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Public International Economic Law Program

This program is intended to cover public international law regulating economic relations between States. The principal field of study is the regulation of international trade and investment through multilateral or bilateral treaties, with the major focus of research being the law of the World Trade Organization. We expect the work of the program to develop more broadly to embrace other fields including investor state arbitration, and international intellectual property law.

The program was launched with a presentation on “How and Why the GATT Works – Or Doesn’t”. The paper was presented on 21 September 2006 as a Staff Seminar at the World Trade Organization and at the official launch of this program at the University of Sydney Law School on 23 March 2007.

Current research programs including those supported by research grants are:

  • Intersections in Foreign Investment Law and Policy – Examining Engagement with Cross Cutting Fields (Kate Miles, Luke Nottage, S Park) (USyd Institute of Social Sciences Grant). For more information click here.
  • An Examination of the operation of the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) (Chester Brown) Faculty of Law Grant. For more information click here.
  • Is Burma’s Lack of Trade Liberalisation Keeping the Generals in Power (Brett Williams) Faculty of Law Grant. For more information click here.
  • What do the 1995-2008 World Trade Organization ('WTO') disputes on the rules applying to agricultural trade indicate about the adequacy of the 1995 reforms and the trajectory of further reform? Brett Williams Faculty of Law Grant. For more information click here.
  • The Incorporation of the General Theory on Distortions and Welfare into the Law of the World Trade Organization (Brett Williams).

Associates of this program are involved in the teaching of subjects in this field including LAWS6063 World Trade Organisation Law I, LAWS6249 World Trade Organisation Law II and Laws6916 International Investment Law.
Associates and Visitors are active contributors to the Events progamme of the Sydney Centre for International Law.

Publications

In addition to the publications listed on the Publications page, Associates in this Program are annual contributors to the Casenotes section of the Australian Yearbook of International Law and to the SCIL Working Papers.

The Program Coordinator is Dr Brett Williams. Other Associates contributing to this program are Professor Gillian Triggs, Professor David Kinley, Associate Professor Luke Nottage, Associate Professor Chester Brown, Kate Miles and Dr Martyn Taylor.

Comments about the program are welcome, as are possibilities for research collaboration. Please contact or .

Conferences / Symposia, Seminars

This programme has contributed to the SCIL programme of activities. Highlights have been:

Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration Conference on 19-20 February 2010

WTO Litigation: Issues and Reforms Symposium on 14 August 2009 (see report in SCIL Newsletter 2009-2 by clicking here)

Seminars within the scope of this programme have featured in the SCIL Seminars programme (see the Seminar reports in the SCIL newsletters).
A highlight in 2009 was the presentation by Andrew Stoler, former Deputy Director of the WTO on “Are the WTO Negotiations Going nowhere: Arguments for a Critical Mass Approach” (see report in SCIL Newsletter NO 5 for 2009-2)

In addition, we have convened a monthly seminar discussion group on WTO / Public international economic law:
See the 2008 programme. Highlights were the seminars led by visitors from the World Trade Organization and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (reports in SCIL Newsletter No 3 for 2008-2).
See the 2009 programme. Most popular judging by attendance was the September seminar on GATT environmental exception cases (reports in SCIL Newsletter No 5 for 2009-2).