Systemic Reflections on Argentina's Non-Compliance with ICSID Arbitral Awards: A New Role of the Annulment Committee at Enforcement?
Argentina’s non-compliance with arbitral awards has brought to the fore a question concerning compliance problems under the ICSID system. Argentina’s ignorance of its ICSID obligations might potentially undermine ICSID arbitration as an efficient mechanism for the resolution of investment dispute. In this paper, drawing from recent decisions on Argentina’s requests for stays of the award’s enforcement in annulment proceedings, the author considers that the annulment committees can be expected to play a more active role to facilitate a better compliance at the post-award enforcement stage. That is, in the face of persistent non-compliance, the annulment committees should take into account the possible inducement effect when they decide whether there has been appropriate assurance of compliance or decide what should be done so as to secure the compliance in their decisions concerning the stays. This should have important implications for the overall ICSID enforcement system in the future.
Remedies for Export Subsidies in the Context of Article 4 of the SCM Agreement: Rethinking Some Persistent Issues
The per se prohibited nature of export subsidies has justified faster and special dispute settlement procedures found in Article 4 of the SCM Agreement. The persistent problems of export subsidies remedies posed by WTO jurisprudence deserve continuous attention. From the perspective of efficacy, this paper does not view that the modification of subsidy should be included as an alternative remedy. For the purpose of exploring the remedy for one-time grant paid, adding the 'reimbursement clause' to contractual arrangements providing the subsidy or requiring the partial repayment of 'ongoing benefit' of the one-off subsidy merits further discussions. As well, the introduction of punitive countermeasures may induce more compliance. Additionally, this paper suggests that more submissions on clarification or the points of resolution should be advanced by Members under the Doha Round before a reform is likely to be truly realized in the future.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.