Law Matters

Outlines the basic purpose and regulatory structure of international investment law and discusses the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in international investment regulation and in sustainable development. Provides a summary of on-going initiatives to modernise international investment law (specifically also investor-state arbitration). Concludes with a discussion of international, European and unilateral initiatives to regulate corporate responsibility in business activities abroad (including the Swiss popular initiative for responsible business). Goes together with mandatory reading and the following questions to be addressed in class:

What are relevant commitments for sustainable development a developing country might want to include in its BIT with an industrialised economy?

What are the regulatory pitfalls in the current approaches to regulating corporate responsibility in business activities abroad?

Addresses the role of international trade regulation in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and outlines the balance of interests and obligations at stake. Discusses a number of illustrative cases with regard to: 1) national policy space, 2) the scope of the general exceptions in GATT and in GATS, 3) the public morals exception in particular, 4) flexibilities with regard to preferential trade agreements, and 5) special and differential treatment flexibilities. It concludes with the analysis of regulatory mechanism for preferential treatment of sustainably produced palm oil in the specific recent case of the EFTA-Indonesia economic partnership agreement. Goes together with mandatory reading and the following questions to be addressed in class:

What is the regulatory goal of the general exceptions in GATT and GATS? To what extent are the exception clauses reconcilable with sustainable development?

Can you think of another product which would be suitable for preferential treatment along the lines of the EFTA-Indonesia regulatory mechanism for sustainably produced palm oil?

Introduction to the history of international trade regulation, the most important legal principles of international economic law, the World Trade Organisation and the roles of multilateralism and preferentialism in trade. Concludes with a very short snapshot at the implications of the so-called trade war and the suspension of the WTO Appellate Body for the future of the rules-based global trading system. Goes together with mandatory reading and the following questions to be addressed in class:

How do you explain/justify that non-product related process and production methods cannot be the basis for differential treatment in WTO law?

Never waste a good crisis – how can the current crisis of multilateralism serve the purpose of sustainable development?

To what extent is the theory of sustainable development incorporated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? What are the main differences between the SDGs and the UN Millennium Development Goals? What are the main implications of the pandemic for the prospects of achieving the SDGs by 2030? And, finally, if the SDGs are not legally binding, why are we addressing them in this course? Goes together with mandatory reading and the following questions to be addressed in class:

What would need to be considered in order to render a company, which produces and sells bottled water, compliant with the UN SDGs?

Under what circumstances is eating beef reconcilable with sustainable development? What about tourism?