Completed projects by IGIR
COMPLETED PROJECTS 2008-2009
Report on the ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism
From 28 September to 8 October 2008, Peter Van den Bossche and Paolo Vergano met in Bangkok, Hanoi, Manila, Singapore and Jakarta with senior government officials and
diplomats to discuss possible improvements to the ASEAN dispute settlement mechanism. On 22 December 2008, Peter Van den Bossche and Paolo Vergano submitted to the ASEAN Secretariat their final report on ‘The Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism of ASEAN: A Report on Possible Improvements’. The report reflects extensive consultations with senior officials of the ASEAN Member States held in September and October 2008 in Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hanoi and Jakarta.
Project Partner: FratiniVergano
Funder: Asian Development Bank
Emissions Trading and Equal Competition
This research project focused on the legal aspects of emissions trading. Within its framework, a series of reports were written. In 2008 research concerning the following three topics was done: - ex post interventions with emissions trading - auctioning of marketable emissions trading - international sectoral emissions trading agreements. From September 2008 to April 2009, in the context of this project, Denise Prévost and Eliza Malathouni, under the direction of Marjan Peeters, conducted research on the international trade law aspects of an international sectoral agreement on emissions trading. The research report has been made available on SSRN. This work was commissioned by DSM, Consortium members:
Project Partners: Corus Staal bv, ENCI bv, SABIC EuroPetrochemicals bv, and Koninklijke Coöperatie Cosun u.a.
Funder: Environment & Product Safety
Economische Instrumenten voor Duurzaam Geproduceerd Hout, Een Verkenning. (Study of the Legal and Economic Aspects of Trade-Related Measures for the Promotion of the Use of Sustainably Produced Timber)
The study was conducted by Marc Davidson and Geert Bergsma (CE Delft) and Peter Van den Bossche and Chris Backes (Maastricht University), who conducted the legal analysis. The study discussed three policy options that can be used to promote the use of sustainably produced timber, namely:
1. Tax measures by the Dutch government on the importation of tropical timber;
2. A private system developed by corporations to ‘tax’ the use of tropical timber; or
3. A private system developed by corporations to ‘tax’ the use of tropical timber, which is
then declared binding upon all parties by the government.
A policy paper providing advice with regard to these options was presented to the Dutch
Ministry of the Environment in January 2009.
Project partners: CE Delft
Funder: Ministry of the Environment of the Netherlands
Non-Tariff Barriers in the Economic Partnership Agreements
Denise Prévost wrote a research report on the issue of non-tariff barriers to trade in the EPAs, The global aim of the study was to provide an overview of the provisions in the EPAs that deal with measures that could constitute barriers to trade in the form of technical regulations and standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and administrative rules and procedures for conformity assessment, the abusive use of which could be an obstacle to market access. The study also undertakes a comparison of the approaches in different EPAs with the various ACP regions to dealing with these nontraditional trade barriers. The study further makes clear the interactions between the applicable rules on non-tariff barriers in EPAs and those in the WTO system.
Funder: International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva (ICTSD).
COMPLETED PROJECTS 2007 – 2008
Globalisation and Legitimacy of Power of Non-Governmental Organisations
This research project aimed at the clarification of the legitimacy of NGO with respect to their participation in the international debate and the international policy formation regarding moral and social issues. It also tried to identify the institutional (including legal) conditions that may underpin the legitimacy of NGOs in this respect. This project resulted in two books, several articles and one international conference in Tilburg (December 2006).
Funder: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.
COMPLETED PROJECTS 2006 – 2007
Free Trade and Culture
In the context of this research project on Free Trade and Culture, P. Van den Bossche examined the WTO obligations and the exceptions to these obligations which are of relevance to measures concerning cultural goods and services. Van den Bossche explored the limits of the policy space left to national governments to take unilateral measures for the protection and promotion of cultural identity and diversity.
Funder: Boekman Foundation
