EU Vertical Law and Development
Drawing on the scholarship on the transnational legal process and the diffusion of international law, this talk conceptualizes and illustrates vertical law and development. Vertical law and development refers to a transnational legal process whereby a state or institution integrates norms of public international law into international economic law which may then be adopted in the national legal system of another state to facilitate domestic law reform and societal change. Vertical law and development is exemplified by the case of the 2020 European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). This trade deal does not merely deal with trade. It is also a conduit for the diffusion of international legal norms (norms of international human rights law, labor law, environmental law, intellectual property law, and the international ideals of the rule of law) into Vietnamese law to foster domestic legal reform and social and economic development. The EVFTA is contrasted with the 2019 European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (ESFTA). Unlike the EVFTA, the ESFTA does not function as a tool of vertical law and development due to the EU’s instrumental approach in its trade negotiation with Singapore and Singapore’s status as a developed country with a largely autochthonous common law system. This study has implications for further studies on the functional (instrumental vs. normative) difference of the European Union (EU) FTAs with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries; the role of international law in law and development; and vertical law and development as a promising topic of comparative international law.
This event is open (only) to members of Oxford Universty. To register for it please fill in the form below using your SSO credentials. Registration will close at 10am on the morning of the seminar.