Complete summary 'International Economic Law '25-26

INTERNATIONAAL ECONOMISCH
RECHT
CONTENTS

HT1: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION TO International economic law.................................................................................3
Current hot topics in iel .................................................................................................................4
II. The economics of free trade ..........................................................................................................4
WHY (free) trade? ..........................................................................................................................4
Challenges to free trade ................................................................................................................7
III. GATT/WTO History & structure ......................................................................................................9
1850 – gatt ....................................................................................................................................9
GATT .......................................................................................................................................... 10
WTO ........................................................................................................................................... 11
WTO’s institutional structure ....................................................................................................... 14
IV. Core principles of WTO LAW ....................................................................................................... 18
WTO core legal principles ............................................................................................................ 18
I. Non-discrimination .................................................................................................................. 18
WTO core principles .................................................................................................................... 25
II. Freer trade .............................................................................................................................. 25
III. Transparency ......................................................................................................................... 30
IV. Development ......................................................................................................................... 31
V. WTO: exceptions ........................................................................................................................ 33
I. General exceptions .................................................................................................................. 33
II. Regional trade agreements (RTAs) ............................................................................................ 37
III. The enabling clause (1979) ...................................................................................................... 38
IV. Balance of payments measures ............................................................................................ 39
V. Security exceptions ................................................................................................................. 39
VI. Trade Remedies ..................................................................................................................... 40
VII. Waivers ................................................................................................................................ 45
VI. TRIPs (self study) ....................................................................................................................... 45
TRIPs’ features............................................................................................................................ 47
copyright .................................................................................................................................... 48
Trademarks ................................................................................................................................ 48
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS.................................................................................................... 49
patents....................................................................................................................................... 49

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, Trips ........................................................................................................................................... 49
HT 4: international investment law ...................................................................................................... 50
overview ........................................................................................................................................ 50
International investment law ........................................................................................................... 50
IIL .............................................................................................................................................. 50
FDI & WTO? ................................................................................................................................ 50
International investment law ....................................................................................................... 50
Sources of international investment law ....................................................................................... 51
investment ..................................................................................................................................... 51
Building blocks of international investment law ........................................................................... 51
Expropriation .............................................................................................................................. 58
Standards of protection...................................................................................................................... 61




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,INTERNATIONAAL ECONOMISCH
RECHT
You can only bring GATT to the exam!!!

Essay question= give opinion based on what you learned on IELthe more legal arguments you can insert
will lead to better grades

Two cases: international investment law of international trade law: be elaborate as possible (there are
more then 1 problem) search if its meeting the basic conditions and then search for the that can be
invoked000

LES 1 13/02

HT1: INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW

- uneasy to define
- ~ international trade law - world trade law – international trade regulation
o Law
o economic activity
 esp. trade (goods/services), but also investment, financing, …
o international/global dimension (x2)
- central = agreements between countries (treaties)

- Link with other courses?

o Economic law
o International Business Transactions
o International Commercial Arbitration
o Public international law
o EU Trade Policy

- Agreements on international economic activity
o GATT
 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
 “the rules”
o WTO Agreement
 World Trade Organisation
 dispute settlement!
o Bilateral – multilateral – plurilateral agreements
 E.g. EU https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/negotiations-and-
agreements/
 Trade agreements
 GATT
 PTA’s
 International investment agreements
 BIT’s or mixed agreements
 The international monetary system
 IMF




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, - A first introduction to the WTO … “30 years of the Marrakesh Agreement”

CURRENT HOT TOPICS IN IEL
- Sustainability (incl. climate change)
- WTO under extreme pressure
o Starting since Doha 2001
o DSB crisis
o US - China trade conflict (and related EU position)
o Recent US trade policy
- Legitimacy of ISDS
o Right to regulate

Watch out! IEL is not politics, economics

II. THE ECONOMICS OF FREE TRADE


WHY (FREE) TRADE?
- Historical background: Trade enables countries to specialize in producing the goods they can make
relatively more efficiently, while importing those they produce less efficiently. This exchange benefits
both nations.

- Classical free trade theory
o ° Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations” (1776): “The tailor does not attempt to make his own
shoes but buys them off the shoemaker. The shoemaker does not attempt to make his own
clothes, but employs a tailor…”
o THEORY OF ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE: A country has an absolute advantage when it can
produce a good using fewer resources than another country.
o The bananas vs. computers example
 Country A (tropical country) produces bananas very efficiently
 Country B (industrial country) produces computers very efficiently
 If each country specialises and trades:
 More bananas AND more computers are produced overall
 Both countries can consume more than before
o Specialisation creates gains from trade
o even unilateral trade liberalisation is useful


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