This book provides an innovative insight into the regulatory conundrum of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), deploying transnational legal analysis as a methodological framework to explore the most controversial area of risk governance. The book deconstructs hegemonic and counter-hegemonic transnational narratives on the governance of GMO risks, cutting across US law, EU law, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and hybrid standard-setting regimes. Should uncertain risks be run unless adverse effects have been conclusively established, and should regulators only act where this is cost-benefit effective? Should risk managers make a convincing case that a product or process is safe enough for the relevant uncertain risks to be socially acceptable? How can intractable transnational regulatory conflicts be solved? The book complements a close analysis of regulatory frameworks and case law with a more encompassing perspective on the political, socio-economic and distributional implications of different approaches to the regulation of health and environmental risks at times of globalisation. The GMO deadlock thus becomes a lens through which to investigate the underlying value systems, goals, and impacts of transnational discourses on risk governance. Against this backdrop, the normative strand of analysis points to the limited ability of science and procedural deliberation to generate authentic agreement and to identify normatively legitimate solutions, in the absence of pre-existing shared perspectives.

This book provides an innovative insight into the regulatory conundrum of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), deploying transnational legal analysis as a methodological framework to explore the most controversial area of risk governance. The book deconstructs hegemonic and counter-hegemonic transnational narratives on the governance of GMO risks, cutting across US law, EU law, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and hybrid standard-setting regimes. Should uncertain risks be run unless adverse effects have been conclusively established, and should regulators only act where this is cost-benefit effective? Should risk managers make a convincing case that a product or process is safe enough for the relevant uncertain risks to be socially acceptable? How can intractable transnational regulatory conflicts be solved? The book complements a close analysis of regulatory frameworks and case law with a more encompassing perspective on the political, socio-economic and distributional implications of different approaches to the regulation of health and environmental risks at times of globalisation. The GMO deadlock thus becomes a lens through which to investigate the underlying value systems, goals, and impacts of transnational discourses on risk governance. Against this backdrop, the normative strand of analysis points to the limited ability of science and procedural deliberation to generate authentic agreement and to identify normatively legitimate solutions, in the absence of pre-existing shared perspectives.

Transnational Food Security addresses food security from an international relations, political economy and legal perspective analysing the relationship between food security and the environment and climate change, trade, finance and contracts, and the intersection between food and human rights. The topic of food concerns one of the most basic and profound aspects of human survival. Universal and equal access to food is, at the same time, ridden with problems of power, inequality, distribution and implicated in old and new geopolitical conflicts. As such, ‘food’ and food security are central to conditions of poverty and hunger, development and ‘modernisation’, transitional justice and rule of law reform around the world. As a problem of critique and scholarly inquiry, food prompts an inter-disciplinary assessment of the nature of food security in the modern world. The contributors to this book take us deep into the complexity of food and illustrate the challenges of adequately understanding and approaching questions of food security and food sovereignty in a globally interconnected world. Transnational Food Security will be of great interest to scholars of international relations, political economy, and transnational law. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Transnational Legal Theory Journal.

Uses the focus of environmental disputes to develop a novel comparative analysis of the functions of international courts and tribunals.

The 1995 WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) is concerned with trade and food safety regulation, and with the regulation of pests and diseases in agriculture. It establishes legal standards while affirming the right of each member to choose its own level of SPS protection. However, the question of whether the balance has been properly struck remains a matter of ongoing debate. The Commentary provides a detailed update of the first edition authored by Joanne Scott in 2007. It reflects 15 years of change in SPS case law and practice. It critically examines current issues such as use of experts in the dispute settlement process, applicable standard of review, or legal treatment of private standards in food safety. Moreover, the Commentary assesses the suitability of the current regime to address the existing needs of developing countries The commentary also examines how science-based criteria and the traditional GATT standards (non-discrimination and least-trade-restrictive means) are used to discipline national SPS measures. It explores the transparency obligations and procedural rules that govern control, inspection, and approval processes in importing countries. A separate section is dedicated to the operation of the SPS Committee as an arena for transnational governance in the SPS field. The book also investigates the agreement's attempt to establish a framework to draw together the diverse institutions and regulatory regimes already populating the food safety arena. Two new chapters are also included: one reviewing Article 5.7 SPS in greater detail, and one dealing with the SPS rules in selected regional trade agreements (the CETA, EU-Japan EPA, USMCA, RCEP, and CPTPP).

A comprehensive compendium for the field of transnational law by providing a treatment and presentation in an area that has become one of the most intriguing and innovative developments in legal doctrine, scholarship, theory, as well as practice today. With a considerable contribution from and engagement with social sciences, it features numerous reflections on the relationship between transnational law and legal practice.

In recent years the European Union has developed a comprehensive strategy to conclude free trade agreements which includes not only prominent trade partners such as Canada, the United States and Japan but also numerous developing countries. This book looks at the existing WTO law and at the new EU free trade agreements with the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa through the lens of the human right to adequate food. It shows how the clauses on the import and export of food included in recent free trade agreements limit the capacity of these countries to implement food security policies and to respect their human rights obligations. This outcome appears to be at odds with international human rights law and dismissive of existing human rights references in EU-founding treaties as well as in treaties between the EU and developing states. Yet, the book argues against the conception in human rights literature that there is an inflexible agenda encoded in world trade law which is fundamentally conflictual with non-economic interests. The book puts forward the idea that the European Union is perfectly placed to develop a narrative of globalisation considering other areas of public international law when negotiating trade agreements and argues that the EU does have the competences and influence to uphold a role of international leadership in designing a sustainable global trading system. Will the EU be ambitious enough? A timely contribution to the growing academic literature on the relation between world trade law and international human rights law, this book imagines a central role for the EU in reconciling these two areas of international law.

This comprehensive Research Handbook discusses how the EU has used its regulatory power to steer towards environmentally friendly behaviour, delving into the deep concerns related to the compliance with and enforcement of EU environmental law. It also highlights the important role of civil society’s use of environmental procedural rights, and characterizes how the CJEU case law has contributed to the effective implementation of EU environmental legislation.

The dispute over genetically modified organisms has brought the US and the EU into conflict. This book examines the dynamic interactions of domestic law and politics, transnational networks, international regimes, and global markets, through a theoretically grounded and empirically comprehensive analysis of the governance of GM foods and crops.

This book examines the work of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with a focus on the capacity of its judiciary to strike a reasoned balance between free trade in biotechnology and biosafety as to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. By adopting an innovative interpretation of the precautionary principle and proportionality analysis, the work offers normative suggestions to develop what the author terms “a constructive bridge of knowledge” between decision-makers, scientists, social experts and expert witnesses, which can support a judicial balance by design rather than by chance. Biotechnology is sometimes regarded as a panacea for modern-day challenges, such as feeding a growing world population and counteracting climate-change problems, and a means of offering significant economic opportunities. However, biotechnology can present uncertain, though serious, risks to human health and the environment (i.e., biosafety). Trading biotech products magnifies these risks and benefits globally. This book explores the topical, though still underexplored, question of how to find a point of equilibrium between the revolutionary advancement offered by technology and the need to safeguard biosafety from uncertain, though potentially irreversible, technology risks. It offers a thorough analysis of normative, judicial and epistemic issues hindering a reasoned balance between trade and non-trade interests under the WTO. The work offers practical relevance for the resolution of legal disputes in contexts of uncertainty, as well as innovative theoretical contributions. It will be a valuable resource for policymakers working on precautionary governance and management, scholars in the areas of trade law, human rights law and environmental law, law students and practitioners, as well as NGOs working in the field of new technologies, biosafety, sustainability and food safety.