Recently, the Indian Government banned 59 Chinese mobile apps citing risks to the sovereignty and integrity of India. In this piece we examine whether India would be successful in invoking the national security exemption to justify the ban, in the (unlikely) event that China were to approach the WTO. Introduction Recently, the Indian Government bannedRead more
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In this piece, we analyse the WTO’s recent decision in Saudi Arabia – Measures concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. We also analyse the implications of WTO’s rejection of the invocation of the essential security exception by Saudi Arabia. Context The dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) hasRead more
In a recent whitepaper, we undertook a comparative analysis of e-commerce provisions in a few prominent FTAs, and provided key takeaways for WTO’s on-going plurilateral e-commerce negotiations. Download our white paper here. Background Over the last two decades, electronic commerce (e-commerce) provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs) have gained prominence. This is mainly due toRead more
Background Australia’s plain packaging saga has a 10 year-long history starting with Australia’s announcement of mandatory plain packaging for tobacco products in 2010.[1] Thereafter, in 2011, Australia enacted the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act (TPP Act),[2] requiring plain packaging for tobacco products and prohibiting the use of logo, imagery, colours, text, borders, embellishment or embossment ofRead more
Background In recent years, proponents of data globalization have been at loggerheads with the proponents of data localization. The former have been promoting free and open flow of data across borders, while the latter have been adopting measures curtailing cross-border data flow citing privacy and security concerns. These data localization measures broadly restrict or prohibitRead more
As we have discussed in our earlier piece, here, in 1998, the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) established a comprehensive work programme on electronic commerce (e-commerce) (hereafter, WorkProgramme) to examine all trade-related issues concerning e-commerce.[1] The Work Programme, apart from allocating four WTO bodies to examine specific issues concerning e-commerce,[2] allowed theRead more
On the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, 2019, 76 Member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), decided to formally initiate negotiations towards a plurilateral legal framework regulating electronic commerce (e-commerce). This decision was taken after more than two decades of oscillation between dialogue and deadlock is the e-commerce discourseRead more
In our webinar on ‘International Trade Law: Implications for Data Governance’, we discussed emerging issues in digital trade and data governance, and their interaction with the multilateral and regional trade regimes. To discuss this, Nehaa Chaudhari and Aman Taneja of Ikigai Law were in conversation with Neha Mishra, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre forRead more