UNSW LAW : Laws4188 - Environmental Issues in The World Trade Organisation

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LLM Specialisation

This course may be counted towards LLM specialisation in Human Rights and Social Justice; International Law.

Units of Credit: 4

Description

This course examines the ways in which the law of the World Trade Organisation interacts with environmental protection. Students will become familiar with the relevant WTO agreements and will gain a solid understanding of the principles of WTO law. Disputes which have raised environmental issues before the WTO's Appellate Body are studied in detail. Special attention is given to areas where conflicts have arisen, particularly trade bans for environmental purposes and the application of the "precautionary principle" in WTO law.

The course includes selected aspects of each of the following key areas;

The historical, legal and commercial contexts of international trade law and international environmental law
The 1994 Uruguay Round package of agreements and the core principles of WTO law
The relationship between domestic environmental measures and WTO law
Close examination of the principal trade-environment disputes which have come before the WTO's dispute settlement system, including the Tuna-Dolphin, Shrimp-Turtle, EC-Hormones and EC-GMOs disputes
The relationship between WTO law and specific international environmental agreements.

Information for Current UNSW Law Students

Course Outline

Objectives

To explore the theoretical underpinnings, objectives and core principles of WTO law, in order to understand their relationship to and impact upon environmental protection
To examine the political context in which environmental issues are dealt with in the World Trade Organisation
To analyse the relationship between the two bodies of public international law (International Environmental Law and International Trade Law), to identify important points of intersection and to consider ways in which they may be interpreted so as to support each other's objectives

Main Topics

Historical, legal and commercial context
Core principles of WTO law
Environmental exceptions under WTO law
Environmental standards and WTO law
WTO law and international environmental law