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.

The basis of international economic law

International economic law is based on the traditional principles of international law such as:

_ pacta sunt servanda (договоры должны соблюдаться)

_ freedom

_ sovereign equality

_ reciprocity

_ economic sovereignty.

It is also based on modern and evolving principles such as:

_ the duty to co-operate

_ permanent sovereignty over natural resources

_ preferential treatment for developing countries in general and the least-developed countries in particular.

The sources of international economic law are the same as those sources of international law generally outlined in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice:

Article 38

(1) The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply: (a) international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states; (b) international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law; (c) the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations; (d) subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.

Economic sovereignty

When states began to function as politically independent and sovereign entities, they realised that one of the most important attributes of state sovereignty was economic sovereignty. Without this, political sovereignty was not complete. Asserting economic sovereignty meant having control over the economic activities of both juridical and natural persons conducting business within the country, whether nationals of that country or foreigners.

Owing to a number of historical reasons, many states inherited on independence a situation in which foreign individuals or companies enjoyed certain concessions or privileges or control over the economic activities of the country concerned. In many states the natural resources and mining rights were controlled by foreign companies or individuals under a concession agreement entered into with the previous administration, whether colonial or otherwise.

When the country concerned wished to embark on a policy of economic development, one of the first initiatives it had to take was to consider harnessing its natural resources in accordance with its economic policies. It therefore became necessary for these states to assert sovereignty over the natural resources of the country and require that foreign individuals and companies comply with the new policy adopted by the state.

In many countries it was difficult to assert economic sovereignty without doing away with the rights, concessions and privileges enjoyed by foreign individuals and companies over the country’s natural resources.

However, developed countries whose nationals had gone overseas to invest and do business resisted attempts to impose national law on foreigners. They argued that existing concessions and contracts had to be honoured under international law. It was at this juncture that the concept of permanent sovereignty over natural resources was introduced in international law.