The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland

British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self-determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland conflict by substituting political contestation for violent conflict, and by defining the modalities of conducting that contestation. This analysis complements classical international law perspectives, and opens up the application of legal discourses associated with 'transitional justice' to the legal and political transformation in Northern Ireland. These discourses focus on the problem of reconciling the demands of peace with the imperatives of justice. The Agreement sits squarely in this terrain with its provisions on 'dealing with the past' and 'institutional legacies'. The insights gained here challenge orthodox thinking about conflict-management and the ongoing political process.     

“中国辩诉交易第一案”研究二题

辩诉交易在美国十分盛行,此前在中国却没有先例,我们如果要借鉴这项制度就很有必要时此展开详尽的探讨,然而,辩诉交易是一项十分复杂的制度,我们如何去发现需要探讨的内容,如何去展开探讨的思路其实也是一个我们不得不解决的问题.本文从两个新的视角出发,试图展示发现这些问题的思路,以求为进一步的探讨提供基础.     

论《服务贸易总协定》的投资协定性质

《服务贸易总协定》在性质上是各国签订的国际投资协定,并非贸易协定,这是由服务本身的性质造成的。从《服务贸易总协定》的性质和宗旨看,发达国家有意搭多边贸易体制的便车,以服务贸易之名行对外投资之实;从《服务贸易总协定》对服务的分类看,商业存在和自然人流动无疑要伴随着跨国投资;从《服务贸易总协定》对最惠国待遇和国民待遇的规定看,这里的待遇实际上是给予服务的提供者而不仅仅是给予作为商品的服务;从《服务贸易总协定》对市场准入的规定看,市场准入允许服务提供者在他国进行投资设业,这涉及东道国对外资的审批。《服务贸易总协定》的签订,不仅丰富了世界贸易组织的议题,也为世界贸易组织的运行带来了新的挑战。     

对美国商务部有关汇率低估构成可诉补贴规则的合规性分析

美国商务部新近颁布实施的《补贴税调查程序中有关利益和专向性的修订规则》与世界贸易组织《SCM协定》的规则和实践不符;该修订规则缺乏《SCM协定》中有关提供补贴的适格主体的内容,把汇率低估视为补贴的做法与《SCM协定》行为要件“财政资助”和结果要件“授予利益”的规则和实践也不相符;而把有跨国购买或销售行为的企业视为专向性考察中的一组企业的规定也与《SCM协定》的规则和实践相左;另外,修订规则将汇率低估视为补贴也缺乏国内法的依据。修订规则为美国肆意征收反补贴税大开方便之门,成为贸易保护主义的新武器。我国应该在美国国内司法体系和世界贸易组织多边架构下挑战这一修订规则,纠正美方的贸易保护主义做法。     

新时期知识产权保护面临的挑战与对策

以《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》（TRIPS）为中心的知识产权国际保护制度建立以来,国际贸易自由化遭遇知识产权保护制度的挑战。为有效防止知识产权保护制度成为新的贸易壁垒,抑制科技创新与发展,进而成为发达国家掠夺发展中国家的工具,我国应在充分研究TRIPS协议的基础上积极回应,使知识产权保护制度切实为我所用,在国际贸易自由化的大趋势下发挥其应有的效用。     

The Governance of Cross-Border Data Flows in Trade Agreements: Is the Cptpp Framework an Ideal Way Out?

The regulations of cross-border data flows is a growing challenge for the international community. International trade agreements, however, appear to be pioneering legal methods to cope, as they have grappled with this issue since the 1990s. The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules system offers a partial solution under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which covers aspects related to cross-border data flows. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) have also been perceived to provide forward-looking resolutions. In this context, this article analyzes why a resolution to this issue may be illusory. While they regulate cross-border data flows in various ways, the structure and wording of exception articles of both the CPTPP and USMCA have the potential to pose significant challenges to the international legal system. The new system, attempting to weigh societal values and economic development, is imbalanced, often valuing free trade more than individual online privacy and cybersecurity. Furthermore, the inclusion of poison-pill clauses is, by nature, antithetical to cooperation. Thus, for the international community generally, and China in particular, cross-border data flows would best be regulated under the WTO-centered multilateral trade law system.     

Peace in Northern Ireland and the Remaining Issue of the “On-the-Runs”

The return of devolution to Northern Ireland in May 2007 marks an important turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process, but there remains the issue of the “on-the-runs”—a term used to describe persons suspected of committing a range of terrorist acts during the Troubles, who were never arrested, charged, prosecuted, or tried. It is thought that the On-the-Runs want to return to Northern Ireland, but determining the conditions for their return is a difficult and controversial issue, raising legal and moral concerns and causing strong and painful reactions among the victims of terrorist violence on all sides of the Northern Ireland conflict. It is also an issue that is complicated by the fact that while the Belfast Agreement of 1998 did not address expressly the situation of the On-the-Runs, it did provide for the accelerated release of a significant number of paramilitaries, both republican and loyalist, from prisons in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. This paper reviews the possible options in law for addressing the situation of the On-the-Runs, including extradition and prosecution, as well as trial and amnesty, and pardons. While the paper makes clear that the political offence exception to extradition is no longer the obstacle it once was, it also concludes that politics, rather than law, or simply the passage of time is more likely to offer the solution to the problem posed by the On-the-Runs.

民国时期集体劳动合同立法述论 —— 以 1930 年《团体协约法》为中心

民国时期,通常将个别劳动合同称为劳动契约,而将集体劳动合同称为团体协约。中国劳工立 法较迟,团体协约立法则更晚。国民政府有关团体协约的立法最早可以追溯至 1929 年《劳动法典草案》的编纂, 其后在《工会法》起草过程中也有团体契约权的规定。延至 1930 年,国民政府正式颁行《团体协约法》,这是 中国历史上第一部有关集体劳动合同的专门法律。《团体协约法》的出台因应了当时中国工业化过程中劳资冲 突的实际需求,但也不可避免地存在历史局限。     

两岸投资争端解决机制的制度创新及其完善

投资争端解决机制是《海峡两岸投资保障和促进协议》（简称《两岸投资协议》）中体现两岸特色的重要制度创新之一。相较于传统双边投资协议中的投资争端解决机制而言,两岸投资争端解决机制除了引入两岸私人投资争端解决方式,还规定了投资者与投资所在地一方投资争端的协调、协处和调解等多元化机制,实现了单方规定的协议化和国际实践的两岸化,从而有效降低了两岸投资争端的“泛政治化”风险。未来,应进一步完善两岸投资补偿争端的调解程序,确保调解协议的法律约束力和执行力。     

从NAFTA到USMCA:投资争端解决机制的变化、成因及启示

2020年7月生效的《美国—墨西哥—加拿大协定》在投资争端解决机制上一改《北美自由贸易协定》下偏重对投资者权利保护的“新自由主义”精神,回归对国家规制权能的重视。在适用对象、适用争议、适用程序上作出变化与革新。全球价值链收缩及“慢球化”、投资争端解决机制的内在合法性危机以及对东道国规制权力的削弱,是国际投资争端解决机制发生变化的深层次经济、法律与政治动因。《美国—墨西哥—加拿大协定》投资争端解决机制的变化与革新将进一步推动“卡尔沃主义”的回归以及加剧国际投资法体制内部的碎片化趋势。中国应积极支持及推进投资争端解决机制改革,使其发挥正面作用,同时辩证吸收“卡尔沃主义”的合理因素,积极探索诸如前置协商、投诉与帮助以及调解等解决投资者与东道国之间投资争议的多元渠道。