Regulatory Autonomy in International Economic Law provides the first extensive legal analysis of Australia’s trade and investment treaties in the context of their impact on national regulatory autonomy. This thought-provoking study offers compelling lessons for not only Australia but also countries around the globe in relation to pressing current problems, including the uncertain future of the World Trade Organization and widespread concerns about the legitimacy of investor–State dispute settlement.

Debate about trade and culture has a long history, but the application of WTO rules to cultural products such as films, radio, and books remains one of the most divisive issues in the organization. After assessing the economic and social arguments for treating cultural products differently from things like steel or wheat, this 2007 book explains how the vastly different views of WTO members in earlier negotiations led to an outcome that is disappointing for all. It goes on to provide a comprehensive evaluation of possible solutions, including evolution of the law through WTO dispute settlement, an agreement outside the WTO, and reforms to improve the balance between trade liberalization and cultural policy objectives.

This accessible, affordable & practical manual presents legal research in such a way that beginners can find the details they require, while more experienced researchers can use the manual for quick reference without being swamped by unnecessary detail. Flow charts, examples, screen dumps & step-by-step instructions present information clearly & concisely. Beginning with basic aspects & terminology, the text examines specific products & types of legal information available & includes a glossary & bibliography.

Trade-restrictiveness is a familiar concept across various provisions and agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but its precise meaning remains vague. In many WTO disputes, the existence or degree of trade-restrictiveness of a challenged measure is simply assumed or addressed in a few brief sentences. Yet whether a measure is more trade-restrictive than necessary, or more trade-restrictive than a proposed alternative measure, is crucial to the legality of a range of measures currently in place around the world, some under challenge in the WTO. A careful analysis of the existing caselaw and treaty text -- focusing on Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the general exceptions in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the General Agreement on Trade in Services -- demonstrates that while the existence of discrimination is likely to restrict trade, discrimination is not necessary to establish trade-restrictiveness, which also necessarily arises from direct barriers to market access such as import bans. In the absence of an explicit barrier to imports, a WTO panel is likely to focus on the extent to which a challenged measure negatively affects the competitive opportunities of imported products vis à vis domestic products.

This paper considers overlaps between the law of the World Trade Organization, international human rights law, and cultural laws and regulations in domestic and international contexts. The paper considers in particular the treatment of 'cultural products' (audiovisual products and printed publications) in the WTO, the significance of different cultural attitudes to food risks under WTO law, and the intersection between culture, human rights and intellectual property in connection with traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and geographical indications in the WTO. The paper takes into account United Nations pronouncements on human rights implications of international trade law.

This chapter examines the interaction between international trade law and international investment law on the one hand with the right to health as a human right on the other. It considers the United Nations treatment of this relationship as well as the right to health and human rights in WTO agreements, preferential trade agreements, bilateral investment treaties, and international disputes associated with these treaties. Using tobacco control as a case study, the chapter concludes that international economic law has the capacity to balance health interests, such that the objectives of health, trade and investment can be aligned.

This short paper reflects on developments in international trade affecting the security exception in the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The paper cautions against the increasing invocation of the exception in disputes and encourages progress in other areas of trade to avoid a WTO panel ruling on the exception.

Focusing on the agreements on trade in goods of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Multilateral Rules on Trade in Goods - Exceptions and Regulatory Autonomy outlines various provisions that grant WTO Members discretion in conforming with WTO rules. These include general exceptions (such as Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT)), security exceptions (such as GATT Article XXI), exceptions for regional integration (such as GATT Article XXIV), and special and differential treatment for developing countries (eg through the Enabling Clause). These kinds of provisions are found across WTO agreements, sometimes through cross-references, and they are often strictly construed in WTO disputes. Nevertheless, together, they grant significant leeway to WTO Members in pursuing legitimate regulatory objectives while complying with WTO obligations. A final form of flexibility contained in these agreements is through interpretation (such as the interpretation of the non-discrimination obligation in Article 2.1 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)). However, the WTO Appellate Body has provided only limited possibilities for regulatory sovereignty through this kind of interpretation.