On October 5, 2015, The United States and eleven other Pacific Rim nations finalized their negotiations and agreed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional trade agreement combining forty percent of the global economy. According to this news report, the TPP is designed to eliminate trade barriers and phase out tariffs and includes provisions establishing uniform rules on intellectual property. It also contains provisions for the mutual recognition of regulations and patent protection for pharmaceuticals. According to another report, trade ministers who negotiated the deal...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On October 1, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) decided that EU member states can impose prison sentences on migrants who reenter the country illegally after having received an entry ban. The case concerned Mr. Celaj, an Albanian migrant who had been deported from Italy and prohibited from returning for a period of three years. Having moved back to Italy in violation of the order, Italian authorities sought to impose a prison sentence on the basis of applicable Italian legislation, and asked the Court to confirm its compatibility with EU Law, namely the Return...
On October 1, 2015, the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements entered into force after being signed by Mexico in 2007 and the European Union in June of this year. According to a press release by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the Convention aims to ensure the certainty and enforceability of forum selection clauses in international commercial contracts. The Convention sets out uniform rules regarding the choice of a court by the parties, the obligation of courts not chosen to decline to hear the case, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments issued by the...
On September 22, 2015, the General Court of the European Union (Court) rejected the application of First Islamic Investment Bank to be taken off the EU’s anti-nuclear proliferation sanctions list. The Court accepted the bank’s argument that the Council had failed to provide satisfactory evidence for its claim that the bank assisted entities in circumventing the EU’s sanctions and channeled oil-related payments to Iran. However, the Court noted that the bank was owned or controlled by Mr. Zanjani, who is himself included on the EU sanctions list. Stressing that “it is necessary to freeze...
On September 30, 2015, the General Court of the European Union decided that a European citizens’ initiative (initiative) to allow the cancellation of onerous public debt could not be registered as its subject-matter does not have any basis in the European Treaties. According to the press release, the EU Treaty allows citizen to propose initiatives to the EU legislature regarding the implementation of EU treaties after submitting the initiative proposal to the Commission for registration and collecting one million signatures from at least a quarter of all EU states. The Commission can...
On September 29, 2015, a U.S. District Court (Court) dismissed Saudi Arabia as a defendant in In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, a lawsuit brought by the families of victims of the attacks. The Court rejected the plaintiff’s allegations that Saudi Arabia and several charities under the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia & Herzegovina (SHC) had provided operational and financial support to al Qaeda in carrying out the attacks, noting that “Saudi Arabia, as a foreign state, and the SHC, as an instrumentality of Saudi Arabia, are immune from suit unless one of...
On September 28, 2015, a German court sentenced two Rwandan rebel leaders for their roles during the internal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008 and 2009. According to a news report, the two men were charged with planning attacks and controlling the militias committing mass murder, rape and lootings from Germany using satellite phones, SMS messages and emails. The case was the first time German Courts exercised jurisdiction under the German Code of Crimes against International Law, which allows prosecutors to investigate and bring actions for war crimes “even when the...
On September 24, 2015, the General Court (Court) of the European Union annulled (judgment not available in English) three open competition notices which required the applicants to choose between English, French, or German as their second language and the language of communications with the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO). According to the press release, the notices justified the language criteria by pointing to the interests of the service in finding candidates who were immediately operational in their jobs to maintain the efficient functioning of the service. Spain and Italy...
On September 23, 2015, a U.S. Court of Appeals (Court) upheld a decision in Harrison v. Republic of Sudan by the lower court ordering three banks to release Sudanese funds in satisfaction of a default judgment against Sudan. The case arose out of the al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden during a refueling stop in 2000. Fifteen of the injured sailors and three spouses initiated litigation in the United States under 28 U.S.C. § 1605A, the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), arguing that while al Qaeda was responsible for the...
On September 18, 2015, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued a contempt judgment in the case against Al Jadeed Co. and Ms. Karma al Khayat. The case concerned a series of TV episodes broadcast by Al Jadeed TV and published on its website, which purported to reveal the identities of confidential witnesses before the Tribunal. Judge Lettieri pointed out that this case was the first time “in the history of international criminal justice in which a legal person is accused of a crime.” Both defendants had been charged with “knowingly and wilfully interfering with the administration of...