Sustainable Global Trade, Investment and Competition Law

“In a world characterized by deepening economic interdependence and the growing complexity of international rules reflecting common concerns about human rights, human development and the human environment, there is a great need for unifying concepts and principles to guide decision-makers – be they national or international, including the judges of the diverse international fora – through the huge maize of seemingly overlapping international rules and commitments. Sustainable development has emerged as one such concept. The wide range of subjects and views represented in the essays of this volume, and their rich contents and insights, constitute an invaluable contribution to the understanding of this key concept and of its role, actual and potential, in the integration and harmonious evolution of the international legal order.”

- Prof. Georges Abi-Saab, former Chair of the WTO Appellate Body in his Preface to Sustainable Development in World Trade Law (Kluwer Law International, 2005)

How can trade, investment and competition law realise its goal to promote sustainable development? In itself, trade, investment or competition are not automatically good, nor bad, for the environment and social development.  Much depends on the specifics of international rules and regimes, and how these are implemented. Public international law, as it regulates international trade, investment and emerges to regulate competition, can and should adopt a principled approach to ensure that it can deliver on its global objective of sustainable development. It is useful, and indeed essential, to employ a balanced, integrated legal analysis towards these ends. A nuanced understanding of recent developments in world economic law, focusing on intersections between economic, social and environmental fields of law and policy, can enhance the positive (and mitigate any negative) aspects of this complex relationship.

In 2003, two legal research papers, on ‘Sustainable Developments in World Trade Law’, and on ‘Sustainable Development and Competition Law’, were peer-reviewed by international advisors. Then, with funding and partnership from the IDRC and Foreign Affairs Canada, in collaboration with the LRCIL at Cambridge, TRALAC of South Africa, and the International Development Law Organisation, the CISDL hosted an experts panel event on ‘Sustainable Competition Law’ and another one on ‘Sustainable Developments in World Trade Law’ at the WTO 5th Ministerial Conference in September, 2003. The proceedings were displayed on the web site of the DFAIT, and edited into chapters for a new book, Sustainable Development in World Trade Law (Kluwer Law International, 2005).

The new book was launched in an international seminar event and panel at the WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in November, 2005.

A 2005 – 2007 programme of legal research initiatives was also launched in Hong Kong, laying out new research in the areas of Trade and Investment: Sustainable Development in International Investment Law, Trade and Competition: Sustainable Development in International Competition Law, and Governance: Innovative Legal Procedures in World Trade Law.

The CISDL also collaborates with other institutions, and participates in international legal forums on trade, investment and competition. Highlights of 2005 collaboration and scholarly debate include:

- A CISDL Legal Research Fellow participated in the WTO Symposium for Civil Society in Geneva, 2005

- The CISDL Lead Counsel participated in the WTO Sustainability Impact Assessment meetings in Brussels, 2005

- The CISDL Director participated in the international conference ‘Legal Dimensions of Trade and Development’, organised by the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, in Hong Kong, China, 2005 .

Kluwer Law International has invited CISDL to prepare a second volume, on Sustainable Development in World Investment Law, in the 2005 – 2007 period. Globe Business Publishing has also invited the CISDL to edit a series of new handbooks on global trade law, investment law and competition law related to sustainable development for the business community.