Trade

Passing the Baton? Extractive Business and Human Rights Regulation in the US and the EU

By: Dr. Aleydis Nissen, Leiden Law School and the Free Universities of Brussels In 2010, the United States created two highly innovative legal obligations to ensure corporate respect for human rights. This post explains that not much is left of these obligations nowadays, and directs the reader to my new book to learn more about how the United States has inspired the European Union to adopt similar regulations, but with more impact. Even before the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were adopted in 2011, the United States had already innovated in the field of business and […]

Revoking Brexit: Can Member States Rescind Their Declaration of Withdrawal from the European Union?

Jens Dammann, William Stamps Farish Professor in Law, the University of Texas School of Law.* Note: This full-length Article appears in Volume 23, Issue 2 of the Columbia Journal of European Law, available soon in print and online via HeinOnline, LexisNexis, and Westlaw. Introduction On June 23, 2016 U.K. voters did the unthinkable and voted, by a narrow margin, for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.[1] Such a move is entirely legal. The Treaty on European Union explicitly gives Member States the right to withdraw from the European Union.[2] Nonetheless, the outcome was unexpected.[3] Most pundits had predicted a victory for […]

The U.K. Votes Out: What Happens Next

Colleen Baehrend, J.D. Candidate, Columbia Law School 2017   The process of unravelling the partnership between the one of the largest economies in the world and the most prominent trade bloc comes down to only 261 words: the text of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. With such brief guidelines and no precedent to work with, how exactly the divorce between the U.K. and EU will proceed is shrouded in uncertainty. Starting at the source, Article 50(1) gives Member States the right to withdraw from the EU “in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.” Thus, Article 50 must be invoked […]