Master 2020/2021

Research Seminar "Challenges to Transnational and Cross-border Trade and Investment"

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Compulsory course (Law of International Trade, Finance and Economic Integration)

Area of studies: Law

Delivered by: School of International Law

Where: Faculty of Law

When: 2 year, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Dr Olga Chetverikova

Master’s programme: Law of International Trade, Finance and Economic Integration

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 32

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Challenges to Transnational and Cross-border Trade and Investment comprises the series of lectures and seminars aimed at establishing and further evaluating the latest trends in international trade and investment under International Investment Law and WTO Law. The focus is on identifying challenges that modern industrial production poses to the macro and micro levels of law. The impact of the global pandemic on legal systems, the defenses available under WTO Law and Customary International Law (CIL) as well as the recent developments in investment arbitration are assessed at the macro level. The emphasis is also placed on exploring national Intellectual Property (IP) and competition regulation in their application to industrial production at a micro level. The module enables to have a more comprehensive understanding of the ways international and national levels of law function in the context of global outsourced production and regional integration. The developed-developing countries paradigm is also covered.

Learning Objectives

• The aim of the course is to equip students with the latest knowledge on transnational and cross-border trade and investment under International Investment Law and WTO Law. The focus is to enable students to have a more comprehensive legal understanding of the latest trends in investment and trade, and their application to global production, further enhancing their ability to evaluate, compare and present findings on recent developments in investment arbitration, as well as to prepare and draft case studies (ICSID, UNCITRAL, WTO).

Expected Learning Outcomes

• recent challenges to investment arbitration in the context of transnational and cross-border trade and investment;
• available public interest regulatory mechanisms under Customary International Law and WTO Law;
• regional integration and developed/developing countries paradigm in the context of trade and investment;
•  regulating supply chains through macro and micro levels of law.  legal reasoning skills;
•  a proven ability to use and apply the correct legal methodology to provide investment and trade legal assessment; ability to process specific documentation (ICSID, UNCITRAL, WTO case law) as well as national decisions;  presentation skills; legal writing skills.

Course Contents

• Global Industrial Production and Law
  1.     Global Industrial Production, its economic foundations and legal basis. 2. Legal methods applicable to research on trade and investment. 3. The place of Customary International Law, International Investment Law and WTO Law in the context of global industrial production. 4. Economic Rule of Law and Global Industrial Production. 5. Implications of Global Industrial Production for Customary International Law. 6. Implications of Global Industrial Production for International Investment Law and WTO Law. 7. Developed/Developing countries paradigm, trade negotiations and Foreign Direct Investment. 8. The impact of the pandemic on global investment and trade and its consequences for international and national law making.
• Global Industrial Production and Sovereign Regulatory Autonomy
  1. Sovereign regulatory autonomy under Customary International Law and WTO Law. 2. The necessity doctrine under Customary International Law, International Investment Law and WTO Law. 3. Public interest defences under Customary International Law and WTO Law. 4. National security exceptions under WTO Law.
• Challenges to investment arbitration
   1. Legal basis for investment arbitration under ICSID and UNCITRAL. 2. Asymmetries in International Investment Law and potential ways to resolve those. 3. Investment protection standards and the proportionality principle. 4. Recent trends in investment arbitration: is there a shift? 
• Challenges to international trade
  1.     The impact of non-technical barriers to trade on international trade and investment after the pandemic. 2. Recent trends in regional integration as part of WTO Law and beyond. 3. Regional and national trade and investment regulation in the context of the changing production patterns.
•  Regulating Supply Chains as a challenge to global trade and investment regimes
  1.     The basis for legal assessment of Global Value Chains, Global Production Networks and supply chains. 2. Regulating supply chains on macro and micro levels of law. 3. National IP regulation and supply chains. 4. National competition regulation and supply chains. 5. Regulating technology on the national level as part of the supply chain.

Assessment Elements

• Attending lectures and seminars. Online.
  It is compulsory to attend all lectures and seminars to receive the final mark. Online.
• Presentation. Online.
  2-3 students in a small group. It is compulsory for all members of the group to present in front of the quorum. Online.
• Case Study. Online.
  It is compulsory to submit the written piece of legal analysis before the assigned deadline. The Case Study will not be accepted after the deadline, meaning that the final mark will be lost. ALL CASE STUDIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BEFORE THE DEADLINE ONLY. Online.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.1 * Attending lectures and seminars. Online. + 0.55 * Case Study. Online. + 0.35 * Presentation. Online.

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Coe, N. M. . V. (DE-588)138390681, (DE-627)602047927, (DE-576)254104746, aut. (2015). Global production networks theorizing economic development in an interconnected world Neil M. Coe and Henry Wai-chung Yeung.
• Schreuer, C. (2016). The Development of International Law by ICSID Tribunals. ICSID Review: Foreign Investment Law Journal, 31(3), 728–739. https://doi.org/10.1093/icsidreview/siw017

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Kurtz, J. (2016). The WTO and International Investment Law : Converging Systems. Cambridge University Press.
• Lim, C. L., Ho, J., & Paparinskis, M. (2018). International Investment Law and Arbitration ; Commentary, Awards and other Materials. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316847954