Documents found
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2347.More information
Despite recent WTO rulings and long standing scholarly debates, the public morals exception under GATT article XX(a) yet remains ambiguous. At the heart of the controversy lies the question as to whether the concept of “public morals” must be subject to a uniform and universal interpretation, or instead be contingent upon national realities. Public international law is itself no stranger to the tension between the local and the global spheres. In this article, the author argues that WTO law may draw upon the experience of international human rights bodies in order to shed light on the interpretation of the GATT public morals exception. This article focuses more particularly on the doctrine of margin of appreciation as developed by the European Court of Human Rights as a tool for reconciling the public morals exception with the diversity of WTO membership.
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2348.More information
The question examined here is whether the CBDR principle forms part of customary international law. Currently, a large majority of internationalists agree that it cannot be considered as customary law. Our goal is to assess the nature of the obstacles facing the CBDR principle in its search for greater legal status. In essence, the principle is based on disparities between the level of economic development in developed and developing nations, and relies on the principle of equity to ensure that developing nations receive financial and technological transfers and technical assistance to help them implement their obligations under the applicable conventions. In its radical and exceptional form, as seen in the field of climate change, the principle exempts developing countries from the fixed greenhouse gas reduction obligations defined under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Since Copenhagen (2009), the application of the principle in the field of climate change has been problematic, and its application is at the heart of current discussions about a new global agreement to be implemented in 2020.
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2349.More information
The author examines the rules set out in the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and their discriminatory impact on American and Canadian workers. First, the author explains the ITAR rules, and then determines whether they can be considered to be consistent with U.S. and Québec legislation against employment discrimination. Next, the amendments to ITAR implemented by the Obama administration are reviewed. In short, U.S. policy required Canadian companies to ban employees and trainees from working on U.S. military contracts if they were born in, or citizens of, one of twenty-five excluded countries, i.e. enemy States, communist countries or countries under embargo. Washington's goal was to protect technical data that might end up in the hands of workers assumed to be « unscrupulous » simply because of their origins. For over a decade, Canadian companies in the defence and aerospace industries holding U.S. military contracts faced a dilemma as they were forced to comply with ITAR requirements or risk sanctions, ranging from severe penalties to the loss of contracts.
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2350.More information
If it were to become a sovereign state, Québec would benefit from the addition of maritime areas — territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf — the width of which would be measured from straight or normal baselines. Overlapping areas would then exist and be subject to the delimitation of maritime boundaries in accordance with international law. In light of cases and state practice, and given relevant circumstances, various methods of delimitation are suggested.
Keywords: Golfe du Saint-Laurent, mer territoriale, zone contiguë, zone économique exclusive, plateau continental, frontière maritime, équidistance, enclave, effet partiel, exploitation en commun, Gulf of St. Lawrence, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive économie zone, continental shelf, maritime boundary, équidistance, enclave, partial effect