Prof. Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann and the Work of the ILA Committee on International Trade Law (1993–2012)

Abstract

The Committee on International Trade Law of the International Law Association (ILA) held its first meeting at the headquarters of the GATT on June 25, 1993. Prof. Petersmann has been a strong advocate of negotiating more detailed rule-structures at the WTO level, and of seeing those rule-structures directly applied in the national/regional law of its members. Prof. Petersmann suggested a potentially far-reaching set of proposals to create greater coherence between trade and competition rules, including, antidumping rules to broader competition rules. Prof. Petersmann through the force of his ideas has influenced political decision-makers. He has persuaded some of his colleagues to pursue strengthening of the multilateral trading system legal order, and its role in national and regional legal systems. Prof. Petersmann has done a great service to the international community of scholars by organizing the work of the Trade Law Committee, and by putting forward (and seeing through) ambitious proposals. Keywords: antidumping rules; competition rules; GATT; International Law Association (ILA) committee; International Trade Law; multilateral trading system; political decision-makers; Prof. Petersmann; trade