International Trade Law

International Trade Law draws on issues of International Economic Law and Public International Law. This module examines a number of controversial trade issues and considers the approach of law and regulation to them.

The module commences with a consideration of the issue of development and the special rules applicable to developing nations. It then moves on to look at the issues surrounding international trade and agriculture, issues surrounding the regulation of international intellectual property, rules relating to foreign investment and the conflicts that can arise between international environmental law and international trade law.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

• Debate different theoretical and legal approaches to economic development and global inequality
• Evaluate the application of multilateral treaties to agriculture and the weakness of these treaties
• Identify the legal rules for the protection of intellectual property and varying levels of international application of these rules
• Explain international rules relating to international investment protection
• Critically analyse the tension between emerging international environmental legal norms and rules of international trade.

Assessment:

• There is a tutorial during the module where teams of students are asked to engage in a mock WTO negotiation round. The tutorial may be provided in an online format.
• Students will be assessed on a combination of the written work submitted in advance of the tutorial (80%) and performance in the tutorial itself (20%).

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