China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was rightly hailed as a huge step forward in international cooperation. However, China's participation in the WTO has been anything but smooth, with China alienating some of its trading partners, particularly the United States. The...

One of the cornerstones of the EC internal market is the principle of mutual recognition of goods, according to which the technical legislation of EU Member States must allow the marketing of goods lawfully manufactured or marketed in another EU Member State, provided that the goods provide an...

In EC Tariff Preferences, the Appellate Body held that the WTO Enabling Clause permitted developed countries to grant better tariff treatment to some developing countries than to others, subject to certain conditions. It held further that these conditions were not met by the EU's so-called drugs...

The Clean Trade project is designed to block the importation of natural resources that have been exploited in violation of the human right to permanent sovereignty over these natural resources (‘exploited resources'). To this end, the Clean Trade project envisages that states would impose a...

It has become conventional wisdom that once the UK leaves the EU it will have to renegotiate core aspects of its WTO rights and obligations, and in particular its concessions under Article II of the GATT 1994 and Article XX of the GATS. This article argues that, on the contrary, based on WTO...

The aviation industry will be included in the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) from 1 January 2012. Airlines will have to acquire and ‘surrender’ allowances for the carbon emissions produced by their flights. The scheme is comprehensive: it applies to EU and non-EU airlines (subject to...

In response to the WTO Appellate Body's ruling in EC-Tariff Preferences, when the EU renewed its GSP program in 2005, it replaced its drugs arrangement, as well as two labour and environment arrangements, with a new arrangement popularly known as the 'GSP+ arrangement'. Under this arrangement,...