Antoine Martin

Doha dead and buried in Nairobi: lessons for the WTO

Purpose This paper aims to reflect on the outcomes of the Nairobi Ministerial Conference of 2015, which, for all intents and purposes, put the Doha Round to rest and analyses the policy implications and lessons for policymaking at the World Trade Organization (WTO), most importantly the abandonment of the “single undertaking” and return to plurilateral agreements. Design/methodology/approach The paper approaches the issue of WTO policymaking by analysing the various outputs produced both before and because of the Ministerial Conference. Findings The paper suggests that the Nairobi Ministerial has finally put an end to the Doha Round and comes to the conclusion that policymaking at the multilateral level (i.e. through the single undertaking) will change significantly in the future because the WTO Members are incapable of reaching a comprehensive agreement at this time. Instead, the current trend towards trade policymaking via FTA is likely to continue while the WTO focuses on plurilateral negotiations on narrow and discreet issues. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature on the analysis of global regulatory fragmentation and on trade policymaking. It draws attention, in particular, to the consequences of the last Ministerial Conference and highlights prospects for the future of global trade regulation.

Implementation as the Best Way to Tackle Corruption: A Study of the UNCAC and the AUC 2003

Adopted in 2003, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUC), and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) are the most recent examples of international initiatives aiming at tackling corruption. The adoption of these conventions is an important step in the fight against corruption and this working paper considers to what extent they represent a strong basis for tackling corruption, as well as why strong implementation measures remain essential. Section 1, examines the scope of the two conventions, highlights the lack of a legal definition of corruption as well as strong similarities with regards to the conventions’ objectives, and considers the limits of the means of actions provided by the conventions. Section 2 examines how practical measures such as codes of conduct, asset declarations, social and economic reforms, reliance on the private sector or cooperation, are suitable to tackle corruption. The paper concludes with the argument that strict implementation of existing measures remains the best mean to fight corruption in developing countries.

Definition of 'Investment': Could a Persistent Objector to the Salini Tests Be Found in ICSID Arbitral Practice?

With the absence of an explicit definition of the term “investment” under Article 25 of the ICSID and given the general nature of bilateral investment protection treaties (BITs) to this effect, arbitral courts have been faced with the issue of establishing the existence of “investments” while establishing their jurisdiction over several claims. While Fedax v Venezuela and Salini v Morocco provided a fixed set of criteria characteristic of the existence of an “investment,” various debates have taken place in arbitral practice as to how these shall be interpreted. Some decisions for instance considered the Salini criteria as jurisdictional requirements, but others rather relied on flexibility to limit the value of the criteria to a set of purely indicative hallmarks. This comment therefore reviews how the term “investment” has been interpreted and suggests that a persistent objector to the Salini tests might be emphasised.

TPP Promoting Financial Services as an Investment Playground: Crystalizing a Change in Approach from GATS?

Considered as a secondary subject matter and largely ignored by international trade negotiators and the multilateral trade regime for some time, the importance of financial services in the wider sphere of international economic law has been steadily rising since the 2008 global financial crisis. First regulated internationally in the WTO’s GATS and the accompanying Annex on Financial Services, there remains much work to be done to further open and craft standards and rules for the sector. The text of the TPP had the capacity to play an important role in terms of liberalizing market access to financial services and in establishing a new set of standards and rules for their development at the global level. Financial services are both a trade and investment issue, yet negotiations have traditionally placed the issue within the trade ‘silo’ without recognising its important place as an investment issue. Negotiators of the TPP, in contrast, have followed the modern trend and added coherence to the issue by dealing with it both as a trade and investment issue, and rightfully placing financial services markets as a major investment playground. The TPP appeared to be a significant new player in the field of international economic law and this chapter therefore considers the TPP’s potential contribution to the liberalization of financial services by focusing on the idea that financial services may be promoted as a form of investment.

Acquiring Land Abroad for Agricultural Purposes: ‘Land Grab’ or Agri-FDI? Report of the Surrey International Law Centre and Environmental Regulatory Research Group

Following the 2008 world food crisis, many international investors have engaged in a race for land acquisition and food production. This new form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is increasingly criticised in the public sphere, which commonly refers to it as a ‘land grab.’ In the absence of consequent primary sources relating to the subject matter, however, this working document provides an overview of what the authors describe as an ‘agri-FDI’ trend, based on the cross analysis of secondary sources. It first draws a geographical map of the trend as a means to emphasise who invests and where. Second, it considers the origins of the trend are, including the 2008 food crises and the impact of increased demand for biofuel. This document, overall, constitutes the basis of a forthcoming paper which, in turn, will formulate hypotheses and questions as to whether agriculture-oriented investments differ from traditional FDI.