Environment

On March 26, 2014, a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel issued its report on a dispute between the European Union, Japan and the United States as complainants and China as respondent over access to so-called “rare earths,” as well as tungsten and molybdenum.[1] The Panel found that China violated its obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT)[2] and the Accession Protocol[3] by

On March 31, 2014, the International Court of Justice declared that Japan must halt its current whaling program in the Southern Ocean.[1] The decision will not affect Japan’s whale hunt in the northern Pacific and it does not foreclose Japan from all whaling in the future, as long as it is conducted within the requirements of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW).[2] Nor does this decision affect the other two nations that currently conduct wh

Introduction

Acknowledging the global and complex nature of shipping activities, the Kyoto Protocol, Article 2(2) entrusts the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from marine bunker fuels to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).[i] Since 1997, the IMO Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) has been actively engaged in discussions concerning the reduction of GHG emissions from ships and the elaboration of a legal framework for energy efficiency in the shipping industry as a means of tackling climate change.