Researchers' Activities

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan, CIL Research Fellows Leonardo Bernard and Junianto James Losari and CIL Research Associate Harpreet Kaur Dhillon participated in the World Congress on International Law, held in New Delhi, India, from 9 to 11 January 2015. Organised by the Indian Society of International Law, the programme covered a wide range of areas in international law and practice. CIL researchers were invited to speak on panels addressing the law of the sea and international investment, trade and dispute resolution. To download their presentations, click here.

Senior Principal Research Fellow Christopher Thomas QC gave a speech at the 2014 Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Congress on “Investment treaty arbitration: Just another form of commercial arbitration?” as part of the Closing Plenary Session on “Investment Treaty Arbitration in Asia: The meeting of international commercial arbitration and public international law”.

Senior Principal Research Fellow Christopher Thomas QC taught a two-day intensive training course for Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) officials on dispute settlement under international investment agreements. This was the second part to a three-day intensive course taught in November 2013.

CIL Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy Professor Michael Ewing-Chow was invited to the Global Georgetown Alumni Academic Program on 11 December 2014 in Singapore to share his views on the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. He suggested that the slow progress must be understood in the context of the differences between the negotiating states, including the rule of law and the economic and social issues within each state. Further, the negotiating states also have different offensive and defensive interests. For example, the United States has an offensive interest in ensuring a better Intellectual Property (IP) regime, while Australia has the opposite. Similarly, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have an offensive interest in agriculture, while Japan seeks to protect this sector. These differences alone pose challenges for the negotiating countries in striking an agreement that can accommodate all their interests. In addition, he shared his view that it is likely that Multinational Companies (MNCs) who operate Global Value Chains (GVCs) will play a greater role in driving the negotiations. Another interesting interplay to watch will be China’s role, as it has announced its interest in joining the TPP.

CIL Head of Trade Law and Policy Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow and CIL Research Fellow Ranyta Yusran participated in the Legitimacy of International Trade Tribunals Meeting in Geneva on 17-18 October 2014, where they presented their paper on the ASEAN trade dispute settlement mechanism. The meeting was organised by PluriCourts of University of Oslo, Norway as the first editorial meeting for a book on international trade tribunals. Other contributors came from Europe, the United States, Canada, Africa and Latin America. Please click on the following links for their working paper and presentation titled ‘If You Build It, They Still Will Not Come: ASEAN Trade Dispute Settlement Mechanism’.

CIL Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy Professor Michael Ewing-Chow conducted a training session (organised by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) for Pacific Island (PACER-Plus) countries’ government officials on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and alternative mechanisms to ISDS in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). He discussed several alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in FTAs, including commercial arbitration, domestic courts, as well as the development of dispute management systems. This was done as part of the preparation for the PACER-Plus negotiations with Australia and New Zealand.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated in the Workshop on the Future of the Seas in East Asia, held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 5-6 October 2014. The Workshop was organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta. Professor Beckman was part of the panel on ‘Addressing the Challenges: Managing Disputes’, where he presented the legal perspective of the disputes in the East and South China Sea. To access his presentation, click here.

CIL Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy Professor Michael Ewing-Chow, assisted by CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari, taught at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Training on Competition Law Policy and Intellectual Property Rights, which was organised by Drew & Napier and attended by twenty-seven government officials from around the world. Professor Ewing-Chow taught ‘Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Investments & International Economic Law’ where participants learned about policy considerations that may affect States’ interests when entering into negotiations of IP provisions. Through the use of negotiation exercises using hypothetical fact patterns, the participants were tasked with reaching acceptable compromises relating to pharmaceutical products, tobacco plain packaging regulations and other public concerns pertaining to international IP and competition law regimes. For a photo from the event, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Ranyta Yusran participated in the 2014 International Law Association (ILA) Regional Conference on ‘Towards a Universal Justice? Putting International Courts and Jurisdiction into Perspective’ at the Lisbon University Law School, Portugal, from 11-12 September 2014. Ms Yusran presented a paper that she co-authored with CIL Head of Trade Law and Policy Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow entitled ‘If You Build It, They Still Will Not Come: ASEAN Dispute Settlement and Intra-ASEAN Disputes’ in Session 4 of the Conference concerning Dispute Settlement. The Conference was organised by the Lisbon University Law School and the Portuguese branch of the ILA and was attended by legal academics and practitioners from all over Europe. This is CIL’s second participation in ILA regional conferences. For a copy of her presentation, click here.

CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari attended a meeting held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia to discuss Indonesia’s review of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms included in its existing bilateral investment treaties and make recommendations for future investment agreements. The meeting, held on 14-16 August 2014 in Jakarta, was attended by government officials from various ministries and institutions in Indonesia.