INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Module INTERNATIONAL LAW ON TRADE AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

Historical evolution of international trade relations (GATT-WTO). The World Trade Organization (WTO): purposes and organizational structure, new issues and future perspectives. The sources of the WTO legal system and their relationship with domestic legal systems of Member States. The basic legal principles: non-discrimination (Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment and National Treatment), the reciprocity principle. The regional trade agreements. The general exceptions to the principles of the WTO legal system. Basic features of: Trade in goods, Non-tariff barriers to trade, Anti-dumping and subsidies, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (G.A.T.S.), and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). Settlement of disputes.

Sources of international law in the field of foreign investments and their relationship with the domestic legal systems. Principles and rules of customary international law on the protection of aliens and their economic interests. The diplomatic protection. Bilateral treaties on reciprocal promotion and protection of foreign investments (BITs). The settlement of investment disputes: the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (I.C.S.I.D.), applicable law and autonomy of the parties (the stabilization clauses in investment contracts). The insurance guarantee of foreign investments: The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (M.I.G.A.) and the most important domestic systems.

1. VAN DEN BOSSCHE P., PREVOST D., Essentials of WTO Law, Cambridge, 2021;

2. QURESHI A. H., ZIEGLER A. R., International Economic Law, London, 2019, 4^th ed., pp. 533-599;

3. BORN G. B., International Arbitration – Law and Practice, Alphen aan den Rijin, 2016, pp. 417-449.

For students not attending class, the exam will be oral. 

For students attending the lecture course there will be an intermediate exam, in writing and lasting two hours, on the WTO system, with two “open questions”; while the exam on the protection of international investments will be oral.

The functions of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The bodies of the WTO.

The decision-making process within the WTO.  

The sources of the WTO legal system and their relationship with domestic legal systems of Member States.

The Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment and National Treatment.

The reciprocity principle.

The regional trade agreements.

The general exceptions to the principles of the WTO legal system.

Basic rules on Trade in goods, Non-tariff barriers to trade, Anti-dumping and subsidies.

The basic rules of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (G.A.T.S.).

The basic rules of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).

The settlement of disputes system in the WTO.

Sources of international law in the field of foreign investments and their relationship with the domestic legal systems.

Principles and rules of customary international law on the protection of aliens and their economic interests.

The diplomatic protection.

Bilateral treaties on reciprocal promotion and protection of foreign investments (BITs).

The settlement of investment disputes: the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (I.C.S.I.D.).

The applicable law to investment disputes and autonomy of the parties (the stabilization clauses in investment contracts).