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International Law and the Global South
Perspectives from the Rest of the World
Series editor
Associate Prof. Dr. Leïla Choukroune, Director of the Centre for Social Sciences
and Humanities (CSH - a French CNRS Research Unit), New Delhi, India;
Maastricht University Law Faculty, The Netherlands
The Series
123
Editor
Leïla Choukroune
Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities
New Delhi
India
To say that there is a tension between nation State sovereignty and the instruments
of global governance would be to state the obvious. However, in an increasingly
interdependent world, it is crucial that this tension is managed equitably, effec-
tively, and in a predictable and stable manner.
The covered agreements of the WTO and the jurisprudence that has developed
around them over the past two decades provide an excellent example of how this
tension can be managed. There are two inter-related themes in WTO law and its
jurisprudence which relate to the interface of sovereignty with global governance:
• Coherence of WTO law with other norms of international law
• Regulatory autonomy of the State to pursue legitimate non-trade concerns
The Appellate Body has emphasized both principles. On the issue of regulatory
autonomy in particular, there is already a substantial body of case law which has
emerged from the Appellate Body over this period.
A central objective of the dispute settlement system of the WTO is to provide
security and predictability to the multilateral trading system while preserving the
rights and obligations of Members, without adding to or diminishing them. The
provisions of the various WTO Agreements reflect a balance between the interests
of all WTO Members who are in various stages of development. In order to serve
these goals, an objective basis for interpretation of the provisions of the covered
agreements is necessary. This basis is provided by the customary rules of inter-
pretation of public international law, and the Appellate Body in particular, has
usually, though not exclusively, relied on the provisions of the Vienna Convention
on the Law of Treaties for the purpose.
The basic rules and principles of treaty interpretation, such as the presumption
against conflict and the necessity for effective interpretation, are expressions of the
need for coherence between various systems of international law. The Appellate
Body has relied on other rules of international law where relevant to ensure
effectiveness of the treaty regime. It has stressed that WTO law does not exist in
“clinical isolation” of other norms of international law and, therefore, WTO
v
vi Foreword
while ensuring that measures genuinely pursuing legitimate non-trade objectives are
protected.
One of the most compelling narratives of the world today is of our growing
interdependence. This requires a shared understanding of the basic values of global
governance. We can no longer afford the luxury of fragmentation of rule-making in
various areas of human endeavour. Nor can we allow tensions to persist between
sovereign responsibilities and global governance.
Judging the State in International Trade and Investment Law addresses the topical
issue of why, how and what for is the State judged in international trade and
investment law. The perspective is a “State centric” one as opposed to current
developments often inspired by private arbitration practices and not well suited to
the specificities of the State and its international trade and investment activities.
This edited volume builds upon a very successful conference panel I organized
in January 2015 in the context of the Indian Society of International Law (ISIL)
world Congress on International Law. This edited book eventually brings contri-
butions from a number of leading experts in the field of international trade and
investment law and economics. These renowned academics and/or practitioners all
adopt an integrated and conceptual approach based on a very specific angle of
research (the State as a special entity in trade and investment law and economics) so
that this edited volume appears as a true research project and not a juxtaposition of
conference papers. Hence, in a logical, clear and concise manner, informed by the
latest theoretical discussions, Judging the State in International Trade and
Investment Law provides readers with: a comprehensive framework and truly
original perspective linking the many facets of the “judicial activity” on the basis of
a trade as well as a general international law approach; a focus on the emerging
world and recent case law at the international and domestic levels; an interest for the
judicial actors and procedures; a personal and so unique perspective with general
international law as a common thread.
This common project could not have been achieved without the great and
constant support of a number of institutions and individuals. I hereby would like to
express my sincere gratitude to the Indian Society of International Law for sup-
porting my initiatives for the past 10 years or so. I am especially thankful to its
Executive Council and namely its President Dr. Natchiappan, all its vice-Presidents,
and A.K. Ganguli in particular, as well as Vinai Kumar Singh. I would also like to
warmly thank all the contributors to this book who rapidly engaged in writing and
have always been responsive and truly enthusiastic. Lastly, let me conclude by
saying how much I have appreciated to work with the Springer team. Their
ix
x Acknowledgements
dedication and commitment has been instrumental in the making of this book and
the launching of my book series International Law and the Global South. I very
much thank Dr. Brigitte Reschke and Sagarika Ghosh for welcoming the idea of a
series and the subsequent books, as well as Nupoor Singh and Saloni Narang for
their inestimable and so precious editorial support.
xi
xii Contents
Part IV Conclusion
10 Sovereignty Modern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Leïla Choukroune
Editor and Contributors
Prof. Leïla Choukroune is Director of the Centre for Social Sciences and
Humanities (CSH), New Delhi India, the French National Research Centre (CNRS)
Unit on South Asia. She has more than 15 years of experience in the regulation of
international economic activities in Asia and the emerging world.
When Associate Professor of international economic law with the Faculty of
Law of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, she was Deputy Director
of the Institute for Globalization and International Regulation (IGIR) and Director
of the Advanced Master in international economic law.
She has been frequently invited to teach and deliver guest lectures globally and
in particular recently by the World Trade Institute (Bern), the University Paris II
Panthéon-Assas, the Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (Arusha, Tanzania), the
China-EU School of Law (Beijing), and the University of Geneva.
Her research focuses on the interactions between trade, investment and human
rights and is applied to emerging countries, China and India in particular. She has
published numerous original scientific articles in international and comparative law
and authored several books including (with Sangeeta Khorana) Global Health and
the Emerging World: An Integrated International Trade Approach, (Springer,
forthcoming 2017). She is the Editor of the Springer book series International Law
and the Global South, http://www.springer.com/series/13447 and member of the
Editorial Board of China Perspectives and Perspectives chinoises.
Professor Choukroune is regularly solicited for executive training course as well
as an expert on international economic law and business and human rights issues by
governments, international organizations and private companies. She is an inde-
pendent adviser to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and a
Member of the French National Books Commission (CNL).
xiii
xiv Editor and Contributors
Before taking the responsibility of the CSH directorship, she was Associate
Professor with the Law Faculty of Maastricht University, Assistant Professor with
HEC Paris, Consultant with the OECD, Lecturer with Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne
and Researcher with the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China
(CEFC) in Hong Kong.
She holds a Doctorate in international law (suma cum laude—highest honor)
from the University Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne and is a qualified lawyer to the Paris
Bar. She is fluent in French, English and Spanish, speaks Mandarin and German
and learns Hindi.
Ujal Singh Bhatia is a Member of the World Trade Organisation Appellate Body
(AB). He is currently an independent consultant and academic engaged in devel-
oping a policy framework for Indian agricultural investments overseas, while at the
same time working with the Commonwealth Secretariat on multilateral trade issues.
From 2004 to 2010, Mr. Bhatia was India’s Permanent Representative to the
WTO. During his tenure as Permanent Representative, he was an active participant
in the dispute settlement process, representing India in a number of dispute set-
tlement cases both as a complainant and respondent in disputes relating to
anti-dumping, as well as taxation and import duty issues. He also has adjudicatory
experience having served as a WTO dispute settlement panelist.
Mr. Bhatia previously served as Joint Secretary in the Indian Ministry of
Commerce, where he focused on the legal aspects of international trade. During this
period, he was also a Member of the Appellate Committee under the Foreign Trade
(Development and Regulation) Act. The Committee heard appeals of exporters and
importers against the orders of the Director General Foreign Trade. Mr. Bhatia was
also Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and held
various positions in the public and private sectors of the Indian State of Orissa.
Mr. Bhatia’s legal and adjudicatory experience spans three decades. He has
focused on addressing domestic and international legal/jurisprudence issues,
negotiating trade agreements and policy issues at the bilateral, regional and mul-
tilateral levels, and formulating and implementing trade and development policies
for a range of agriculture, industry and service sector activities.
Mr. Bhatia is a frequent lecturer on international trade issues, and has published
numerous papers and articles in Indian and foreign journals on a wide range of trade
and economic issues.
Mr. Bhatia holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Manchester and
from Delhi University, as well as a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics, also from Delhi
University.
Editor and Contributors xv
Contributors
Excellence Award in 2012, and was appointed Director of the Center for Financial
Regulation and Economic Development of the Faculty since 2013.
In addition to scholarly work, Prof. Chaisse has wide experience as a practi-
tioner, and is engaged as expert, counsel and arbitrator in transnational dispute
settlement. Apart from his frequently being interviewed by local and international
media on current events and legal issues, Prof. Chaisse is also regularly invited to
provide legal advice and training courses on cutting-edge issues of international
economic law for international organizations, governments, multinational law firms
and private investors, including Ernst & Young, Deloitte U.S., Maxwell Stamp, the
United Nations ESCAP and ITC, World Trade Organization, ASEAN Secretariat,
European Commission, Asian Development Bank, numbers of European countries
and ASEAN Member States.
Rahul Donde specializes in international commercial and investment arbitration.
He has acted as counsel, secretary and assistant of the arbitral tribunal in numerous
international arbitration proceedings under both ad hoc (UNCITRAL, Swiss PILA,
Indian Arbitration Act, 1996) and institutional arbitration rules (ICC, LCIA, ICSID,
CEPANI).
He has particular experience in disputes relating to utilities, natural resources
(water, oil, gas, renewable energy) and joint venture/shareholder agreements in
different jurisdictions. He is currently involved in high-profile disputes under the
NAFTA and the Energy Charter Treaty concerning renewable energy. He has
pursued specialized studies in oil and gas law, with a focus on renewable energy.
Prior to joining LKK Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, he worked for several years at
Kanga & Co., in Mumbai, India and as a judicial clerk at the Bombay High Court.
He has acted as counsel in numerous commercial disputes before arbitral tribunals
and domestic courts, and has specialized knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of dispute
resolution in India.
Rahul has spoken at events organized by the ICC World Business Institute, the
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Asian Society of International Law and
others. His publications cover topics of current interest in water, energy law and
international arbitration. He is a member of several professional arbitration asso-
ciations (YIAG, ICC YAF, CIArb YMG).
Amal K. Ganguli is a Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. He has inter-
national memberships with SIAC, KLRCA, UIA, Paris ILA, ITLDC, ILA-London,
IBA-London, LCIA, LAWASIA, IPBA, ASIL, SAARC—Law, WJA-Washington.
He is also associated with National Institutions like UIA-India Chapter ISIL, ILI,
ICA, ICADR, DAC, NHRC, SCBA, HCBA and many more.
Amal K. Ganguli has a large experience in arbitration followed by Constitutional
Issues, Inter State Water Disputes, Corporate Law, Public Interest Litigation (as
Amicus Curiae). He was also Senior Counsel in the panel of Government of India
Since 1984 and Indirect Taxes. He has been awarded Justice Krishna Iyer Award
sponsored by Capital Foundation Society. He was consultant at Delhi High Court
Arbitration Centre (DAC).
Editor and Contributors xvii
Trisha Mitra graduated as a lawyer in 2012 from the Symbiosis Law School,
Pune. During her years of law school she participated in various events. She was
awarded the Advocate S.K. Jain Scholarship for being the topper of B.A., LL.B.
from her batch.
Prior to pursuing her Masters in International Dispute Settlement from Graduate
Institute of International and Development Studies, she served as an associate at the
ADR teams of Bharucha and Partners and Wadia Ghandy & Co.
Soon after the completion of her masters she had the opportunity to work with
Prof. Pierre Tercier and later joined Shearman and Sterling as a legal trainee in their
International Arbitration team.
Prof. James J. Nedumpara has an experience of more than a decade and half in
the field of international trade and regulatory laws. He is currently an Associate
Professor and Assistant Dean, Projects and Institutional Development, and
Executive Director, Centre for International Trade and Economics Laws (CITEL) at
Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat, India. He has previously worked in the New
Delhi offices of Dua Associates and Luthra and Luthra Law Offices before taking up
the position of Trade Officer (Legal) with the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD), New Delhi. He has also served as a General
Manager (Trade and Legal) of a leading Fortune 500 corporation in India. Professor
Nedumpara has undertaken consultancy engagements for international organiza-
tions such as UNCTAD, law firms, think tanks and business firms on issues relating
to international trade law and, more specifically, trade remedy investigations and
free trade agreements. He has also taught specialized courses in trade law at FGV
Law School (São Paolo, Brazil), NLSIU Bangalore, ISIL, New Delhi and IIFT,
New Delhi. Professor Nedumpara’s current areas of focus include WTO law, trade
regulation and taxation law. He has co-authored two books on international trade
issues, published by Macmillan Publishers India Ltd entitled “Dealing with Trade
Distortions in Steel” (2006) and “Trade Liberalisation and Poverty in India” (2005).
He also serves in the Editorial Board of Global Trade and Customs Journal,
Kluwer Law International, Netherlands. He was recently engaged by the Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as the Convener of the Group of Legal
Studies to introduce legal studies as an optional subject in CBSE schools in India.
Professor Nedumpara received his Bachelor of Law (LL.B) Degree from Mahatma
Gandhi University, Kerala, India and holds LL.M. degrees from the University of
Cambridge, UK, the New York University School of Law, USA and the National
University of Singapore. He received his Ph.D. in Law from the National Law
School of India University, Bengaluru. He also served an internship at the Legal
Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization, Geneva. He is a recipient of the
Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship.
Denise Prévost is Associate Professor in international economic law at Maastricht
University. She was the Academic Coordinator of the Institute for Globalisation and
International Regulation (IGIR) until 1 August 2009, when she was appointed
Deputy Academic Director of IGIR. Previously (2004–2007) she worked as
xviii Editor and Contributors
Leïla Choukroune
Abstract Why, how and what for are States sued for breaches of their International
trade and investment law obligations? At a time when multilateralism is deeply
questioned by the forces of mega-regionalism as well as political and economic
contestation, these essential interrogations have never been more pressing. Whether
by a permanent court or an ad hoc body, the questioning of judging the State for
breaches of its treaty obligations however remains at the core of today’s interro-
gations on the adequacy and legitimacy of trade and Investor States Dispute
Settlement System. While rich and diverse in the way it addresses some funda-
mental issues in international trade and investment dispute settlement, our book
does not claim to be exhaustive. Its analysis is voluntarily limited to trade and
investment disputes settled at the international level by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism and international investor
States disputes systems. But in this relatively restricted context, Judging the State in
International Trade and Investment Law takes into account the latest evolutions of
a globalized trade and investment regulation struggling to put people’s expectations
at its core, and provides a comprehensive framework and truly original perspective
linking the various facets of “judicial activity” to the specific yet encompassing
character of international law and the rule of law in international society.
Why, how and what for are States sued for breaches of their international legal trade
and investment obligations? At a time when multilateralism is deeply questioned by
the forces of mega-regionalism as well as political and economic contestation, these
essential interrogations have never been more pressing. With 3304 International
Investment Agreements (IIAs) and almost 600 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), the
Universe of global economic regulation has indeed reached unknown spheres of
complexities, which are likely to expand further with the negotiation, by 150
L. Choukroune (&)
Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH), New Delhi, India
e-mail: Leila.choukroune@csh-delhi.com; Leila.choukroune@maastrichtuniversity.nl
countries, of at least 57 new IIAs.1 These local responses to the limited achieve-
ments, if not “failure”, of the Doha round of trade negotiations initiated by the
World Trade Organization (WTO), at its fourth Ministerial conference in November
2001, takes the form of a myriad of mega-regional trade and investment agreements
of an unprecedented political, economic and societal magnitude. As in the
“scrubbed” EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA),
or the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), other mega deals from
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), to the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), aim to cover an immense landscape
of norms, of which implications in terms of rights protection, creation or diminution
have yet to be measured.2 International trade and investment regulation is indeed
constantly evolving from a conceptual framework to another one hence adjusting
the processes of economic liberalization to the political conceptions and societal
aspirations of a given period of time. But as shown in international dispute set-
tlement, the time of legislation might not always meet public demands and the need
for the State to exercise its sovereignty to not only promote and protect economic
growth, but also essential public policies as many guaranties of its autonomy to
legislate in favour of its own population’s rights enforcement and fostering. In this
regard, the past 10 to 20 years of international trade and investment adjudication
have proven rather controversial. With 70 new cases initiated in 2015, treaty-based
investor–State arbitration reached a new annual summit with a total number of
known Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases amounting to 696.3
Interestingly, developing countries are not the only ones to be targeted anymore as
40 % of the 2015 new cases were brought against developed economies such as
Spain (with 15 new cases for a total of 29) or the Czech Republic (with 3 new cases
for a total of 33).4 The latest decisions have also shown that the State often prevails
on the contrary to largely disseminated ideas according to which States systemat-
ically loose ISDS cases. However, previous disputes had made the legal headlines
and triggered profound questionings if not complete distrust towards the system.
Since the late 2000s indeed, with many Latin American cases directly challenging
public policies (59 cases against Argentina, 36 against Venezuela or 22 against
Ecuador), concerns with ISDS developed on the basis of a number of clearly
identified issues: a systemic unbalance favouring investor claimants while dis-
couraging States claims, a democratic deficit coupled with a deficit of legitimacy in
relation to the questionable professionalism, independence and impartiality of
arbitrators and the lack of transparency in the proceedings and publications of
decisions; a deficit of coherence and consistency in the arbitral awards; third-party
opaque funding practices; the ever increasing cost of international arbitration, and
1
See, UNCTAD World Investment Report 2016.
2
The (scrubbing) as presented by the EU and Canada refers to a de facto renegotiation of the first
treaty text produced in 2014. See, http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1468.
3
See, UNCTAD World Investment Report 2016. Calculations are based on the 1987–2015 period.
4
Ibid, 105.
1 Introduction 3
5
See, for quite critical study, P Eberhardt & C Olivet, Profiting from Injustice, How Law Firms,
Arbitrators and Financiers Are Fuelling and Investment Arbitration Boom, Corporate Europe
Observatory and the Transnational Institute, November 2012.
6
See, DS406, United States – Measures Affecting the Production and Sale of Clove Cigarettes;
DS434, Australia – Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks and Other Plain Packaging
Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging and DS400, DS401: European
Communities – Measures Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Seal Products, in which
the Appellate Body upheld the Panel's finding that the EU Seal Regime is “necessary to protect
public morals” within the meaning of Article XX(a) of the GATT 1994 while concluding that the
European Union had not justified the EU Seal Regime under Article XX of the GATT 1994.
7
Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other
States (the ICSID Convention or the Convention) entered into force on 14 October 1966.
8
Ecuador in Occidental Petroleum Corporation v Ecuador, ICSID Case No ARB/06/11 award 5
October 2012. It has been reported that this is the largest sum ever awarded by a tribunal under the
ICSID Convention and, unsurprisingly, has been challenged by Ecuador. This controversial dis-
pute arose out of Ecuador’s April 2006 decision to terminate, by way of a decree the Participation
Contract under which Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Occidental) and Occidental Exploration
and Production Company (OPEC, the Claimants, were exploiting oil in the Oriente Basin in the
Ecuadorian Rainforest (the same region where the Chevron- Texaco case took place). While the
three arbitrators of the tribunal were unanimous on the liability of Ecuador (breach of the contract
and violation of the US-BIT in acting disproportionate manner), Professor Brigitte Stern firmly and
brilliantly dissented upon the calculation of damages. She indeed argues that the Claimant himself
contributed to the damage causing the contract termination by Ecuador.
9
See, https://mygov.in/group-issue/draft-indian-model-bilateral-investment-treaty-text/.
10
See, The Hindu available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indiaus-investment-
protection-pact-in-the-offing/article7444730.ece?homepage=true.
11
Some of these cases are identifiable on the Investment Treaty Arbitration website available at:
http://www.italaw.com.
4 L. Choukroune
The question of justiciability has always been at the centre of international law and
the rule of law in international society.14 In 1933 already, in his seminal book, The
Function of Law in the International Community, Hersch Lauterpacht, addressed
the problem of the judicial function in in a strikingly acute manner.15 At that time
indeed, it had been conventionally accepted that arbitration or judicial settlement
were unsuitable for dealing with disputes over “vital interests and honour”, and
many arbitration treaties contained a specific reservation to that effect.16 This “vital
interest and honour” formula is not without resonance today when, for example,
applied to investment water and sanitation cases challenging human rights or recent
States claims to consolidate their economic sovereignty over natural resources as in
12
We will further develop the White Industries case’s impact on the Most Favoured Nation
(MFN) standard of treatment below. The White Industries case Final Award is available at: http://
www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita0906.pdf.
13
See, UNCTAD World Investment Report 2016.
14
See, Mary Ellen O’Connelll & Lenore Vanderzee, The History of International Adjudication, in,
Cesare Pr Romano, Karen J Alter & Yuval Shany (eds) The Oxford Handbook of International
Adjudication, Oxford (OUP), December 2013, 40–62.
15
See, Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, The Function of Law in International Community Oxford (OUP,
2012) 477.
16
See, ibid, The Doctrine of Limitations of the Judicial Process in International Law, 1–25.
1 Introduction 5
the WTO China Raw Materials and Rare Earth disputes.17,18 So that a sort of test
of justiciability had to be performed based on a number of criteria including the
nature and importance of a dispute and resting largely on the function assigned to
international law that is whether you hold it in high value or not. In this matter,
Hersch Lauterpacht had imagined four “clear—although not mutually exclusive—
conceptions of legal or judicial disputes”: the possibility to apply “existing” and
“ascertainable” rules of international law (a); the identification of questions, which
do not affect “vital interests of States, or their external independence, or internal
sovereignty or territorial integrity, or honour, or any other of the important interests
covered by the restrictive clauses” (b); the existence of disputes for which the
application of “existing rules of international law is sufficient to ensure a result
which is not incompatible with the demands of justice and with a progressive
development of international relations” (c); the presence of disputes for which the
“controversy concerns a claim of legal right as distinguished from a claim admit-
tedly aiming at a change of the existing law”.19 The world has dramatically evolved
since the 1930s post-Weimar Constitution debates: actors have multiplied and
States successively lost and regained presence in economic affairs through the
adoption of liberal economic policies and, later, the emergence of new State cap-
italists in the former socialist countries converted to market economy, but per-
forming Lauterpacht test of justiciability still enables the State, as well as the
individual, to address the proper role of law in the international community and,
eventually, the relationships between law and politics as expressed in the concept of
State sovereignty. Is it then that some disputes are not justiciable as a consequence
of this doctrine of sovereignty? For Lauterpacht, the response was negative as long
as the rule of law was respected and the applicable rules enforced so that there were
no issues of a greater importance than others and the judges and arbitrators did not
lack means to apply the law in innovative ways, and to set aside rules that appear to
be obsolete or unjust. The resonance with today’s trade and investments dilemma is
once again striking: are Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) negotiated in the lib-
eral 1990s well suited to today’s societal need and expectations? Is the WTO
compulsory jurisdiction really “providing security and predictability to the multi-
lateral trading system” as stated in the Dispute Settlement Understanding
(DSU) Article 3.2 while preserving “the rights and obligations of Members under
the covered agreements, and to clarify the existing provisions of those agreements
in accordance with customary rules of interpretation of public international law”
without diminishing “the rights and obligations provided in the covered agree-
ments”? Are trade and investment adjudicatory body decisions coherent and con-
sistent hence participating to global legal certainty and economic security? To what
17
See, Leïla Choukroune, Human Rights in International Investment Disputes: Global Litigation
as International Law Re-unifier (Chap. 9) (Springer 2016).
18
See, DS394/DS395/DS398: China – Measures related to the exportation of various raw materials
and DS431/DS432/DS433: China – Measures related to the exportation of rare earths, tungsten,
and molybdenum.
19
Ibid, 19.
6 L. Choukroune
extent are trade and investment disputes settled in accordance with general inter-
national law norms and principles beyond the now traditional yet rhetorical invo-
cation of the Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT)?
All these questions inform the reasoning of the book’s contributors to understand
Why States are sued in international trade and investment law and why the existing
systems have not always been understood as offering a greater range of flexibilities.
In their chapter dedicated to “claims and counterclaims under Asian multilateral
investment treaties”, Trisha Mitra and Rahul Donde not only consider who can
bring claims and counterclaims, but also what the subject matter of these claims
must be. In doing so, they tackle a number of preconceptions and show that nothing
virtually restricts States from raising claims and/or counterclaims in investment
arbitration while certain treaties such as the Article 17(1)(2)(a) of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Agreement provide an equal right to a Member
State to make a claim. Julien Chaisse and Dini Sejko equally stress unexpected
flexibilities in the current dispute systems in analysing how State capitalism is
reshaping international economic law through the precise case of States claimants in
international investment disputes. Hence, they unveil a “great paradox”, that of
regime designed to serve the interests of the private sector and which is now
protecting the State as a new versatile global economic actor.
20
On the role of judges, see, José Alvarez, What Are International Judges for? The Main Functions
of the International Adjudication, in, Cesare Pr Romano, Karen J Alter & Yuval Shany (eds) The
Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, Oxford (OUP), December 2013 158–178.
21
See, Martti Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International
Law (1870–1960) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (CUP, 2001) 584.
1 Introduction 7
international investment law”, critically examine the role of the police power
doctrine in judging a claim of indirect expropriation against the host State. This is
certainly an important question as it helps to understand whether this doctrine could
serve as a benchmark to judge a host State’s regulatory measures, but also what are
the influences either comparative (American) or international (customary law)
under which States are judged. On the actors then, James J. Nedumpara examines
the background and the key WTO disputes which triggered a policy shift in India
towards the State playing a more proactive role in encouraging the building of a
unique hybrid trade-related legal capacity. In doing so, he shows how the building
of a national capacity upheld a particular development paradigm, of which objec-
tives were to ensure not only market access for products that can affect the
livelihood of the maximum number of people, but also safeguard the benefits of the
most vulnerable and so protect States and people’s interests. The same objective
seems to transpire in the Indian judiciary effort to implement international com-
mitments. India appears as a good student of international trade for A.K. Ganguli
whose chapter on the “role of Indian judiciary in the realm of international trade and
investment law” stresses that the “judiciary has not only shown deference to India’s
international commitments” but “has gone a step further in giving effect to several
international treaties and covenants through its pronouncements, even though in
respect of many international treaties India has not been a signatory and, in some
cases, the treaties had not been backed by legislations.” However, judges are not
often that internationally minded or daring and, as demonstrated by Arthur E.
Appleton, in an era of court “proliferation” the processes of appointment of the
WTO Appellate Body Members (AB) can go through many pathways and pitfalls.
In view of the current WTO AB crisis, the need to critically examine an eminently
political process is nothing but evident if indeed the WTO wants to fulfil its mission
to provide security and predictability for the multilateral trading system.22
While policy options for liberalization and regulation have fundamentally evolved
over the years, the question of the ultimate objectives pursued in judging the State
are of crucial importance. Beyond the tension between States responsibility for
breaches of international obligations and the preservation of the States right to
regulate autonomously, remains the question of a paradigm shift to which adjudi-
cation could contribute.
In her chapter on the Sates’ regulatory autonomy to protect societal values
through legitimate regulatory distinction in the WTO Agreement on Technical
22
On proliferation, see, Pierre-Marie Dupuy & Jorge E Vinalaes, The Challenge of Proliferation:
An Anatomy of the Debate, in, Cesare Pr Romano, Karen J Alter & Yuval Shany (eds) The Oxford
Handbook of International Adjudication, Oxford (OUP), December 2013 135–157.
8 L. Choukroune
Barriers to Trade (TBT), Denise Prévost underlines the crucial role of adjudication
in achieving an appropriate balance between the sovereign autonomy of States to
regulate in order to protect important societal values on the one hand and trade
liberalization on the other. In stressing the dangers of case law-driven solutions to
legal problems, she also offers some suggestions for more sustainable interpretation.
In the same vein, and in calling for more consistency in the international adjudi-
catory systems, the contribution on “global litigation as international law re-unifier”
demonstrates that the apparent contradiction between trade and investment norms
and human rights could be easily resolved if a political and economic will to read
the law from a holistic perspective making use of its many flexibilities eventually
manifested itself. It then argues in favour of an alternative (human) rights-based
perspective to not only provide victims with essential remedies, but also participate
in international law reunification.
While rich and diverse in the way it addresses some fundamental issues in
international trade and investment dispute settlement, our book does not claim to be
exhaustive. Its analysis is voluntarily limited to trade and investment disputes
settled at the international level by the World Trade Organisation dispute settlement
mechanism and international investor States disputes systems. But in this relatively
restricted context, Judging the State in International Trade and Investment Law
takes into account the latest evolutions of a globalized trade and investment reg-
ulation struggling to put people’s expectations at its core, and provides a com-
prehensive framework and truly original perspective linking the various facets of
“judicial activity” to the specific yet encompassing character of international law
and the rule of law in international society.
Part I
International Trade:
The WTO and Beyond
Chapter 2
Judging the Judges or Judging
the Members?
Pathways and Pitfalls in the Appellate Body
Appointment Process
Arthur E. Appleton
Arthur E. Appleton, JD, PhD, adjunct professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS Europe).
The author is also a visiting faculty member at the University of Barcelona (IELPO), a faculty
and board member of WTI (University of Bern), and a partner with Appleton Luff International
Lawyers (Geneva). The author would like to thank the Editor, Dr Leïla Choukroune, for her very
useful comments. He would also like to thank those who commented on earlier drafts and prefer
to remain anonymous. The author states that all remaining errors are his own.
{567}
"Congress alone has the power to coin and issue money, and
President Jackson declared that this power could not be
delegated to corporations or individuals. We therefore demand
that the power to issue notes to circulate as money be taken
from the National banks, and that all paper money shall be
issued directly by the Treasury Department, be redeemable in
coin, and receivable for all debts, public and private.
"We hold that the tariff duties should be levied for purposes
of revenue, such duties to be so adjusted as to operate
equally throughout the country and not discriminate between
class or section, and that taxation should be limited by the
needs of the Government honestly and economically
administered.
"We hold that the most efficient way to protect American labor
is to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to
compete with it in the home market, and that the value of the
home market to our American farmers and artisans is greatly
reduced by a vicious monetary system, which depresses the
prices of their products below the cost of production, and
thus deprives them of the means of purchasing the products of
our home manufacture.
"We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the
people by oppressive taxation and the lavish appropriations of
recent Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high,
while the labor that pays them is unemployed, and the products
of the people's toil are depressed in price till they no
longer repay the cost of production. We demand a return to
that simplicity and economy which best befit a Democratic
Government and a reduction in the number of useless offices,
the salaries of which drain the substance of the people.
{568}
"In the effort to maintain the gold standard the country has,
within the last two years, in a time of profound peace and
plenty, been loaded down with $262,000,000 of additional
interest-bearing debt, under such circumstances as to allow a
syndicate of native and foreign bankers to realize a net
profit of millions on a single deal.
"It stands confessed that the gold standard can only be upheld
by so depleting our paper currency as to force the prices of
our product below the European and even below the Asiatic
level to enable us to sell in foreign markets, thus
aggravating the very evils our people so bitterly complain of,
degrading American labor, and striking at the foundations of
our civilization itself.
{569}
"We denounce the sale of bonds and the increase of the public
interest-bearing bond debt made by the present administration
as unnecessary and without authority of law, and we demand
that no more bonds be issued except by specific act of
Congress.
{570}
"We condemn the frauds by which the land grant to the Pacific
Railroad Companies have, through the connivance of the
Interior Department, robbed multitudes of bona fide settlers
of their homes and miners of their claims, and we demand
legislation by Congress which will enforce the exemption of
mineral land from such grants after as well as before patent.