The Amicus Brief Issue at the WTO

The near-exclusive attention which many commentators have givento the importance of analysing the amicus brief issue in termsof transparency and accountability, often accompanied by accusationsof a lack of democratic status on the part of the countriesthat have objected to the admission of such briefs, is misplaced.The World Trade Organization (WTO) Members that have objectedmost strenuously to amicus brief submissions have been developingcountries—ironically, the most vocal proponents of anindependent, strong "trade court". Why should developing countriescomplain if the issue is really one of strategic and politicalinterests? After all, a "court" that takes it upon itself toaccept amicus briefs despite the protestations of the majorityof the WTO Membership is, in this sense, a "strong court". Whatthis article aims to provide is a very close account of theviews of the Members in the political debates on this issue.On that basis, it seems that abstract arguments based on thepositive role that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) canplay are unlikely to assuage developing countries' concerns.They only address the supposition that developing countriesare morally mistaken in their political views, or are sufferingfrom a false consciousness of the (real) threat of trans-boundarynon-governmental moral entrepreneurs. Instead, the concernsof these and other Members have to do with estimations aboutthe likely impact of WTO Appellate Body activism on the misapplication(and consequent unpredictability) of negotiated trade rules.These concerns should be taken seriously, for they go to theoriginal intent at Uruguay of having an impartial body whichwould impartially apply negotiated rules, with an eye towardsthe avoidance of political controversy. According to this view,fundamental gaps in trade regulation should be resolved by theMembers—not the Appellate Body.     

The Influence of Amicus Curiae Briefs on U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Content

We address fundamental questions about the ability of interest groups to shape public policy by examining the influence of amicus curiae briefs on U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion content. We argue that the justices will incorporate language from amicus briefs into their opinions based on the extent to which the amicus briefs contribute to their ability to make effective law and policy. Using plagiarism detection software and other forms of computer assisted content analysis, we find that the justices adopt language from amicus briefs based primarily on the quality of the brief's argument, the level of repetition in the brief, the ideological position advocated in the brief, and the identity of the amicus. These results add fresh insight into how interest groups influence the development of federal law by the Supreme Court.     

Membership and its Privileges: the WTO, Civil Society, and the Amicus Brief Controversy

Abstract: In a series of rulings, beginning with the notorious Shrimp/Turtle dispute, the high court of the WTO, the so‐called Appellate Body, has ruled that it, as well as the panels of first instance, may, on a discretionary basis, accept and consider amicus curiae briefs from, inter alia, non‐governmental organisations and private individuals. This has been highly controversial and subject to wide and intense criticism by trade diplomats who are the political representatives of WTO Member states in Geneva; the officials have reacted with anger and hostility to the notion that governments are not exclusive gatekeepers of access to the WTO dispute settlement tribunals. This article shows that the decision that amicus briefs are admissible at the discretion of the adjudicator has a sound basis in the legal framework for WTO dispute settlement, as well as conforming to trends in the practice of international courts and tribunals more generally. The article examines various ‘due process’ issues concerning the modalities for acceptance and consideration of amicus briefs and how they have been so far dealt with by the Appellate Body, as well as how they are handled in certain proposals for reform of the legal framework of WTO dispute settlement, the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).     

Friends of the Court: Examining the Influence of Amicus Curiae Participation in U.S. Supreme Court Litigation

Amicus curiae participation is a staple of interest group activity in the U.S. Supreme Court. While a reasonably large body of scholarship has accumulated regarding the effectiveness of this method of participation, little attention has been paid to examining the reasons why amicus participation might increase litigation success. In this article, I test two separate, but not mutually exclusive, theories as to why amicus briefs may be effective. The first, the affected groups hypothesis, suggests amicus briefs are influential because they signal to the Court how many groups and individuals will be potentially affected by the decision. The second, the information hypothesis, proposes that amicus briefs are effective because they provide the Court with added information that buttresses the arguments of the direct parties. When subjected to empirical verification, the results indicate that not only does amicus participation increase litigation success, but also that this influence may be best explained by the information hypothesis.     

Social science in Supreme Court criminal cases and briefs

This article describes citations of social science research evidence in 200 criminal cases decided by the Supreme Court and in the briefs filed by the parties and amici curiae in these cases. It also examines the uses of social science authorities in samples of Supreme Court exclusionary rule and jury decisionmaking cases, and accompanying briefs. The correspondence between the social science references cited in the decisions and the briefs is used as one measure of the brief-writers' contributions to the Court's use of social science materials, and related contributions of the brief-writers are explored, as well. The justices appeared to locate the majority of social science references cited in their opinions without assistance from the briefs, and thus also presumably attempted to evaluate the research evidence on their own. Individuals and organizations with scientific expertise rarely filed amicus briefs in these cases, which may help explain why the Court so frequently was without assistance in locating or examining research evidence. It is suggested that the appellate judiciary's informed use of social science materials would be promoted if more social scientists, and their professional organizations, participated as amici curiae in cases presenting social fact issues within their competence.     

晚近美国对外贸易政策的法律分析

自20世纪90年代以来的美国对外贸易政策,应当引起特别关注。作为WTO的重要成员和当今世界上惟一的超级大国,美国的贸易政策的演变对未来多边贸易体制的发展将产生不可低估的影响,对美国贸易政策与其国内法律的关联性进行剖析,无疑对廓清当前及今后较长时期内的美国经贸政策演进的趋势是一种有益的探索,特别是为我国应对新一轮国际经济与贸易发展提供一定的借鉴,也有助于我国经贸法律制度的进一步完善。     

Opinion Construction in the Roberts Court

The Supreme Court's main output is the decision on the merits. Little is known, however, about how such decisions are constructed. This article is one of the first to look at the way Supreme Court opinions are constructed by examining the impact of the core linguistic resources at the Court's disposal. It does so in a novel manner by measuring the Court's reliance on wording from parties’ merits filings, amicus briefs, and lower‐court opinions between the 2005 and 2014 terms. To accomplish this goal, the article compares language in over 13,000 documents in the Court's docket during this period with their respective majority opinions. The article then looks at the relative impact of parties’ briefs and filings, amicus curiae briefs, and lower‐court opinions on the Court's majority opinion language. This article provides both macro– and microlevel analyses by locating the relative effects of these linguistic resources on the Court's overall opinion language as well as by breaking these findings down by individual justice. In the aggregate, this article finds that, of the three resources analyzed, the Court tends to use language from parties’ merits briefs most frequently, then wording from lower‐court opinions, and the least from amicus briefs, but that differences in case level factors shift the relative utility of each of these three resources.     

Keywords,case law and the Court of Justice: the need for legislative intervention in modernising European trade mark law

Recent preliminary references to the CJEU on online keyword advertising and registered trade mark infringement have exposed the challenges facing EU registered trade mark law in its response to new technologies. These cases and the challenges they pose provide a timely prism through which to examine the European trade mark law-making process and the role of the CJEU within that process. This article will employ an analysis of the way in which the CJEU has developed certain key new aspects of the law on ‘infringing use’ to explore concerns over the CJEU's role and approach. It will be argued that, driven by policy considerations, the CJEU has acted creatively to develop the law of infringement in ways that cannot be sustained by the TMD and CTMR and which are likely to cause increasing uncertainties going forward. With the European Commission currently considering reform of Trade Marks Directive 2008/95/EC and Community Trade Mark Regulation 207/2009/EC, this paper will argue that there is a need for more comprehensive and forward-looking legislative intervention than has yet been proposed and that such intervention will be essential to restoring balance in the European trade mark law-making process.     

SOCIAL SCIENCE AND DEATH PENALTY CASES: Reflections on Change and the Empirical Justification of Constitutional Policy

This article investigates the use of social science and empirical data in the justification for declaring the death penalty unconstitutional. It does so by analysing the use of such materials in the briefs presented to the Supreme Court and the Court's response in major death penalty cases. The article finds that social science played a prominent role in the arguments of both the challengers and defenders of capital punishment. Applying concepts from decision-making theory, after analyzing the Court's decisions, the article concludes that social science will not provide a justification for the constitutional change requested.     

WTO框架下的环境标志问题与我国环境标志制度的完善

环境标志问题是WTO环境与贸易委员会的讨论议题之一,因此,环境标志的使用不能视为GATT1994第20(b)(g)条下的例外,应遵守WTO非歧视原则且不能构成变相的贸易限制手段。在多边贸易体制中,环境标志问题的实质就是通过环境标志间接将PPM问题合法化,尽管大多数成员的环境标志制度是建立在自愿的基础上,但环境标志对于贸易自由化的消极影响还是十分明显的。作为WTO的成员方,我国应大力加强环境标志制度建设,推动环境标志认证的新发展,同时,在多边贸易体制中极力维护国家的贸易安全,积极防止和应对环境标志成为新的贸易壁垒。     

论WTO后过渡期中国对外贸易法律制度的梳理和完善

论述主要分为三部分:一是分析我国加入WTO,在"后过渡期"内,我国在对外贸易领域的发展特征,该部分主要着眼于国内的角度;二是论述在国际贸易中,诸多因素的冲突、互动及对我国的影响,该部分主要着眼于国际视野;三是阐述在面临国内外新形式下,我国对外贸易法律制度需要进一步梳理和完善,以有利于我国对外贸易的进一步发展.     

Preventing Wildlife Crimes: Solutions That Can Overcome the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’

The 'tragedy of the commons' dilemma occurs when individuals working independently of one another, will overuse a common-property resource for short-term benefits while decimating the resource for long-term use (Hardin 1968). This is often found in the field of wildlife crimes where species become overexploited to increase short-term profits while endangering and eliminating a natural resource for future users. Wildlife crimes suffering from the ‘tragedy’ need to be prevented in order for species to avoid extinction while also conserving a natural resource that monetarily benefits numerous people and their respective communities. Current approaches to the illegal wildlife trade include implementing trade bans or regulatory schemes at the national and international level, yet their effectiveness of reducing the trade is unknown. Perhaps, a better approach in reducing the illegal wildlife trade is a combination of making it more difficult to poach (i.e. situational crime prevention) and incentivizing locals to abstain from poaching. This paper will first review the literature on wildlife crimes and then use a case study approach that will examine the literature on the illegal parrot trade, the market for wildlife skins, and over-fishing. Through these case studies, a comprehensive review of the problem will be detailed as well as innovative conservation solutions that show promise in reducing the poaching and exploitation of species. Amongst these solutions will be the use of situational crime prevention that has shown immediate reductions in crime when tailored towards highly-targeted areas and crimes.     

Improving APA science translation amicus briefs

This commentary uses APA's brief inPrice Waterhouse v. Hopkins to examine a number of issues concerning such briefs submitted to appellate courts: What are the purposes of APA's science translation briefs? What role conflicts emerge between legal advocates and empirical scientists? In what ways are these exacerbated or lessened by the respective duties of advocates and scientists? In what ways may the conflicts be compelled by differences between legal and empirical questions? How adequate are Brandeis briefs as a tool for communicating empirical research findings to appellate courts? Are any of the usual adversarial protections maintained? What is the question the court might look to the brief, and to the field, to answer? What is the role for meta-analyses? For what interests might APA as an amicus advocate? In addition to organizational self-interest and the public interest, does it ever make sense to advocate, in a purported science translation brief, on behalf of an ultimate issue in the case or for one of the parties to the litigation? To these difficult problems, I suggest a potentially simple solution.     

对中国“入世”的法律思考

中国加入世贸组织,利大于弊,机遇与挑战并存;可推动我国的改革开 放,促进我国市场的健全和完善,受益于 ＷＴＯ的多边贸易体制。同时在国民待遇、 国际金融服务贸易、信息资源与电子商务法律、知识产权与知识产权的国际保护、自 然资源开发和国际环境保护与可持续发展、争端解决机制、促进中华民族的统一等问 题上,亦面临着机遇与挑战。     

Parallel trade and free trade agreements

Legal context. Free trade agreements seek to remove unjustifiedbarriers to trade. Normally barriers to trade are imposed bystates, such as quotas, tariffs, subsidies and regulatory restrictions.However, sometimes barriers will be imposed by private partiesseeking to prevent parallel trade (arbitrage) of their own products.The aim of this article is to examine the way in which freetrade agreements deal with private barriers to parallel tradeand thus to consider to what extent parallel trade is possiblewithin free trade areas. Key points. The article considers first the situation withinthe European Community, which has long supported parallel tradethrough its provisions on the free movement of goods and competitionlaw, before turning to the approach taken in the Community'sfree trade agreements with third countries. It carries out thesame exercise in relation to the United States and then considershow parallel trade is dealt with by the World Trade Organisation.Finally, as free trade agreements only seek to remove unjustifiedbarriers, it considers possible justifications for the differentapproaches before drawing some tentative conclusions. Practical significance. This article considers the impact whichthe overlap between intellectual property, competition law andtrade law has in relation to parallel trade. As well as reviewingthe current position, which will be of use to businesses andlegal practitioners on both sides of parallel trade, it assessesthe underlying justifications which are relevant to policy makingin this field.     

上诉机构停摆后的WTO争端解决

世界贸易组织(WTO)上诉机构的停摆虽然对WTO产生了巨大的影响,但并不意味着其争端解决机制的终结。我们不应该扔掉整个皇冠,即使它上面的宝石出现了裂缝。通过对上诉机构停止运作后将主导WTO争端解决机制的若干方案及其利弊的考察分析可见,WTO上诉机构的停摆对于目前及未来发生的贸易争端将意味着,WTO争端解决尤其是如何处理专家组报告将从一揽子、统一适用的模式进入到多元化、碎片化的模式。当前,在贸易保护主义、单边主义抬头,“逆全球化”浪潮时隐时现,多边贸易体制处于风雨飘摇之际,如何继续保证WTO规则的一致性和捍卫以规则为基础的多边贸易体制,将是摆在WTO成员面前的迫切课题。中国需要与其他成员一起,通过必要的革新和改进,致力于为上诉机构重新恢复运转寻求永久且迅速的解决方案。     

“入世”对我国价格和价格宏观调控的影响及其对策

加入WTO以后，我国的关税将大幅度降低，非关税贸易保护措施削弱，贸易自由化程度提高，国内市场的各类商品将进一步放开，国内外市场的商品将进行公开的、无扭曲的公平竞争，这就为我国的国内市场价格与国际市场价格的对接，为价格的宏观调控的改革提供了前所未有的机遇。“入世”后，国际市场价格对国内市场价格的冲击主要集中在国内的第三产业价格及收费和第一产业的农产品价格。面对“入世”的新情况，为了维护我国的产业安全，我们必须加大市场价格体系的改革力度，形成新的价格体系和价格管理制度。     

透明度原则及其对中国法治的影响

WTO的透明度原则要求各成员方迅速公布其贸易法律规章和措施,并保证其贸易法律规章和措施的统一实施。中国作为WTO的成员之一,其立法和实践将受到WTO透明度原则的深刻影响。     

法律交融中的国际贸易行政诉讼

国际贸易行政诉讼是在国际法与国内法交融、公法与私法交融过程中生成的行政诉讼特殊类型。在我国法制语境中,国际贸易行政诉讼是指在WTO制度的框架下,人民法院依法审理国际贸易行政案件并做出裁决,以保障和补救受损方国际贸易权益的具有专项性、涉外性与国际性的诉讼活动与制度。国际贸易行政诉讼具有特定的制度结构、主体结构与利益结构。考察其影响,它具有国际法定义务履行功能、国际贸易行政争端解决功能、国际贸易权益救济等复合功能。     

浅论单边贸易措施的适法性

世界贸易组织的多边贸易制度凸现了在国际法中尚无法完全解决的单边贸易措施的适法性问题,但它的运行并没有终止诉诸于单边贸易措施的时代。本来国际法规制单边贸措施的漏洞,可借由世界贸易组织的多边贸易制度的设计特别是争端解决机制这个自足的法体系予以弥补,但世界贸易组织专家小组/上诉机构的报告在重申多边贸易制度固有的宗旨和纪律的同时为单边贸易措施的适法性留下了空间。如果不希望多边贸易体制仍然处于单边贸易措施的行为的永久威胁之下,就应采取措施确保世界贸易组织成员避免诉诸于有损于世界贸易组织的单边贸易措施。