China's Influence On Non-Trade Concerns In International Economic Law

Maastricht University, Faculty of Law

Professor Paolo Farah organised with a grant from China-EU School of Law (CESL) in Beijing three conferences on China and Non-trade Issues. The first was held at the University of Turin (November 23-24, 2011), the second at Tsinghua University and the third was hosted by the Faculty of Law of the Maastricht University, the Netherlands, January 19-20, 2012.

Hall of fame at Maastricht University, Faculty of Law

The papers of the speakers presented will be collected in a book edited by Professor Farah called "China's Influence on Non-Trade Concerns in International Economic Law", will be published by Ashgate Publishing (UK), forthcoming in 2012. Beside the English version, there will be an Italian, Hungarian and Chinese version of the book, thanks to the CESL in Beijing.

Law scholars at Faculty of Law, Maastricht University

Professor Farah describes what non-trade concerns of international trade are and why they are of crucial importance: "Both public opinion and policy makers fear that international trade, in particular a further liberalization thereof, may undermine or jeopardize policies and measures on a wide variety of issues, for example, the protection of the environment and a sustainable development, good governance, cultural rights, labour rights, public health, social welfare, national security, food safety, access to knowledge, consumer interests and animal welfare." The list is not exhaustive and includes intellectual property rights.

Professor Paolo Farah

This author had the honour to present his paper 'Rise and Demise of U.S. Social Media in China' at the last conference hosted by the Faculty of Law of the Maastricht University. It is about how U.S. social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were cloned by Chinese social media sites, RenRen, Sina Weibo and Youku, then blocked from China, and then the Chinese clones got funding in the U.S. at the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.

Speakers from right to left
Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders, Arianna Broggiato, Danny Friedmann, Rogier Creemers

On January 19, the programme for experts included:
Professor Farah of the University of Turin and visiting scholar of Harvard Law School (East Asian Studies) and Professor Thomas Christiansen of Maastricht University, Political Science Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, discussed the EU External Action toward China on Non-Trade Concerns in International Economic Law.

Professor Thomas Christiansen

Sergi Corbalán, Executive Director of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) in Brussels, was talking about fair trade and the new EU policies on Corporate Social Responsibility and Development.

Sergi Corbalán

Benjamin Barton of King's College of London, gave a presentation about the EU, China and international development.

Benjamin Barton

Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders of the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University gave a presentation on China-EU Relations in the Field of Intellectual Property Law. He is not only Intellectual Property Law, Director of the Advanced Masters Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge Management (IPKM LLM/MSc), and Academic Director of the Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR), but also Director of the Annual Intellectual Property Law School and IP Seminar of the Institute for European Studies of Macau (IEEM), Macau SAR, China.

Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders

Arianna Broggiato, BIOGOV UNit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Centre for the Philosophy of Law (CPDR) talked about Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge at the Crossroads of Intellectual Property and the Environmental Regime.

Rogier Creemers, who made a transfer from Maastricht University to the Centre of Socio-Legal Studies at Oxford University presented his paper called Cultural Products and the WTO: China's Domestic Censorship and Media Control Policies. Rogier has an interesting blog called China Copyright and Media.

Rogier Creemers

On January 20, the programme focused on public health, product and food safety and consumer protection. Lukasz Gruszczynski of the Law Institute of the Polish Academy of Science talked about product safety in the framework of the WTO agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

Lukasz Gruszczynski

Denise Prevost of Faculty of Law of the Maastricht University discussed her paper Health Protection Measures as Barriers to EU Exports to China in the framework of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

Denise Prevost

Enrico Bonadio of the Law School of the City University of London presented his paper on Plain Packaging of Cigarettes and Public Health under the TRIPs Agreement.

Enrico Bonadio

Paolo Vergano of FratiniVergano European Laywers in Brussels gave a Practitioner's Perspective on Specific Non-Trade Concerns in the Areas of Food Safety and Consumer Protection: A Comparative Analysis of WTO Notifications.

Paolo Vergano

Lorenzo di Masi presented his paper on The Protection of Public Health and Food Safety in East Asia Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs): ASEAN and China.

Lorenzo di Masi

Maastricht city on the banks of the Maas