The Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 (ETDA) went into force on 20 September 2023. Despite receiving little attention from the media, the ETDA is one of the most significant pieces of legislation enacted by the UK government in the field of digital trade. The ETDA enables the legal recognition of trade documents such as bills of lading and bills of exchange in electronic form which are deemed to have the same legal significance of their paper equivalent.
Page 3 of 10
Professor Elaine Fahey, Institute for the Study of European Law, City Law School, City, University of London
The EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC)
A Transatlantic Trade and Technology Council (TTC) has been set up quickly by the European Union (EU) with the US at the outset of the US Biden administration. It is not a trade negotiation and does not adhere to any specific Article 218 TFEU procedure, although it has many signature ‘EU’ characteristics. The TTC has high-minded goals to ‘solve’ global challenges on trade and technology with its most significant third country cooperating partner. Yet it is notably not the only recent Council proposed by the EU- there is also a new EU-India Trade and Technology Council. These new Councils represent a new modus operandi for the EU to engage with ‘complex’ partners, comprising executive to executive engagement, meeting agency counterparts regularly in close groups in an era of EU trade policy deepening its stakeholder and civil society ambit overall. The TTC has a vast range of policy-making activities, traversing many areas of EU law. Their precise selection and future is difficult to understand in EU regional trade and data policy, seemingly pivoting, like US trade law, to executive-led soft law.
Amal Al-Qasem and Mauro Barelli
On 19th June, a bill that would establish a constitutional entity called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice (the Voice) was passed by the Australian Senate after the lower house’s approval a month earlier. The wording of the constitutional change will now be put to the Australian people in a referendum that will take place between October and December. If the referendum is successful, the Voice will be an enduring institution which will allow First Nations to make representations to the Parliament and the Executive on matters that concern them. Continue reading
Paul James Cardwell, King’s College London and Jed Odermatt, City, University of London
The Eurovision bandwagon has firmly arrived in Liverpool. During a week of two semi-finals, 37 competing countries will be whittled down to 26. Around 160 million people are then expected to tune in to the grand final on Saturday May 13. From humble beginnings in 1956, with only seven countries competing in a theatre in Switzerland, the contest is now one of the most watched entertainment events in the world.
Eva Pander Maat and Pia Rebelo
Monday April 18th marked the kick-off of the Global Goals Research Exchange between the Faculty of Law at the University of Groningen and City Law School at City, University of London. The Exchange presents an excellent opportunity to promote collaborative ties between legal researchers doing work in the topical areas of energy transitions and sustainable development. In the first iteration of the exchange, two City Law School researchers crossed the channel to present and discuss their work.
The Windsor Framework (WF) concluded between the UK and EU to resolve the difficulties associated with the Irish Border reflects a significant compromise, with the UK giving the most ground. The brainchild of a more pliant and technocratic Prime Minister than his two predecessors, Rishi Sunak’s WF is in many respects an agreement that should never have been needed. The new arrangement essentially compels the EU to do what it should have done under the original Northern Ireland Protocol, i.e. impose no unreasonable barriers to trade between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI) while maintaining sufficient safeguards that its Single Market would not be flooded with UK goods.
On 6 March 2023, Dr Aldo Zammit Borda, a Reader in International Law at City, University of London, was an invited expert at a meeting on Justice for the Daesh Atrocities: The Need for Comprehensive Responses. This meeting took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, as a side event to the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The event was organised jointly by the International Bar Association Human Rights Initiative (IBAHRI) and City, University of London, together with a number of Yazidi and justice-focused organisations (including Yazda, the Free Yazidi Foundation and Coalition for Genocide Response).
On 30 December 2022 – one day after the establishment of the new Israeli government – the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution A/RES/77/247 in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it requested the Court to give an advisory opinion (AO) clarifying the legal status and consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestine’s territories. More specifically, the AO request asks the following questions:
“considering the rules and principles of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, relevant resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, and the advisory opinion of the Court of 9 July 2004:
(a) What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?
(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to in paragraph 18(a) above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a multi-party investment treaty covering investment in the energy sector. Established in the 1990s, the ECT has over 50 signatories, including the UK. The ECT contains many of the traditional protections for foreign investment found in international investment agreements (IIAs), and much like international investment law generally, the treaty has been subjected to widespread criticism in recent years. The ECT has been particularly vilified for its alleged failure to deal with climate change by maintaining extensive protections for industries that supposedly contribute to this global problem.
© 2024 City Law Forum
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑