International Trade Law

Write On! Call for Papers: ‘A Nordic Approach to International Law?’ Abstracts due 15 March

/ Karen Hoffmann / Leave a comment

From 27-29 August 2015, the Centre for International Law and Justice (CILJ) at the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Law will convene a conference in Oslo, Norway, on “A Nordic Approach to International Law?” (One of our own editors, IntLawGrrl Cecilia M. Bailliet, will be a keynote speaker!) From the conference call for papers (pdf):

The Nordic countries have a long-standing tradition of collaboration on a wide range of legal issues. The Nordic Council of Ministers endeavours ‘to promote basic common principles in Nordic legislation’, and extensive inter-Nordic harmonization is now in place in areas as diverse as education, energy, taxation, culture, and gender equality.

But do these ‘shared Nordic values’ extend to embrace a common perspective on international law and policy beyond the Nordic region? And do international legal scholars in the Nordic countries share a professional outlook enabling us to speak of a distinct ‘Nordic approach to international law’?

YOU ARE INVITED

You are invited to a two-day conference in Oslo, Norway, where international legal scholars will join expert practitioners to discuss contemporary issues of international law from a Nordic perspective. Renowned scholars and practitioners will present their views in keynote lectures and roundtable discussions and will comment on papers submitted. Junior scholars are particularly encouraged to submit and present papers.

In addition to research papers addressing the question of a distinct Nordic tradition within international legal scholarship, we welcome papers that treat topics in international law from a Nordic viewpoint. Examples include:

• the relationship between international and domestic law

• the relationship between international law and other disciplines

• responsibility for violations of international law

• international norm conflicts

• sovereignty and statehood

• the Arctic

• the proliferation of international courts

We also welcome papers lending a Nordic perspective to specific fields of regulation, including but not limited to:

• international human rights law

• international environmental law

• international humanitarian law

• international migration law

• international investment law

• international trade law

• international criminal law

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AND INVITED EXPERTS INCLUDE

• Cecilia M. Bailliet, University of Oslo

• David Thór Björgvinsson, University of Copenhagen

• Terje Einarsen, University of Bergen

• Martti Koskenniemi, Helsinki University

• Gregor Noll, Lund University

• Gro Nystuen, International Law & Policy Institute, Oslo

• Ole Spiermann, Bruun & Hjejle, Copenhagen

• Geir Ulfstein, University of Oslo

• Jens Vedsted-Hansen, Aarhus University

• Pål Wrange, Stockholm University

• Inger Österdahl, Uppsala University

PAPER PROPOSALS

Senior and junior scholars (including PhD students) are invited to submit paper proposals. Papers will be selected on the basis of abstracts submitted. Selection criteria are: Originality of the work, links to the conference theme, and geographical representation of the speakers. Abstracts (not exceeding 800 words) should be submitted to astrid.kjeldgaard-pedersen@jur.ku.dk. Accepted papers should not exceed 8,500 words (incl. footnotes).

After the conference, a number of papers will be selected for publication in an edited volume to be published by an international publisher. Please indicate, when submitting abstracts, if your paper will be available for publication.

TIMELINE

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 15 March 2015

• Successful applicants will be informed by 15 April 2015

• The deadline for the submission of full papers is 15 July 2015

For more information, see the conference website at http://www.jura.ku.dk/cilj/calender/nordic-approach-int-law.

Go On! ASIL to host ‘Careers in Customs & International Trade’ panel Tues, 10/21

/ Karen Hoffmann / Leave a comment

NextTuesday, October 21, 2014, starting at 5pm at the ASIL Headquarters in Washington, DC (2223 Massachusetts Ave NW), ASIL will host a panel discussion on “Careers in Customs & International Trade”:

As part of its “Getting Started” series, ASIL’s New Professionals Interest Group is pleased to host a special event on how to pursue an international law career in the areas of customs, domestic trade remedies, and international trade more broadly. These fields continue to grow both in the public and private sectors. Finding the appropriate avenue to enter this field of practice, however, can be difficult. Panelists at this event will share their perspectives as experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds. The moderator will pose questions to highlight professional development advice.

An informal reception will follow the panel discussion. Registration is free but required.

Panelists:

  • Emily Fuller, associate, international trade practice, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
  • Scott McBride, senior attorney, Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance
  • Justin Miller, senior trial counsel, international trade field office, Commercial Litigation Branch, Department of Justice
  • Robert Shervette, attorney-advisor, customs and border protection, Department of Homeland Security

For more information and to register, please go here: http://asil.org/event/careers-customs-and-international-trade

11th Annaual Conference of the European Society of International Law “The Judicialization of International Law- A Mixed Blessing?” Call for Proposals

/ Cecilia Marcela Bailliet / Leave a comment

Call for ProposalsThe 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law will take place in Oslo, Norway. It is hosted by the PluriCourts Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order, University of Oslo.

The Organising Committee of the conference invites all scholars (including PhD students) to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the conference, as well as proposals for a full panel of speakers for a single agora.
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General guidelines

The purpose of the agorae is to share cutting-edge research in specific areas of international law, to stimulate debate, and to foster discussion between participants. ESIL Interest Groups are particularly welcome to propose agorae. Innovative ideas for conducting a panel (e.g. round table) are also encouraged.

Proposals for papers or agorae can be submitted either in English or French.

Proposal should correspond to the overall conference theme and can relate to (but need not be limited to) the following, partly overlapping, topics:
Problems and perspectives of special regional courts, or problems affecting the development of the international judicial function (e.g. access to international justice, judicial review of political acts, revision of an international judgments by a court of appeal, etc.)

How do courts matter for the substance of the law in particular subject-areas?
The place of international judgments in the doctrine of sources
Do international courts and tribunals have a function in relation to economic, social and cultural rights?
An ‘International Tort Court’ for multinational corporations?
A World Court of Human Rights?
A World Court of International Humanitarian Law?
The future of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
Professional ethics for judges
International courts and tribunals in new areas, such as international security; a more fair global resource allocation; protecting social rights; improving global health; more responsible multinational corporations; dealing with transnational internet problems?
Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
The future of the International Criminal Court
Reform of regional human rights courts and global human rights treaty bodies
The future of investment tribunals
The WTO and regional trade tribunals
The role of the ICJ
Arbitration vs courts
Sovereign debt default and international dispute settlement mechanisms
Hybrid courts and their possible use as a form of international justice (piracy, environmental damages, compensations, etc.)
Courts and third world/postcolonial approaches and feminist theory
Historical, economic, sociological, etc. approaches to international courts
Implementation of international judgments in national legal orders

TimelineThe deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 January 2015
Successful applicants will be informed by 31 March 2015
The deadline for the submission of the full papers is 1 July 2015
The conference begins on Thursday 10 September 2015 in the morning and ends on Saturday 12 September 2014 in the early afternoon
The deadline for the submission of final papers, to be included in a future conference publication or in the ESIL SSRN series, is 1 October 2015

Finances
All selected agora speakers will have to register for the conference. They will receive free registration, provided they are ESIL members. The organisation does not cover expenses for travelling and accommodation.

Publication
After the conference, ESIL provides the opportunity to publish papers in the ESIL SSRN Series and also plans to publish selected high-quality papers in a book series
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ESIL Young Scholar Prize
From 2015 onwards, ESIL will award the ESIL Young Scholar Prize at each Annual Conference; this is a prize for the best paper submitted to the conference by scholars at an early stage in their academic career. Early-career scholars are either PhD candidates or those who have had their oral defense no longer than 2 years prior to the submission of the abstract. Candidates for the prize have to be current ESIL members.

The Prize is sponsored by the law firm WilmerHale. Please indicate, when submitting an abstract, if you wish the submission to be considered for the ESIL Young Scholar Prize.
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For further information regarding the Submission of Agora or Paper Proposals see here

Papers presented in agorae should present innovative ideas, be unpublished at the moment of presentation, and be in an advanced stage of completion.

Abstracts will be reviewed by a selection committee. Joint submissions are possible, but, if selected, only one person may receive free registration to the conference.

Selection criteria are:
Originality and innovativeness of the work
Links to the conference theme
Geographical and gender balance
Only one abstract per author will be considered

Abstracts must not exceed 800 words.

Foreign Direct Investment & Development

/ Andrea M. Ewart, Esq. / Leave a comment

I recently watched a PBS documentary, “The Big Men” which tells the story of the discovery of the first commercial oil field in Ghana’s history.

As events unfold, the Texan-based venture capitalists who bore all the financial risk, butt heads with a newly-elected government whose officials refuse to endorse the initial agreement allocating to the investors the overwhelming majority of the profits. Juxtaposed with these events is the story and images from Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The dire poverty, environmental degradation and the violence in that oil-rich region add poignancy to the Ghanians’ opposition, even as one wonders about the real motives of the Ghanian officials.

For the Texan-based investors (which included the Ghanian who had initially discovered the resource but lacked the capital to fully exploit it) the issue was couched in the language of risk, adequate return on their investment, as well as respect for the initial contract signed with the Ghanian government. For the Ghanians, the issue was discussed in terms of their need to be able to use the resources located on their sovereign land to properly house, feed, and educate the populace.

The Role of FDI

Developing countries seek to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to foster economic growth and development. FDI can be a valuable tool to exploit resources, build production facilities while creating jobs and infrastructure in developing countries. At the same time, because for the most part this investment is introduced and controlled by private companies, there is a tension that can, and often does, arise between the goals of private international capital and the country’s development needs.

The events that unfold in Ghana illustrate this tension. On the one hand, we have the private venture capitalists who invested where no one else would probably have. Ghana was not known for its oil resources. In return, however, they demanded a hefty return on their investment. But, does any government have the right to sell a country’s birthright to these investors? Yet, of what use to the country is the oil, or the diamond, or the gold left unmined? Needed are rules to facilitate and support the honest brokers in these transactions.

A Way Forward?

At the end of the day, what Ghana, and other responsible governments want is access to jobs, decent housing, roads, education and other social services for its citizens. Hotels built with foreign capital using workers who live in shacks across the streets is an untenable outcome. Yet, we see this all across the Caribbean, for example.

Rules-based frameworks for trade and investment focus almost exclusively on creating an open playing field for FDI, or on managing disputes. As essential as these are, we also need trade and investment rules that can provide a pathway toward more development-oriented and sustainable outcomes for FDI. Are there guidelines that can help honest governments and fair-minded investors to determine an equitable distribution of profits derived from exploitation of a country’s resources?

What about best practice tools and suggestions to help developing countries negotiate these deals with international capital? For example, can investor agreements contain provisions for investors to make such in-kind contributions as building houses and roads or providing other services that they do well?

Perhaps such tools already exist. If so, they need to be made more visible. The world does not need any more Nigerian Deltas.

US Ex-Im Bank Ceases Operations Unless Reauthorized by Congress!

/ Andrea M. Ewart, Esq. / Leave a comment

The largest barrier facing small businesses as they seek to grow is access to capital. This presents an even bigger barrier to many women owners of small to medium-sized businesses who are shut out from accessing capital by their local banks.

Export-Import Banks fill that gap for companies that do business internationally. The US Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is the official export credit agency of the United States. Its mission is to provide trade financing for US exporters.Imports

Trade Financing provides exporters with a form of insurance that minimizes the risk that they will either not be paid or not receive the goods for which they have paid. Ex-Im Bank programs include export credit insurance which protects an exporter of products and services against the risk of non-payment by a foreign buyer. Export working capital advances the business the capital it needs to deliver on an export order that it has received. Only with the guarantees provided by the EX-Im Bank, can small businesses receive the capital that they need from their local banks.

All major industrial and emerging economies, as well as several developing countries, provide similar export credit services to their domestic industries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has estimated that 80% to 90% of world trade relies on trade finance.

Yet, a campaign is underway to stop the U.S. Congress from re-authorizing the Bank’s Charter before it expires on September 30th, 2014. Such campaigns allege that the US Ex-Im Bank provides “subsidies” to large US corporations. Such allegations ignore the fact that the Ex-Im Bank’s clients pay for these services, providing the agency with the funding that it needs for its operations. They also mischaracterize Ex-Im Bank’s clients, 90% of which are small businesses (by US standards). Finally, such statements ignore the role of women in the US economy. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation,  women-owned firms in the U.S. have grown at one-and-a-half times the rate of other small enterprises in the last 15 years and now account for nearly 30% of all new businesses.

Should this campaign succeed, for the first time in its 80-year history, the US Ex-Im Bank would have to cease operations, at least until common sense prevailed. Failure to re-authorize would make the U.S. an anomaly among its industrial counterparts.

A counter-campaign #ExIm reauthorization and #ExIm4Jobs has been underway to prevent this from happening. As can be expected, there is some hyperbole on both sides. However, this author supports the campaign to reauthorize the Bank and hope that you will too. #ExIm reauthorization!

Bali Update: What has happened since the WTO Ministerial?, Part II

/ Andrea M. Ewart, Esq. / 1 Comment

WTO LogoSo, the July 31, 2014 deadline for adopting the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), as reported in Bali Update, Part I, has come and gone, and the Agreement has not been adopted. On July 31, 2014, the WTO General Council met to adopt the protocol that will insert the TFA into the WTO regulatory framework. However, as Director-General Azevêdo reported just before the midnight deadline:

At this late hour, with the deadline just a matter of moments away, I don’t have anything in my hands that makes me believe that we can successfully reach consensus. . .. On the one side we have the firm conviction, shared by many, that the decisions that ministers reached in Bali cannot be changed or amended in any way — and that those decisions have to be fully respected. And on the other side of the debate we have some who believe that those decisions leave unresolved concerns that need to be addressed in ways that, in the view of others, change the balance of what was agreed in Bali. These are the two sides. We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap.

The “other side of the debate” refers to India’s insistence that the Bali Package agreed to in December be adjusted to address its food security concerns before the Trade Facilitation Agreement is adopted.

At Bali, the members agreed to continue discussions to arrive at a permanent solution on how to treat food subsidies. Meanwhile, they instituted a “peace clause” of four years during which such programs by developing countries that meet certain criteria are to be shielded from trade challenges, even if they negatively impact other countries’ trade. India wants this agreement to be interpreted to mean that the “peace clause” remains in place permanently until a comprehensive agricultural package is reached. India believes its interpretation will put more pressure on both sides to adhere to the December 31, 2014 deadline to arrive at an agreement on this issue.

Its refusal to budge on this position means that the Trade Facilitation Agreement remains draft text. This impasse will be revisited in September.

Launch of TFA Technical Assistance Programs

Nevertheless, some steps have already been taken on a key component of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The TFA introduces requirements for members to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of their customs procedures. The text further provides for technical assistance to developing countries to build the capacity needed to implement its requirements.

The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) has been launched to provide this assistance.

In a meeting on July 22, 2014, a group of major international organizations declared their intention to work together to assist developing and least-developed Members through a range of technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives. The joint statement is signed by the following international organizations, some of which have already also launched their programs:Imports

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is establishing an Alliance for the Trade Facilitation Agreement as a public-private partnership. Other multilateral and bilateral donors are expected to launch their assistance programs shortly.

The WTO TFAF will act as a focal point for these efforts by supporting needs assessment, facilitating information flow among development partners and requests for technical assistance, disseminating best practices, and providing grants to support project development and implementation.

Fruition on these commitments is being made contingent on the still-pending adoption of the TFA. Will this reality pressure India to fall in line? (To be continued)

Regularizing & Decriminalizing the Movement of People, Part II

/ Andrea M. Ewart, Esq. / Leave a comment

We are not going to stop sending people, and you guys are not going to be able to stop them from getting in.

These are the words of Lt. Col. Reyes Garcia, a Honduran military policy leading an operation to break up an extortion ring used for trafficking women and contraband cigarettes.

When I last addressed this issue, I was prompted to do so in response to the news report of the hundreds of people from Ghana, Eritrea, and Somalia who drowned off the coast of Italy attempting to enter the European Union in search of work and a better life. I wrote then that these tragedies happen because, as the barriers to the movement of goods and services have fallen, those facing people who merely seek the opportunity for a decent life continue to go up.

This time, the focus is on the United States, where the latest humanitarian crisis involves tens of thousands of Central Americans, many of them children, who have overwhelmed US border facilities. They flee violence and despair in search of a “good job” – sewing underwear in a sweatshop for a weekly wage of $47.00.

Here is the irony – similar jobs used to proliferate in Honduras, El Salvador and the other Central American countries at the heart of this story. The ease with which capital can move in search of even higher returns has relocated many of the factories to countries in Asia, such as Bangladesh, where they find cheaper labor and fewer regulations. The people left behind are people like Waldina Lizeth Amaya, a 37-year old mother of four from Honduras who worked for several years in a factor making bras and panties. Now, after trying unsuccessfully to find work in Honduras, she is one of the tens of thousands of persons determined to make it to the U.S. in search of the jobs there.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) writes that:

When properly managed, labour migration has far-reaching potential for the migrants, their communities, the countries of origin and destination, and for employers.

In 2011, there were 105 million people working in a country in which they were not born, generating income of US$440 billion, of which US$350 billion was sent back to their home countries. International aid agencies now treat these remittances as an important source of “foreign earnings” for the receiving countries.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Yet, the rules to manage and legitimize the economic migration of persons remain sketchy, at best. The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules recognize the movement of people as service providers as a delivery mode for trade in services. However, existing rules focus on movement of professional and highly-skilled workers. The low-skilled or unlicensed service provider continues to be marginalized, despite the continued high and ongoing demand for their services, particularly in developed economies.

In the face of this Central American influx, the United States does not have to wait for new WTO rules – it can unilaterally address the issue through a rational approach to immigration, which also takes into account the reality of labor and economic migration – persons who want to temporarily migrate just to work. The tragedy is that neither the WTO nor the US seem inclined to do so.

Bali Update: What has happened since the WTO Ministerial?

/ Andrea M. Ewart, Esq. / 1 Comment

WTO LogoAfter having pulled the members together to achieve consensus to make some decisions at the WTO Bali Ministerial in December, 2013, months later WTO Director-General Azevêdo issued a warning against revisiting those decisions.

The “Bali Package” adopted at the Ministerial consists of a number of small deals pulled from the broader Doha Agenda for negotiating a new set of rules to govern international trade:

  1. Decision on duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) access for products of least-developed countries.
  2. Decision to simplify preferential rules of origin for least-developed countries to make it easier for them to qualify for DFQF entry into the importing countries.
  3. Decision operationalizing the “services waiver” that will grant least-developed countries preferential access to other countries’ services markets.
  4. Decision on a “monitoring mechanism” to analyze and review implementation of special and differential treatment rules for developing countries.

The Agreement on Trade Facilitation, in particular, is seen as the most important component of the Bali Package. It Importsintroduces requirements for members to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of their customs procedures. The anticipated benefits are a 10%-15% reduction in the costs of international trade. For developed countries, these changes hold the promise of increasing trade flows and revenue collections. Furthermore, the Agreement contains promises of technical assistance and capacity building for developed countries to help them to make the required investments associated with implementing the Agreement.

At this point, the text adopted in Bali remains a draft. Though its substance is not expected to change substantially, its text will become final only when it is adopted by the WTO General Council. This adoption is currently scheduled to occur at the meeting of July 31, 2014.

Meanwhile, however, India has raised the concerns of food security and indicated that it wants to see more progress on this issue. At Bali, the members agreed to continue discussions to arrive at a permanent solution on how to treat agricultural subsidies. Meanwhile, they instituted a “peace clause” of four years during which such programs by developing countries that meet certain criteria are to be shielded from trade challenges, even if they negatively impact other countries’ trade. This issue is of prime importance to India who wants to see progress on this issue. India wants this “peace clause” to be made permanent and believes that, like the Trade Facilitation Agreement, this should become part of the Bali Package.

Such a proposal is likely dead-on-arrival, however. Developed countries such as the United States, have agricultural subsidies programs that they would dearly love to be able to protect from complaints by other WTO members. They consider India’s economy to be too big to be eligible for this type of protection.

We can expect the long-running “negotiations” over the difficult issue of agricultural subsidies to continue for some time. (To be continued -)

Write On! International Business Law Scholars’ Roundtable at Brooklyn Law School (deadline June 13)

/ Karen Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Call for Papers: 2014 International Business Law Scholars’ Roundtable at Brooklyn Law School

The Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law will sponsor a Scholars’ Roundtable on October 10, 2014 at Brooklyn Law School. Scholars writing in a diverse range of fields related to international business law are invited to submit proposals to present works in progress for an intense day of discussion with other scholars in the field. Participants will be expected to read all papers in advance of the Roundtable and offer commentary on each of the presentations. Scholars selected for the Roundtable will receive a $500 stipend from Brooklyn Law School to defray the cost of attendance.

Requirements for Submission

– Applicants must hold a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or visitor/fellowship position at a university. Scholars from outside the U.S. are encouraged to apply. Scholars who anticipate holding a faculty appointment in the 2015-2016 academic year are also welcome.
– Applicants should submit a 3-5 – page proposal, abstract, or summary of the paper.
– All papers presented must be unpublished at the time of the Roundtable. Papers that have been accepted for publication but are not yet in print are welcome.
– Possible topics include international and comparative perspectives on:

o Banking
o Bankruptcy
o Commercial law
o Conflicts of law
o Corporate law
o Dispute resolution and arbitration
o Enforcement of judgments
o Intellectual property
o Regulation of corrupt practices
o Securities
o Shipping and maritime law
o Tax
o Trade

Applicants should submit a proposal to Robin Effron (robin.effron@brooklaw.edu) by June 13, 2014. Scholars selected to present at the Roundtable will be notified by June 30, 2014.

Call for Papers: ASIL/Denver Law conference ‘Reassessing International Law and Development: New Challenges for Law and Policy’; proposals due May 16

/ Karen Hoffmann / 1 Comment

The American Society of International Law International Economic Law Interest Group (IEcLIG), in partnership with the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Sutton Colloquium, will hold their 2014 Biennial Research Conference, “Reassessing International Law and Development: New Challenges for Law and Policy,” at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in Denver, CO, USA, from November 13-15, 2014.

Via Elizabeth Trujillo of Suffolk Law, who is Co-Chair of the IEcLIG, comes this call for papers:

Amartya Sen’s call for understanding development not only in terms of gross national product but also “in terms of the substantive freedoms of people” marked an important reframing of the legal and policy discourse around economic development. Goals focused much academic research in this area towards a more comprehensive understanding of development, one that would recognize economic growth as intrinsically tied to such areas as: environmental sustainability; food security; the reduction of extreme poverty, hunger, and child mortality; access to health; and the promotion of education and gender equality. International economic institutions like the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have traditionally been at the center of promoting and managing economic growth; yet, these institutions also face challenges caused by recent financial crises, the need for food security and high energy demand, while preserving natural resources and the environment.

With the approach of the fifteenth anniversary of the Millennium goals and given these new and ongoing challenges, it is time to reassess the role that international economic law (IEL) has played and continues to play in development. How effective is IEL at promoting development, broadly construed? Under what conditions is it effective? In what ways should IEL norms and institutions be adjusted to accommodate growing concerns around climate change, energy demand, food security and high energy demand, while preserving natural resources and the environment?

We encourage IEL scholars, practitioners, and advanced graduate students to submit proposals for paper presentations or panels. For guaranteed consideration, proposals must be received no later than May 16, 2014.

More information is available here (Word doc).