trade agenda. This book is the result of a four-year project run at the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research – Trade Regulation (NCCR), which is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The Nascent International Law on Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) Clauses in Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)

The divergent interpretations of the most-favoured-nation clause continue to cause difficulties, and it may be necessary to reconsider the view expressed by the League of Nations Committee of Experts that the subject, which it discussed in detail on the basis of a thorough report, can be best dealt with by way of bilateral agreements.1 [T]he “law” on MFN clauses is, in part, in a nascent stage of development — which is why there are such divergent responses by different ad hoc Committees to different MFN Clauses (and sometimes even similarly worded MFN clauses) in Bilateral Investment Treaties.

Special Issue: Towards Better BITs? – Making International Investment Law Responsive to Sustainable Development Objectives: An Introduction

1 The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) regularly reports on the number of known BITs and related disputes in its annual reports see most recently its World Investment Report (United Nations 2014). 2 On the combination of trade and investment rules in this new type of treaty, see also the contributions in Rainer Hofmann, Stephan Schill and Christian Tams (eds.), Preferential Trade and Investment Agreements: From Recalibration to Reintegration (Nomos 2013). Special Issue: Towards Better BITs? – Making International Investment Law Responsive to Sustainable Development Objectives An Introduction

The New Competence of the European Union in the Area of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): A Third Country Perspective

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 November 2009 the European Union (EU) has been able to extend its competence for the Common Commercial Policy (CCP) into the field of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (Art. 207 Paragraph 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; TFEU). While this volume is generally dedicated to the many challenges and open questions relating to this new activity, the present Chapter shall focus on the consequences for third countries, in particular other OECD countries that compete with the European Union and its members for FDI inflows and investment opportunities worldwide. In particular, the view of European neighbours, i.e. members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) shall be analysed more thoroughly. While they do share many of the regulations within the internal market, they are autonomous when it comes to their foreign economic policy although they certainly have a keen interest to obtain at least similar concessions as the EU from their trading partners and to be attractive for foreign investment. But also the perspective of major trading powers (USA, Japan, Canada etc.) and emerging economies like Brazil, China or India shall be discussed as they are competing within the framework of multilateral agreements like the WTO. This Chapter shall not provide a detailed analysis of the various theoretical questions as this seems not necessary in view of the excellent contributions to this book but rather complement them. The main focus is rather to have a look at possible scenarios in view of the future of the EU’s FDI policy.

Is the MFN Principle in International Investment Law Ripe for Multilateralization or Codification

This important book examines the development of soft law instruments in international investment law and the feasibility of a ‘codification’ of the present state of this field of international economic law.

Handel und Umwelt in der Europäischen Union

Die Europaische Union (im folgenden: EU), bzw. die Europaische Gemeinschaft (im folgenden: EG)31, und insbesondere der Gemeinsame Markt, bzw. seit Inkrafttreten der Europaischen Akte (im folgenden: EEA) im Jahre 1987 der europaische Binnenmarkt32, sind wohl jene Institutionen internationaler Wirtschaftskooperation in denen das Verhaltnis zwischen Umweltschutz und Handel am intensivsten studiert wurde33 und in welchen aufgrund der bisher einzigartigen Integrationsbemuhungen der EG und neuerdings der EU ein auserst feines und komplexes System zur Koordination der beiden Politikbereiche entwickelt worden ist.34 Das die EU ein sehr erfolgreiches Freihandelssystem, bzw. unter Einbezug der Aussenhandelsbeziehungen eine umfassende Zollunion geschaffen hat, ist allgemein bekannt — fur viele ist und bleibt die EU bis heute (nur) eine Wirtschaftsunion. Das sie in den achtziger Jahren dieses „Freihandelsregime“ durch ein bisher auf landerubergreifender Ebene einzigartiges „Umweltschutzregime“ erganzt hat und wie sie diese beiden internen Regime koordiniert, soll in diesem Beitrag ausgeleuchtet werden. Es kann dabei allerdings keine ausfuhrliche Beschreibung der inzwischen sehr umfangreichen Rechtsetzung zum Umweltschutz vorgenommen werden; dafur mus auf die in der Zwischenzeit reichlich vorhandene Literatur (Epiney 1997; Kramer 1995; Jans 1995; Kiss 1993; Sands 1995 oder Johnson/Corcelle 1995) verwiesen werden. Ziel dieses Beitrages soll die Darstellung der Koordination beider „Regime“ sein, wie dies auch als Fragestellung der Gesamtpublikation zugrunde gelegt ist.35