Call for Papers: ESIL International Economic Law International Group Workshop

The International Economic Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for a workshop to be held on September 9, 2015, in Oslo, preceding the ESIL Annual Conference. Here's the call:

ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group - Call for Papers

2015 Oslo ESIL Conference

Workshop of the IEL IG – 9 September 2015 h. 11:00 - 17:00

Abstract submission deadline: 31 May 2015

At the 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law taking place in Oslo, Norway, the ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group will convene a Full Day Workshop, which will take place on 9 September 2015.

Three panels will be organized, which will deal with

1.The European Union and WTO dispute settlement

2.The European Union and international investment law

3.The European Union and preferential trade agreements

For each of the three panels of the workshop the ESIL IELIG invites papers, which should be unpublished, in an advanced stage of completion, and ready to be possibly later included in the ESIL SSRN Conference Paper Series / ESIL Conference Proceedings. The working languages of the ESIL IELIG are English and French, and thus the proposals may be submitted in English or French (see below for the paper submission procedure and timeline).

Call for Papers 1: The European Union and the WTO Dispute Settlement

On 1 January 2015 the WTO system celebrated its 20th anniversary. The multilateral and plurilateral Agreements agreed on in Marrakesh have acquired a prominent place in the governance of international trade also because of the Geneva dispute mechanism. In fact, the WTO panels and the Appellate Body developed many important principles and clarifications concerning WTO law, which are constantly taken into considerations by nationals officials when developing domestic legislation, and lawyers and scholars when considering the scope of multilateral trade rules, as well as when researching in other fields of international law. Of course, WTO case-law is also provoked by WTO Members; and among them, one of the major actors of the WTO system is the European Union. The 20th anniversary of the WTO is thus an appropriate moment to provide for an analysis of the role played by the EU within the Geneva dispute settlement mechanism, investigating on the way in which the EU approached the SPS Agreement, the TBT Agreement, the GATS, GATT Article XX or the WTO Agreements devoted to trade defence measures (dumping, subsidies and safeguards); whether or not the EU promoted mutually agreed solutions instead of going directly to the litigation phase of the WTO DSU; and the institutional solutions found within the EU Law of external relations for adequately and legitimately representing Europe before the WTO judging bodies.

Call for Papers 2: The European Union and International Investment Law

Since the 2009 Lisbon treaty has furnished the EU with exclusive powers in the area of investment law, many debates have taken place on an EU approach in this area, which in a way culminated in the public consultation exercise, which has been recently undertaken in regard to the investment chapter in the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Initiative (TTIP). Vivid Debates actually take place in public as well as in academia. The proposal to establish an international investment court or at least an appeals body is one issue at stake. To the more, the impact of investment law on European law came into focus recently. For instance, the issue has been raised, what implications the Opinion 2/13 of the European Court of Justice on the accession of the EU to the ECHR of December 2014 might have for future EU commitments on investment arbitration. To the more and also in regard to the constitutional law of Member States, questions as to the principle of democracy, the priority for primary remedies over compensation and the reverse discrimination of domestic investors and investments have been raised.

Call for Papers 3: The European Union and Preferential Trade Agreements

The ratification of CETA and the TTIP talks should not make forgotten, that the European Commission actually pursues negotiations on free trade agreements with a number of other States. Aside from the investment protection issues, a whole lot of other issues merit further discussion. These include inter alia regulatory cooperation, intellectual property, competition law and innovative aspects such as sustainable development and labour standards. Above all, the question arises, whether the mushrooming of these agreements are building blocks or a stumbling blocks for the world trading system.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Senior and junior scholars (including PhD students) are invited to participate to the ESIL IELIG calls for papers. Papers will be selected on the basis of the submitted abstracts. Only one abstract per author in each call for papers will be considered.

Abstracts must not exceed 800 words, and have to be submitted to the following mail addresses: elisa.baroncini@unibo.it; pstoll@gwdg.de.

In addition to the abstract, each submission should contain a separate file containing information on:

• The topic of the call for papers for which the abstract is submitted
• The author’s name and affiliation
• A short (one page) author’s CV, including a list of relevant publications
• The author’s contact details, including email address and phone number
• Whether the author is an ESIL member and, if so, the date of affiliation

TIMELINE

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 May 2015
• Successful applicants will be informed by 10 June 2015