Trade and the environment in North America

Environmental assessments of trade agreements remain in its infancy, and demonstrate that trade in itself will not green our economies. By examining various aspects of the environmental effects of trade in North America, this special issue not only contributes to deepening our understanding of the key issues in the trade and environment debate, but also helps to formulate mutually supportive trade and environmental policies.     

Services,the environment and the NAFTA

Environmental assessments of trade agreements remain in its infancy and demonstrate that trade in itself will not green our economies. By examining various aspects of the environmental effects of services trade in North America, this special issue not only contributes to deepening our understanding of the key issues in the services and environment debate but also helps to formulate mutually supportive services and environmental policies.     

反倾销案因果关系的立法分析及我国的对策

倾销与损害之间的因果关系是构成反倾销案的核心要素之一 ,其认定标准有“一般原因的因果关系”和“主要原因的因果关系”两种类型。GATT/WTO和美国在反倾销案因果关系问题上的立法及实践实际上是国际贸易政策冲突和协调的结果。笔者认为 ,我国反倾销立法中因果关系认定标准应基于保护性的对外贸易政策取向确立“一般原因的因果关系”标准     

Scale, technique and composition effects in the Mexican agricultural sector: the influence of NAFTA and the institutional environment

More than a decade after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) entered into force, the environmental effects of agricultural trade liberalization in Mexico are still controversial, emerging, and not fully understood. This paper contributes to the literature that aims to explore trends in input use in the agricultural sector in Mexico during the post-NAFTA period among both commercial/industrial and traditional/rainfed farmers, and examines the influence of the national and multilateral institutional framework on these outcomes. We decompose the post-NAFTA agricultural production data into scale, technique and composition effects to estimate the impact that trade liberalization has had on the use of fertilizer and land use, two key agricultural inputs for which reliable aggregate data is available. We conclude that among commercial farmers patterns of crop type specialization and significant technological improvements have led to some declines in fertilizer use but they have been offset by growth in fertilizer use associated with growing agricultural output. Among traditional farmers increased output and specialization in land-intensive grain crops are contributing to an increase in land under cultivation and technological improvements show the potential, but not yet not the strength, to counteract these effects. We analyse the environmental institutional framework and rural development plans, observing that institutional weaknesses have, in several instances, reduced the environmental benefit of technique and composition effects. We conclude with recommendations about how the Mexican agricultural sector might reap the environmental benefits of international agricultural trade.     

The Politics of Adoption: Child Rights in the Brazilian Setting

This paper, centered on adoption policy in Brazil, asks to what extent the open–ended principles apparent in international child rights accords, filtered down through different national laws, adjust to local realities. Ethnographic data on child circulation practices in urban favelas is compared with specific clauses in the 1990 Brazilian Children's Code, as well as with adoption policies in North America, to question the code's way of legislating which children can be placed for adoption, on what terms they should be placed, and who has the power to place them.     

Spectator Violence in Sports: A North American Perspective

Spectator violence has long been associated with professional football in Europe. This article examines the issue of spectator violence from a North American perspective. We begin by noting that there is little systematic research into the scope of spectator disorder in North America. Perhaps for this reason there is little consensus about the true scale of the problem on this side of the Atlantic. It does seem clear at least that there is less spectator violence associated with professional sports in North America. After reviewing a number of explanations for this finding, we conclude that it has less to do with criminal justice policies or practices, than the social context surrounding the 'spectatorship' of sports in North America. Perhaps the most important explanation for the variance in crowd behaviour concerns the demographic profiles of sports spectators in European football and North American sports.     

国际投资与环境保护的法律冲突与协调——以晚近区域性投资条约及相关案例为研究对象

经济一体化所带来的环境损害已成为国际社会关注的焦点问题之一。国际社会已开始尝试运用贸易投资条约防范贸易投资自由化带来的消极环境影响。以《北美自由贸易协定》为代表的国际投资法立法新模式,在其投资章节中规定了环境条款,试图兼顾投资自由和环境保护两种利益需求。虽然实践表明,该协定仍然没有有效协调投资与环境保护之间的关系,并在执行上出现了诸多法律冲突,但该协议所彰显的贸易投资自由化不得以牺牲环境为代价的立法理念和原则,可能会成为未来国际经济法中重要的理念和原则,将会对未来国际投资法和国际经济法的发展产生重大而深远的影响。     

Arresting Women: Pro-arrest Policies,Debates, and Developments

Police departments across North America have adopted pro-arrest policies in intimate partner violence (IPV) cases with the intent of constraining police discretion and providing better protection for IPV victims. It has been suggested that an unintended consequence of pro-arrest policies has been an increase in the number of women arrested for IPV when their behavior is defensive rather than aggressive. Concern about inappropriate arrests of women is particularly pronounced in cases of dual arrest. This study examines the arrests and court processing of 2,736 women in heterosexual relationships accused of IPV offences in Winnipeg, Canada. The characteristics of accused and court processing of dual and sole arrested women are examined. Dual arrested women are less likely to be prosecuted than sole arrested women. We explore whether an effective ‘primary aggressor’ policy can reduce dual arrests, which are the cases most likely to be dropped at the prosecution level.     

中欧贸易壁垒调查立法比较研究

在欧共体 ,《贸易壁垒条例》是实施“市场进入战略”贸易政策的重要工具。在我国 ,《对外贸易壁垒调查暂行规则》的发布 ,为消除国外贸易壁垒对我国出口贸易的影响 ,促进对外贸易的正常发展提供了重要法律依据 ,对于有效维护贸易参与人的正当利益 ,开拓国际市场也将产生深远影响。《暂行规则》对《贸易壁垒条例》多有借鉴 ,但前者在实体与程序规则两方面仍然存在诸多不足 ,进一步的贸易壁垒调查立法应该考虑对此加以完善或纠正     

A comparative analysis of trade and economic integration in East Asia and Latin America

This paper provides an analysis of the two channels of regional integration: integration via markets and integration via agreements. Given that East Asia and Latin America are two fertile regions where both forms of integrations have taken place, we examine the experiences of these two areas to illustrate our conclusions. There are three related results. First, East Asia has been integrating via the markets long before formal agreements have been in vogue in the region. Latin America, on the other hand, has primarily been using formal regional trade treaties as the main channel of integration. Second, despite the relative lack of formal regional trade treaties until recently, East Asia is more integrated among itself than Latin America. Third, from a purely economic and trade standpoint, the proper sequence of integrations seems to be first integrating via the markets and subsequently via formal regional trade agreements. One interpretation of the relative success of the East Asian approach is that regional trade agreements often serve multiple constituents. Integrating via markets first can be helpful because this can give a stronger political bargaining power to the outward-looking economic-oriented forces within the country.     

A mountain or a molehill: is the illicit trade in cigarettes undermining tobacco control policy in South Africa?

This study estimates the size of the market for illicit cigarettes in South Africa between 1997 and 2007 in order to consider the impact of the illicit trade in cigarettes on the effectiveness of tobacco control policies. Estimates of the illicit market are made using data on smoking prevalence and simulations of smoking intensity. The paper shows that the size of the illicit market to have grown substantially from 1997 until peaking in 2000 between 9.4% and 11.5% of the total market. The most recent estimate for 2007 suggests that the illicit market occupied between 7.0% and 11.2% of the total market. These estimates are significantly lower than the anecdotal claims of the tobacco industry. Although the scale of the illicit market is significant it has not undermined tobacco control policy. Consumption in the total market, including both the illicit and legal market, has declined in size consistently. At the same time, tax revenue from higher excise taxes has offset the tax losses as a result of illicit trade.     

实力变迁、法律传统与美欧印中贸易政策的演进

国际经济格局的深刻变化引发了美欧印中等主要贸易体贸易政策的变化.这种变化主要体现为其外贸法、外资法和出口管制法的修改,而国际习惯法和国际经济条约对这种修改的约束有限.美欧印中的代表性国际经济法理论分别为"制度管理说"、"规范承诺说"、"贸易民主论"和"责任共担论",这些理论反映了各贸易体的国际经济法传统和理念.以这些理...     

WTO与中国行政法制度改革的几个关键问题

我国加入世界贸易组织（ＷＴＯ），必将对国内法律制度产生深远的影响。这种影响不仅仅涉及贸易、投资等经济法律制度领域，而且涉及规范政府权力的公法制度。本文认为：就本质上看，ＷＴＯ协议是一种契约，目的是约束各成员方政府将其贸易政策限定在一定范围内，从而建立一种鼓励公平与自由竞争的多边贸易体制。因此，ＷＴＯ协议直接对政府行为提出了要求。这些要求集中表现为ＷＴＯ协议所规定的“国民待遇原则”、“透明度原则”、“法律统一实施原则”、“行政公平原则”以及“对行政行为的监督审查原则”等方面。我们需要根据上述原则的要求，对规范政府行为的宪法和行政法制度进行相应的改革。ＷＴＯ背景下行政法制度的改革，对我国行政法学的发展既是一个挑战，又是一种机遇。     

欧盟、美国优惠性原产地规则运用的实践及启示--非经济功能的视角

欧盟、美国及其建立的区域贸易组织对优惠性原产地规则的运用始终走在前列,不仅被它们运用于经济领域以追求广泛的传统贸易利益,发挥着特有的经济功能,而且已被它们运用于特定的非经济领域以追求广泛的非传统贸易利益,发挥着特定的非经济功能.我国的区域经贸合作安排已正式启动,并正扩大区域经贸合作的范围.为此,我国应借鉴欧盟、美国利用优惠性原产地规则实现非经济功能的成功经验,以实现特定的政治、军事、外交目标.     

The “Tough on Crime” Competition: a Network Approach to Understanding the Social Mechanisms Leading to Federal Crime Control Legislation in the United States from 1973–2014

The increase in punitive sentiment in America over the last four decades is frequently attributed to changes in criminal justice policies and programs. While scholars have studied the impact of legislation and policy on justice system outcomes, less attention has focused on the role of political actors in legislative bodies who are largely responsible for enacting criminal justice legislation. The current study addresses this gap by examining the social organization of federal crime control policy in the U.S. Congress over a forty-two year period (1973–2014). Drawing from research on social network mechanisms, we examine whether crime control legislation was more politically attractive relative to other legislative topics, and whether Democrats and Republicans pursue these policies by working together or competing against each other. Our results provide novel insight into the mechanisms that contributed to the punitive movement at the federal level.     

论我国公司社会责任的制度完善——兼论对欧盟国家公司社会责任实践的借鉴

公司社会责任是指公司对社会、环境和雇员、消费者、临近社区等利益相关者所承担的法律义务与道德义务。欧盟国家对公司社会责任争议不大,其公共政策的方方面面都在积极落实公司社会责任。我国新公司法第五条规定了公司的社会责任,该规定对立法和司法都是有指导意义的。我国应完善公司社会责任的强制性规范、任意性规范与倡导性规范,更要完善公司社会责任的道德建设。     

The Global Trade in Live Cetaceans: Implications for Conservation

Cetaceans—small whales, dolphins and porpoises—have long been popular performers in oceanaria. Captive cetaceans have also been used for research and employed in military operations. In some jurisdictions cetacean display facilities have been phased out or prohibited, and in the US and Hong Kong a high proportion of the whales and dolphins now in captivity have been captive-bred. A large, growing and increasingly opportunistic trade in dolphins and small toothed whales nevertheless exists, its centres of supply having shifted away from North America, Japan, and Iceland to the Russian Federation and developing nations in Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. Demand for live captures is being driven by: a new wave of traditional-type oceanaria and dolphin display facilities, as well as travelling shows, in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean; increasingly popular programs that offer physical contact with cetaceans, including the opportunity to feed, pet, and swim with them; and the proliferation of facilities that offer ‘dolphin assisted therapy’ to treat human illness or disability. Rigorous assessment of source populations is often lacking, and in some instances live capture is adding to the pressure on stocks already at risk from hunting, fishery bycatch, habitat degradation, and other factors. All too often, entrepreneurs appear to be taking advantage of lax (or non-existent) regulations in small island states or less developed or politically unstable countries to supply the growing global demand for dolphins and small whales. The regulation of trade in live cetaceans under CITES is fraught with problems, not least the poor quality of reporting and the lack of a rigorous mechanism for preparation, review, and evaluation of non-detriment findings.     

Current trends in nanotechnology research across worldwide geo-economic players

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current temporal and spatial trajectories in nanotechnology research in order to display the worldwide patterns of scientific domains across main geo-economic players. Current trends of nanotechnology have been growing in chemistry and medicine because of technological applications of new nanomaterials mainly in Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology. In addition, the results show that the laboratories of Europe and North America have intensive scientific collaborations with foreign scholars in nanotechnology studies. This paper can provide vital findings to support new research and innovation policies in order to foster the development of these driving converging technologies for future patterns of economic growth.     

Explaining energy disputes at the World Trade Organization

The international trade regime has seen an explosion of challenges to government support for renewable energy in recent years, yet fossil fuel subsidies, which dwarf renewable energy subsidies, have remained unchallenged. Existing explanations for this puzzling discrepancy have focused on four rationales: major fossil fuel exporters have not historically been members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (WTO); WTO subsidies rules are inadequate to deal with the specifics of the fossil fuel trade; nations have developed separate institutions to govern energy; and all states have fossil fuel subsidies, so a challenge to one country’s subsidies will prompt a reciprocal challenge. This article makes two contributions. First, it uses a survey of existing renewable energy trade disputes to critique the existing explanations. Most importantly, the article shows that the threat of reciprocal litigation exists in the renewable energy sector, and that WTO subsidies rules are rarely used to challenge renewable energy subsidies. Hence, neither the threat of reciprocal litigation nor the relative ease of applying WTO subsidies rules explains the discrepancy in the number of disputes. Second, the article hypothesizes that the economic diversification of energy-producing countries is correlated with and may drive whether energy-producing countries face WTO challenges to their energy support policies. Most major fossil fuel producers lack significant non-fossil fuel exports that could be restricted in order to induce them to reform their fossil fuel policies, the usual mechanism for enforcing a WTO judgment. States may also be more likely to challenge new, rather than long-standing, trade restrictions. This suggests that trade challenges will arise more frequently where innovation leads to competition and a demand for new trade restrictions (as in renewable energy), as opposed to in mature sectors of the economy (i.e., the fossil fuel industry). Economic diversification, in turn, is a good predictor of innovation.     

Taphonomic Analysis of Rodentia and Lagomorpha Bone Gnawing Based Upon Incisor Size

Rodent and lagomorph species have a worldwide distribution and have the potential to alter remains from forensic cases by gnawing soft tissue and bones and through dispersal. The present research compiled metric data on the incisors widths of all rodent and lagomorph species whose ranges include Massachusetts, U.S.A., to compare their sizes to gnawing damage found on 17 cases of human remains from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Boston, MA. Data on gnawing maximum striation widths also were collected from live laboratory, zoo, and wild specimens. Gnawing damage on the forensic cases could be attributed only to a particular size class of rodent or lagomorph, and identification to a particular species based on gnawing damage alone may be possible only in relatively rare cases. Multiple species examined here have broad distribution ranges, so their taphonomic alterations may impact bones from forensic cases throughout large portions of North America.