REFLECTIONS ON EU INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW: AN INTROSPECTIVE VIEW

This article presents three main arguments: First, shared competence exists between the national and supranational levels within the European Union (EU) because EU Member States do not trust the European Commission in the external relations law of the EU. Second, the EU will have greater bargaining power in international negotiations if it speaks in a single voice. Within the EU-27, we have compatible values, overlapping interests, shared goals, as well as economic, social and political ties. Therefore, there is a presumption of collective action in the EU’s external relations. However, EU Member States disagree on many issues before they start negotiations, while trying to define a mission together as partners of the European project. Third, Member States confer specific negotiating powers on the EU only when it is in their own national interest to have a common European position on international negotiations.     

The Sustainable Development Goals viewed through Gross National Happiness,Ubuntu, and Buen Vivir

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a normative (non-binding) global international environmental agreement...     

Genesis of the CDM: the original policymaking goals of the 1997 Brazilian proposal and their evolution in the Kyoto protocol negotiations into the CDM

A body of literature is emerging applying critical consideration to the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism’s (‘CDM’) achievement of policy goals regarding sustainable development, geographical distribution of projects and related matters. This article places this literature in the context of the policymaking goals of the CDM’s Brazilian architects. The CDM arose from the Brazilian Proposal’s Clean Development Fund, and was negotiated between Brazil and the United States in the weeks preceding the Kyoto Conference of Parties. The CDM’s Brazilian architects continued to pursue their underlying policy goals by taking a leadership position in the Marrakesh Accords negotiations. During this period Brazil’s primary policy objectives comprised achieving meaningful mitigation of GHG emissions to avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, derailing a perceived US/IPCC initiative to allocate emissions cap obligations in the Kyoto Protocol on the basis of current emissions, and taking a leadership position both among the G-77 and China and in the multilateral climate negotiations as a whole. The CDM arose in this context from the G-77 and China’s desire to coerce the North’s compliance with the North’s emissions cap obligations through an alternative means of compliance. As a result, there was no focus on broad conceptions of sustainable development, or on broad distribution of CDM projects throughout the South. Instead, the CDM’s Brazilian architects envisioned that CDM-related sustainable development would arise exclusively from the presence of the CDM projects. Similarly, the Brazilian Proposal advocated allocation of the Clean Development Fund on a basis proportionate to each non-Annex I countries projected 1990–2010 greenhouse gas emissions. These views persisted through the evolution of the Clean Development Fund into the CDM and through Marrakesh Accords negotiations. This article argues that the CDM has largely met the policy goals of its Brazilian architects and that the pursuit of different, additional, refined or more nuanced policy goals necessitates corresponding refinements to the CDM, or any successor mechanism, specifically targeting those different, additional, refined or more nuanced policy objectives, lending support to the emerging literature proposing changes to the CDM to pursue corresponding policy objectives.     

The Consistency of WTO Rules: Can the Single Undertaking Be Squared with Variable Geometry?

The diversity of countries that negotiate commitments in theWorld Trade Organization (WTO), and the distinctions betweentheir legal and constitutional systems, implies important differencesin how agreements are approved, implemented, and enforced. Althoughconsistency is among the desirable attributes to which the multilateraltrading system should strive, it cannot be achieved at the expenseof all other desiderata. Among the reasons for relaxation ofthis goal is the need to accommodate the different legal systemsand levels of economic development among Member States, as wellas the demands for flexibility in negotiations. This paper reviewsthe development and current status of the debate over consistencyin the multilateral system, with special emphasis on the perspectivesof three different sets of participants: the United States,the European Union (EU), and developing countries. In the trade-offbetween the depth and the width of the trading system, the paperasks whether WTO Members should be more interested in expandingthe scope of globally agreed rules or in securing countries’adherence to them? It explores the possible consequences forthe Doha Development Agenda (DDA) if the US Congress cannotbe convinced to make a new grant of trade promotion authority(TPA) after the current one expires. It also discusses whetherthe single undertaking should continue to shape the terms ofthe DDA. In discussing the WTO’s approach to decision-makingand the possible need for reforms thereto, the paper also considershow best and on what grounds should new issues be introducedon the negotiating agenda. The paper argues that whether ornot the DDA is conducted on the basis of a single undertaking,and with or without TPA, the multilateral trading system willcontinue to provide for less than full consistency.     

Restricting the import of ‘emission credits’ in the EU: a power struggle between states and institutions

This article examines the development of a cap on the use of so-called ‘project credits’ in the EU emissions trading scheme. It investigates how the issue of such a limit was addressed in the negotiations of the Linking Directive, and how it has been dealt with in the later implementation of this directive. The article applies two explanatory approaches: one based on intergovernmentalist theory, assuming that the cap reflected the preferences of the EU Member States; and one based on the multi-level governance model, assuming that the cap expressed the preferences of EU institutions rather than Member States. What is found is a two-stage development: during the negotiations of the Linking Directive, Member States managed to secure a no-cap solution allowing extensive use of the project credits. In the later implementation phase, however, when the emissions trading scheme was up and running and a certain legitimacy for the system had been established, the Commission managed to ‘regain control’ by bringing back a cap. Thus, the project credit cap—and by that, the very nature of the EU emissions trading scheme—has been the subject of a continuing power struggle within the EU—and different theoretical perspectives explain different stages of this process.     

Global Trade Policy Development in a Two-Track System

The World Bank identifies two trends within the internationaltrading system: multilateral negotiations sponsored by GATT/WTObased on evolving rules grounded in non-discrimination, andbilateral and regional negotiations between nations that reducetrade barriers on a reciprocal and preferential basis. Thisarticle asks how we might enhance the global trade policy developmentprocess through interaction and coordination between these twotrade policy development systems. It seeks an understandingof the nature of bilateral trade negotiations so that we cancompare bilateral and WTO-sponsored multilateral processes.In so doing, we can observe how these two systems naturallyinteract thus enabling us to consider how that interaction maybe better designed to enhance the international trade policydevelopment system. After examining current trends in bilateraland regional trade negotiations, this article considers theopportunities and challenges of a two-track system for developingtrade policy by examining bilateral trade negotiations conductedby Australia, Singapore and the United States. The article concludeswith observations that may assist in re-framing the currentdebate over bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations andincludes recommendations for the effective management of a two-tracktrade policy development system.     

The Sustainable Development Goals and REDD+: assessing institutional interactions and the pursuit of synergies

This paper analyzes potential synergies between two recent sustainable development initiatives, namely the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), a climate mitigation mechanism negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The paper elaborates a conceptual framework based on institutional interactions and distinguishes core, complementary, and supplementary synergies that may be realized between the SDGs and REDD+. Potential synergies are analyzed at the global level, as well as within two national-level contexts: Indonesia, with its long-standing REDD+ programme, and Myanmar, which is in the early stages of implementing REDD+. Both are now also engaging nationally with the SDG implementation process. Our research draws on literature review and document analysis, direct observations of global policy processes relating to REDD+ and SDGs, as well as extensive engagement (of one author) at national level in Indonesia and Myanmar. Our analysis reveals that there are currently significant opportunities to pursue synergies in the implementation of these international initiatives at the national level, although pro-active interaction management is necessary, especially to achieve complementary synergies.     

The 2005 World Summit: UN Reform, Security, Environment and Development

This article reviews the negotiations leading up to the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, which centred on United Nations reform, a review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and a follow-up of major UN conferences. The article considers the human security concept and the different perspectives of developed and developing countries in environmental negotiations. It provides an overview of the negotiations in the months before the Summit. The final part of the article considers the outcome of the World Summit and institutional questions related to the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the new UN Peace-Building Commission.     

Would a United Nations Environment Organization Help to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

As a follow-up to the 2005 United Nations World Summit, Jan Eliasson, President of the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, plans that the General Assembly will take up the issue of international environmental governance (IEG) in spring 2006. This may provide an opportunity to start negotiations on creating a United Nations Environment Organization (UNEO) in the larger context of reforming the UN. Against this background, this article discusses the need for IEG reform, the advantages and disadvantages of creating a UNEO and its potential in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The article concludes that a UNEO – as a UN specialized agency – may have greater political clout than the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) currently commands, which is only a programme based on a resolution of the General Assembly. Given its increased political weight, a UNEO could be a better tool to address environmental needs in developing countries, and help to achieve poverty and development goals.     

Are older deafblind people being left behind? A narrative review of literature on deafblindness through the lens of the United Nations Principles for Older People

Underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP), Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the international goal to ‘leave no one behind’. However, the World Federation of the Deafblind have argued that deafblind people have been excluded from international welfare and disability development programmes. Despite making up the majority of the deafblind population, it appears that older deafblind people are particularly invisible. The paper builds on the earlier work of others, which translated the UN Principles for Older Persons into the language of older visually impaired adults, by using them here as the lens for a narrative review of the literature on older deafblind people. It argues that existing research demonstrates that older deafblind people are not only being ‘left behind’ in benefitting from implementation of the UN Principles, but also that the focus of the UN Principles themselves risks maintaining or enhancing their exclusion. Further research and policy development with older deafblind people is required to ensure that international and national social welfare policies and provision are not nugatory to the older deafblind population.     

中国与东盟自由贸易区建设中的环境法律机制构建——基于区域合作中国际环境资源法律机制构建的视角

以对当前中国—东盟自由贸易区建设中的环境问题与环境法律机制问题进行实证分析为前提,对北美自由贸易协定对环境与贸易问题的协调及其启示加以有益的借鉴,倡导在确认成员国有确定本国环境保护水平的自由裁量权的基础上,建立独立的区域环境贸易争端解决机制,进而尝试在协调区域内成员国间环境标准及协调区域贸易协定与多边环境协定间的关系等方面构建一个全新的模式。     

EU Citizenship and Political Identity: The Demos and Telos Problems

Citizenship is the cornerstone of a democratic polity. It has three dimensions: legal, civic and affiliative. Citizens constitute the polity's demos, which often coincides with a nation. European Union (EU) citizenship was introduced to enhance ‘European identity’ (Europeans’ sense of belonging to their political community). Yet such citizenship faces at least two problems. First: Is there a European demos? If so, what is the status of peoples (nations, demoi) in the Member States? The original European project aimed at ‘an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.’ Second: Citizens are members of a political community; to what kind of polity do EU citizens belong? Does the EU substitute Member States, assume them or coexist alongside them? After an analytical exposition of the demos and telos problems, I will argue for a normative self‐understanding of the EU polity and citizenship, neither in national nor in federal but in analogical terms.     

欧洲共同体船东协会等国际组织赞赏欧洲议会支持《鹿特丹规则》

欧洲议会关于《2018年前欧盟海运政策战略目标及建议》的2010年5月5日决议[2009/2095（INl）]明确建议欧盟成员国应当推动《鹿特丹规则》的尽快签署、批准和执行,以构建崭新的海事责任体系。欧洲共同体船东协会（ECSA）、国际航运公会（ICS）、波罗的海国际海运公会（BIMCO）以及世界海运理事会（WSC）联合发布新闻,对这一建议表示欢迎。     

Reflecting on Brexit: migration myths and what comes next for EU migrants in the UK?

This article considers the potential impact of Brexit on the family and welfare entitlement of EU migrants living in the UK and of UK migrants living in other EU Member States. Whilst the vast majority of those campaigning for the UK to leave the EU (publicly at least) argued in favour of those already present in the UK at the time of the referendum having their status protected, the government has been considerably less vocal in its support for this outcome. As such, EU migrants living in the UK presently face considerable uncertainty as to their own and their families’ future legal status and entitlement to welfare rights. The article will expose some of the evidential and legal gaps in the assertions made about EU migrants’ socio economic entitlement with a view to providing a more informed, legally accurate appraisal of how the Brexit negotiations could unfold.     

Exploring the agency of Africa in climate change negotiations: the case of REDD+

Emerging climate change regimes, such as the mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), are increasingly aiming to engage developing countries such as those in Africa, in sustainable development through carbon markets. The contribution of African countries to global climate negotiations determines how compatible the negotiated rules could be with the existing socioeconomic and policy circumstances of African countries. The aim of this paper is to explore the agency of Africa (African States) in the global climate change negotiations and discuss possible implications for implementing these rules using REDD+ as a case study. Drawing on document analysis and semi-structured expert interviews, our findings suggest that although African countries are extensively involved in the implementation of REDD+ interventions, the continent has a weak agency on the design of the global REDD+ architecture. This weak agency results from a number of factors including the inability of African countries to send large and diverse delegations to the negotiations as well lack of capacity to generate and transmit research evidence to the global platform. African countries also perceive themselves as victims of climate change who should be eligible for support rather than sources of technological solutions. Again, Africa’s position is fragmented across negotiation coalitions which weakens the continent's collective influence on the REDD+ agenda. This paper discusses a number of implementation deficits which could result from this weak agency. These include concerns about implementation capacity and a potential lack of coherence between REDD+ rules and existing policies in African countries. These findings call for a rethink of pathways to enhancing Africa’s strategies in engaging in multilateral climate change negotiations, especially if climate change regimes specifically targeted at developing countries are to be effective.     

Rules for Rights: European Law,Health Care and Social Citizenship

Social citizenship is about equality. The obvious problem for European social citizenship in a very diverse Union is that Member States will not be able or willing to bear the cost of establishing equal rights to health care and similar aspects of social citizenship. Health care is a particularly good case of this tension between EU citizenship and Member State diversity. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) strengthened the right to health care in other Member States, but this cannot create an equal right to health care when Member States are so different. In its efforts to balance a European right, the Court has formulated ‘rules for rights’—not so much European social citizenship rights, as a set of legal principles by which it judges the decisions of the Member States.     

后Trips协议时代的国际贸易和知识产权规则

在WTO时代,正确地认识到知识产权保护发展的两个方面很重要,即：当多边知识产权保护协议的谈判陷入僵局时,就将知识产权问题与双边贸易协议挂钩,双边自由贸易协定（即FTAs）的大量出现就是例证;当多边贸易协议的谈判陷入僵局时就将知识产权问题的与贸易协议脱钩,签订了最新的反假冒贸易协议（即ACTA）。     

WTO新的多边贸易谈判的矛盾及前景

在经济全球化及多边贸易体系的推动下，全球贸易自由化趋势不断加强，WTO新的多边贸易谈判已经启动，但是谈判面临许多难题，各方在许多议题上还存在较大的分歧，这些分歧反映了经济全球化与各国国家主权及民族利益的冲突以及由此导致的各种矛盾，展望谈判前景，虽然会有许多曲折和困难，但其意义是十分深远的，我国作为WTO的正式成员，将积极参与和推动新的多边贸易谈判，努力维护我国和整个发展中国家的利益。     

Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach

The recent shift from the Millennium Development Goals to the much broader Sustainable Development Goals has given further impetus to the debate on the nexus between the multiple sectors of policy-making that the Goals are to cover. The key message in this debate is that different domains—for instance, water, energy and food—are interconnected and can thus not be effectively resolved unless they are addressed as being fully interrelated and interdependent. Yet while this overall narrative is forcefully supported in the new UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are the main part of this agenda, many Goals still remain sectoral in their basic outlook. This now requires, we argue, a new focus in both policy and research on the nexus between different Sustainable Development Goals, especially with a view to reforms in the overall institutional setting that is required to sufficiently support such a nexus approach. This article thus examines the nexus approach in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and identifies multiple avenues for its institutionalisation in global governance.     

Last-ditch attempt to improve the EU patent system

The European Commission has proffered a compromise seeking torevitalize the ongoing debate on the patent system in Europeby enabling Member States to reach a consensus.