Tania Voon

Regulatory Autonomy in International Economic Law provides the first extensive legal analysis of Australia's trade and investment treaties in the context of their impact on national regulatory autonomy. This thought-provoking study offers compelling lessons for not only Australia but also countries around the globe in relation to pressing current problems, including the uncertain future of the World Trade Organization and widespread concerns about the legitimacy of investor-State dispute settlement. Through a critical exploration of evolving patterns of treaty practice, the authors address the complex relationship between international economic law and a State's regulatory autonomy in the key areas of intellectual property, services, and investment. This insightful investigation highlights problems of inconsistency across treaties, limited transparency and consultation in the negotiation of treaties, and increasing restrictions on policy space in intellectual property protection. These factors are all crucial in preserving a country's ability to pursue policy objectives such as protecting public health and the environment while capturing the benefits of international trade and foreign investment. This discerning book will prove instrumental to scholars and practitioners in the fields of international trade law, international investment law, public international law, and intellectual property. It will also appeal to government agencies and international organisations working in these areas or in matters of public health or the environment.

The essays selected for this volume offer significant contributions to the ongoing exploration of the intersection between, on the one hand, international trade law and, on the other hand, the overlapping spheres of the environment, development, labour, human rights, public morals, culture, competition, investment, and finance. The volume takes in to account the key challenges to international trade law in terms of the non-trade objectives that governments, policy-makers, legal professionals, NGOs and scholars consider when developing, interpreting, critiquing, implementing or enforcing the law of the World Trade Organization and preferential trade agreements. The essays represent leading research from the period between 1998 and 2012 and are complemented by an introduction and bibliography providing further context and insights.

Debate about trade and culture has a long history, but the application of WTO rules to cultural products such as films, radio, and books remains one of the most divisive issues in the organization. After assessing the economic and social arguments for treating cultural products differently from things like steel or wheat, this 2007 book explains how the vastly different views of WTO members in earlier negotiations led to an outcome that is disappointing for all. It goes on to provide a comprehensive evaluation of possible solutions, including evolution of the law through WTO dispute settlement, an agreement outside the WTO, and reforms to improve the balance between trade liberalization and cultural policy objectives.

Debate about trade and culture has a long history, but the application of WTO rules to cultural products such as films, radio, and books remains one of the most divisive issues in the organization. After assessing the economic and social arguments for treating cultural products differently from things like steel or wheat, this 2007 book explains how the vastly different views of WTO members in earlier negotiations led to an outcome that is disappointing for all. It goes on to provide a comprehensive evaluation of possible solutions, including evolution of the law through WTO dispute settlement, an agreement outside the WTO, and reforms to improve the balance between trade liberalization and cultural policy objectives.