Public International Law (Sem V)

Institution Name: Sai Seva Shikshan Prasarak Mandal
Bhiwandi Sanchalit
College Name:. Shri . Indrapal Baburao Chaughule Law
College
Name: Kajal Lallan Gupta
Roll no. : 20
Class : T.Y LLB ( SEM V )
Subject: Public International Law & Human Right
TOPIC
INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMIC LAW
1. Introduction
International economic law is a massive body of law, which is
growing rapidly and changing fast. It seeks to regulate more or
less all aspects of international economic relations between
states. International economic law developed as a separate and
identifiable body of law in the post-Second World War era. Prior to
this, the law relating to international economic activities (e.g. the
protection of foreign investment) was at a rudimentary stage and
was regarded as part of public international law. The Bretton
Woods Institutions were set up in 1944, which are the World Bank,
and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The aim of creating
these institutions was based on notions of consensual decision-
making and cooperation in the realm of trade and economic
relations.
A multilateral framework was necessary to overcome the
destabilising effects of the previous global economic
depression and trade battles and to help rebuild the
shattered post-war economy and to promote international
economic cooperation between states. After creations of
Bretton Woods institutions, the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade was established in 1948 with a view to
eliminate harmful trade protectionism, removing tariffs,
boosting international trade and restoring economic
health to the world after the devastation of World War II.
However, GATT was replaced by the more robust World
Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995.
This article will discuss how economic relations between
peoples and countries have developed over time, giving rise
to new challenges for the law. Much of international
economic law has developed relatively recently in response
to the growth in international economic activity. As the
expansion of international economic activity increased
contacts among people of different nations, this interaction
had to be regulated by international law. In the early years of
the development of international economic law, the law
dealt mainly with the nature of the legal relationship
between a state and a foreign company engaged in the
exploitation of its natural resources.
It is in this context that this article will
examine the evolution of select key principles
of international economic law. This article will
also examine the definition of international
economic law, the fundamental principles of
this body of law and developments in other
areas of international law that have influenced
the development of international economic
law.
2. The Definition of International Economic Law
International economic law regulates the international

economic order or economic relations among nations.
However, the term “international economic law” encompasses
a large number of areas. It is often defined broadly to include a
vast array of topics ranging from public international law of
trade to private international law of trade to certain aspects of
international commercial law and the law of international
finance and investment. The International Economic Law
Interests Group of the American Society of International Law
includes the following non-exhaustive list of topics within the
term “international economic law”:
1) International Trade Law, including both the international law of the
World Trade Organization and GATT and domestic trade laws;
2) International Economic Integration Law, including the law of the

European Union, NAFTA and Mercosur;
3) Private International Law, including international choice of law,

choice of forum, enforcement of judgments and the law of
international commerce;
4) International Business Regulation, including antitrust or competition

law, environmental regulation and product safety regulation.
5) International Financial Law, including private
transactional law, regulatory law, the law of foreign direct
investment and international monetary law, including the
law of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank;
6) The role of law in development;
7) International tax law; and
8) International intellectual property law.

3. Sources of International Economic Law
Sources of international economic law are also sources of
general international law, as codified in Article 38 of the
Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This article
is generally regarded as providing the most authoritative
listing of international law sources. They are:
1) Treaties;
2) International customs;
3) General principles of law;
4) Judicial decisions of international courts and tribunals and
the teachings of the most highly qualified international
lawyers as subsidiary means for determining the rules of law.
Treaties have the pre-eminent role in developing
international economic law, but the practice of
states is also important. The practice of states
acquires the character of customary law when a
particular practice meets the test of generality,
uniformity and consistency and is coupled with a
legal conviction on the part of states that they are
obliged to follow it by law. This psychological
element is called opiniojuris.
4. The Aspirations of Newly Independent States.
The number of independent developing states grew
dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to the
success of independence movements in Asia, Africa,
the Pacific and the Caribbean. The economic order
created in the aftermath of the Second World War with
the establishment of the Bretton Woods
institutions―the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT)―was no longer capable of
fully addressing the world’s economic problems in this
changed context.
GATT 1947 was premised on the idea of creating a “level
playing field” in the conduct of the international trade. This
was not acceptable to the newly independent developing
countries, which sought help from the international
community to be able to compete on an equal footing and
also benefit from the GATT regime. What is more, the
developing countries did not confine their aims to changes
to the GATT system, but had much more ambitious dreams
for themselves. They sought to restructure the whole
international economic order in order to bring about
international justice―a cherished goal of the international
community outlined in the Preamble to the Charter of the UN.
Consequently, the decolonisation period of the
1950s and 1960s was characterised by conflict on
both the economic and political fronts between
developed and developing countries. When the
newly independent states of Asia and Africa
started acting jointly with the Latin American
states, they embarked on a policy designed to
achieve economic equality between states by
proposing a restructuring of international
economic relations.
5 . The Idea of Sustainable Economic Development
The attempts made in the 1960s and 1970s within the UN to
define the nature of the legal relationship between a host
state and a foreign company sought to define the
competence of a sovereign state to expropriate and regulate
foreign companies operating within it. They did not seek to
regulate the unhindered exploitation of natural resources by
states themselves. With the exception of a UN resolution of
1962 designed to endorse a call by UNESCO to enact
effective domestic legislation to preserve natural resources
(including flora and fauna), the emphasis was very much on
establishing the right of states in international law to exploit
their natural resources in accordance with their own
development policies.
As well as various international economic law instruments,
various human rights instruments adopted in the period from
the 1960s to the 1980s sought to establish and strengthen the
right of states and peoples to freely dispose of their wealth and
natural resources (Schrijver, 1997) . Examples include:
1) the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

(ICCPR);
2) the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
3) the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Even the resolutions of the UN concerning the new
international economic order (NIEO) and the Charter
of Economic Rights and Duties of States9adopted in
the mid-1970s (i.e. during the heyday of the triumph
of the Third World countries within the UN) did not
introduce the element of sustainability or any need
for countries to consider the environment while
engaging in the exploitation of their natural
resources.
Thus, traditionally speaking, the idea of sustainable development or
the need to conserve natural resources was missing in the main
corpus of international economic law. It was only through
developments taking place elsewhere (mainly in the area of
international environmental law) that the idea of sustainable
economic development and the need to conserve natural resources
was introduced onto the agenda of international economic law.
The Charter of the UN (the “world constitution”) entrusted the UN

with an overall responsibility for formulating policies designed to:
1) achieve higher standards of living for the people of the world;
2) address problems of an economic character.

Consequently, the UN began to work from quite early on for
the economic development of developing countries. It did
not simply react to economic events, but was also
proactive in formulating policies designed to address the
problem of the underdevelopment. The activities of the UN
and its specialised agencies in this regard have evolved in
phases, as follows:
(1) Technical assistance
(2) Economic Sovereignty

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Institution Name: Sai Seva Shikshan Prasarak Mandal

International economic law regulates the international

2) International Economic Integration Law, including the law of the

3) Private International Law, including international choice of law,

4) International Business Regulation, including antitrust or competition

6) The role of law in development;

7) International tax law; and

8) International intellectual property law.

1) the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

2) the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and

3) the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The Charter of the UN (the “world constitution”) entrusted the UN

1) achieve higher standards of living for the people of the world;

2) address problems of an economic character.

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