"Mega-Regional Trade Agreements sheds light on many important aspects and implications of current trends towards greater regionalisation in global trade and its multilevel governance related to megaregionals. Overall, it represents a useful contribution to a much-needed discussion on this area of international law." (Ondrej Svoboda, The Lawyer Quarterly, Vol. 9 (2), 2019)
Part I Setting the Scene:Peter-Tobias Stoll, Mega Regionals: Challenges, Opportunities and Research Questions.- Part II Strategic and Structural Issues: Edouard Bourcieu, The Strategic Dimension of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.- Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Democratic Legitimacy of the CETA and TTIP Agreements?.- Joost Pauwelyn, Not As Preferential As You May Think: How Mega-Regionals Can Benefit Third Countries.- Armand de Mestral and Lukas Vanhonnaeker, Exception Clauses in Mega-Regionals (International Investment Protection and Trade Agreements).- Part III Liberalisation and Protection of Foreign Investment:Stephan W. Schill and Heather L. Bray, The Brave New (American) World of International Investment Law: Substantive Investment Protection Standards in Mega-Regionals.- Karsten Nowrot, Interactions between Investment Chapters in Mega-Regionals and Bilateral Investment Treaties.- Part IV Innovation and International Property Rights: Thomas Cottier, Dannie Jost and Michelle Schupp, The Prospects of TRIPS-plus Protection in Future Mega-Regionals.- Carlos M. Correa, Intellectual Property in the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Increasing the Barriers for the Access to Affordable Medicines.- Bryan Mercurio, Safeguarding Public Welfare? Intellectual Property Rights, Health and the Evolution of Treaty Drafting in international Investment Agreements.- Part V Energy Governance and the Green Economy: Christopher Frey, The Role of Mega-Regionals in the Decarbonization of the Economy.- Markus Krajewski, Liberalizing Trade in Energy Services and Domestic Regulation: New Approaches in Mega-Regionals?.- Part VI Emerging Trends in Other Regulatory Areas: Bernard Hoekman, Trade Agreements and International Cooperation on Public Procurement Regulation.- Simon Lester and Inu Manak, Addressing Regulatory Trade Barriers in Mega-Regional Trade Agreements.
Thilo Rensmann, Professor at Faculty of Law, University Augsburg, Germany
This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).
The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.