Beginning on October 31, 2009, Chuck and Murdoch Martyn provided five days of lectures on international investment arbitration at the Foreign Trade University in Ha Noi to faculty and lawyers. Chuck and Murdoch also provided lectures on the World Trade Organization to upper year students. The picture provided is a third year FTU class.

Chuck provided a series of seminars on the subject of International Competition Law at the Ministry of Commerce in Bangkok, Thailand. With 40 registrants, the participants included officials from the Departments of International Economic Affairs, Internal Trade, Intellectual Property, Trade Negotiations, and the National Telecommunications Commission and the State Enterprise Policy Office. The seminars were based on the study Thailand and the Development of International Competition Law. (A copy of the Executive Summary is available for download)

Bennett Gastle is a Gold Sponsor of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers’ 3rd annual conference entitled “Strength in Diversity.” It is taking place on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Flavelle House. Rosa Kang, an associate at Bennett Gastle, is a co-chair of the conference. In attendance will be over 100 legal professionals from the East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian communities, including members of the judiciary, lawyers (public and private practice), and law students.  

The conference will feature discussion and insight from, among others, the keynote speaker, The Honourable Frank Iacobucci (former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada), The Honourable Russell Juriansz (Court of Appeal of Ontario), The Honourable Shaun Nakatsuru (Ontario Court of Justice), The Honourable Manjusha Pawagi (Ontario Court of Justice), Anita Anand (Professor at University of Toronto Faculty of Law), and Poonam Puri (Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School).  

Workshop Topics include legal updates to changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure, Human Rights Processes, cross-border transactions, sole practitioner experiences, and Bay Street Initiatives on Diversity. For more information, please visit: http://www.facl.ca/Fall-Conference2009.html

On September 25th, Chuck appeared on BNN to discuss the results of the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Ohio. The most important news item is that the G20 is to replace the G8. This is the right and proper thing to happen. The balance of economic power is shifting.  This decade has been marked by the emergence of Brazil, India, and China. We see this trend in the World Trade Organization which bogged down in 2003 and it was a group that provided leadership at that time involving many of the members of the G20 today. This trend can also bee seen in the evolution of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the 1980s and 1990s, the IMF played a prominent role in promoting the so-called “Washington Consensus” which was a series of principles promoting trade and investment liberalization. After the Asian financial crisis in 1997/8, the IMF was severely criticized on the basis that the conditions it imposed on its loans actually exacerbated the financial crisis that occurred. By 2006, the IMF had been largely discredited, its loan portfolio severely restricted and in search of a revised mandate.  The IMF is governed not by a system of one country, one vote (as the WTO is governed), but on an outmoded quota system providing a much greater voting strength to developed countries. For instance, Canada has a $1.5 trillion GDP and a voting allocation of 2.9%.  France has a $3.0 trillion GDP and a voting allocation of 4.9%. However, China has a GDP of $4.222 trillion but has a voting strength of only 3.7%. The IMF has been attempting to deal with this inconsistency and in November 2006, the Board of Directors agreed to a re-alignment of the votes and it is this realignment that the G20 has been asked to endorse, thereby accelerating the deadline of 2011 that had been set earlier for approval.  

The big loser in Pittsburgh appears to be trade. The World Trade Organization has been drifting since the Cancun Ministerial in September 2003. It requires a strong statement in support to complete the Doha Round of negotiations that commenced in the shadow of 911 in November, 2001 and was intended to benefit developing countries which rightly thought that they were not realizing the benefits that had been promised to them on the approval for the Uruguay Round agreements that gave birth to the WTO. The WTO was looking to the G20 to provide a strong vote of support in completing the round. However, the fact that the G20 was being held in Pittsburgh – located in the American rust belt that has experienced substantial job loss – is not conducive to a strong endorsement of trade liberalization. In addition, President Obama does not have a strong record on trade, notwithstanding the fact that he did not attempt to renegotiate NAFTA. He terminated the project designed to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S. – a promise that was made at the time NAFTA was negotiated. He has not submitted to Congress the draft free trade agreements reached with Columbia, Panama and South Korea. More significantly, President Obama agreed to impose a 35% tariff on Chinese the export of tires. Chinese trade officials are said to be incandescent with rage regarding this “betrayal’. The Chinese government has commenced certain antidumping cases against the United States but China may well be constrained by the fact that it has a huge trade deficit with the United States.

The Pittsburgh G20 meeting may prove to be a watershed in world governance. Chuck’s appearance may be viewed at http://watch.bnn.ca/clip217386#clip217426

Bennett Gastle welcomes Claire Cunnac.  Claire is currently completing Law School in Toulouse. Her internship at Bennett and Gastle is part of an 18 month French bar school program.  While in Canada, Claire hopes to improve her English and become more familiar with the common law system and international business law. 

She is determined to "get as many North American experiences as she can!"

Chuck has been invited by the IIST, an organization under the auspices of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, to participate in an APEC project to explore new approaches to the challenges of developing and implementing effective intellectual asset management for emerging enterprises in the APEC region. The initial organizational meeting is to take place in Okinawa, Japan, from September 13th to 15th, 2009. There will be representatives from various countries around the world with the objective of developing case studies as to how companies in different regions manage their intellectual property in the context of global supply chains. The project will take place over the next ten month period.

Chuck appeared on the Business News Network on August 10th, at 4:00 p.m. to discuss the “Three Amigo” summit in Mexico attended by Prime Minister Harper, President Obama and President Calderon. Canadians were most interested in the “Buy America” policy but that is not the real trade issue. The Canadian provinces have yet to agree to the World Trade Organization procurement code that would guarantee Canadian manufacturers the enhanced procurement access that 40 U.S. states grant signatories of the WTO Code. Until that happens, Canadian complaints against the “Buy American” policy ring hollow. In any event, the real trade issue is the thickening Canadian-United States border.

Canada needs pre-clearance facilities for goods being shipped into the United States, much like the kind of pre-screening that occurs at Pearson International Airport for those travelling to the United States. Also, the permitting process must be rationalised as well. A recent joint report from the U.S. and Canadian Chambers of Commerce indicated that a shipment of automobiles from Japan or elsewhere might only need one permit, while Canadian automobiles might need thousands of certificates given the parts transiting the border up to seven times before the vehicle finally runs off the production line. In this light, Canada imposing new visa restrictions on Mexicans might have an unintended consequence – affirming to Americans that thicker borders are acceptable. Prime Minister Harper says that the problem is not Mexicans but the immigration laws. If he is serious, then, he should have changed the immigration laws and not imposed the visa requirements. Chuck’s BNN appearance can be viewed here

BENNETT GASTLE CONTINUES TO GROW!  Rosa Kang has joined Bennett Gastle after being called to the bar in June of 2009.  Rosa's primary areas of practice are commercial and civil litigation, with an emphasis on insurance defence including disability and life claims, creditor insurance claims and coverage issues. Welcome Rosa!

Bennett Gastle is pleased to welcome our new interns Constance Dispard-Melgrani, Jessica Morello and Berenice Etienne all from France. Jessica and Berenice are second year Magistere students. They decided to do their internship in Toronto to improve their legal English and engage in the diverse culture of Canada.  Constance is in her third year of law school and is looking forward to her summer internship at Bennett Gastle to improve her English and gain professional expereince in a common law country.

From November 10th to 13th, Chuck and Murdoch Martyn provided a series of lectures at the Ministry of Commerce in Cambodia on Competition law (Nov 10th), arbitration (Nov 11th) and trademarks (Nov 12th-13th). This is an extension of the training that Bennett Gastle has undertaken in Cambodia over the past four years. Elizabeth and Chuck hosted a reception for fifty people at the Himawari Hotel in Phnom Penh to celebrate our firm’s support of Marnie Ryan’s program for girls from the provinces. All 25 of the girls in the program attended along with those involved with the program in Phnom Penh. The person in the centre of the photo is the Rector of the University for Law and Economics. 

May 8th, 2009,  Bennett Gastle welcomes 17 students from graduating class at the Magistere program at the Driot des Affaires Fiscalite et Comptabilite, Universite D'Aix Marseille III.  A series of lectures has been arranged for them, and some of them will be placed in law firms in Toronto for a brief glimpse of what it is like to practice law in North America. At least two of the students will return as interns over the next twelve months and one of the students here, Charles Chantala, will spend six months in Phnom Penh beginning in November as part of the “internships in Cambodia” that the firm has developed in conjunction with two different universities there. This is the fifth year that this program has operated and more than 80 students have come to Canada under this program. 

During the week of February 9th, 2009, Chuck provided a series of lectures in Aix-en-provence to the Magistere, Droit des Affaires Fiscalite et Comptabilite, Universite D'Aix Marseille III as a visiting professor. This is the seventh year Chuck has conducted this set of lectures. Chuck also gave a series of lectures on international intellectual property law for the first time to the DESU de Droit European des Affaires - LL.M. in European Business Law. This Master's of Law class included students from China, Thailand and Germany.

Chuck Gastle was on BNN’s The Close to talk about the impending G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh on September 24 and 25. The G-20 is arguably the most important of the “G” collection of nations and this is due to the fact of the participation of developing countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Southern Africa, South Korea and Indonesia, among others. It is much more representative of the world economy. Its importance has grown to such an extent since its initial formation in 1999 (in which Paul Martin played a role) that Pascal Lamay, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, gave a speech on September 3 that the G-20 might play the role of executive power in a world government in which the UN is the parliament and institutions such the WTO and IMF provide expert advice.

The importance of the G-20 is reflected in the fact that this is its third meeting in less than a year. In November, 2008, George Bush convened the G-20 in Washington after the Obama election to coordinate stimulus spending and committing to an open economy. In April, 2009, the group met in Washington to recommit to these programs, but also to raise $1.1 trillion for the IMF. This time, there is a broad range of issues on the table including providing a greater voice to the developing world in the IMF and World Bank.  This ensures that the $1.1 trillion is provided to the IMF, restarting the stalled Doha Development Round of trade negotiations at the WTO, encouraging greater financial regulation including limiting bank bonuses, providing mechanisms for winding down systemically important banks which are in trouble, as well as, imposing greater capitalization requirements on banks.

Canada’s role in the G-20 is more important than its largely symbolic role in the G-8. With the broad range of members, Canada has more of an opportunity to play the “honest broker” in negotiations between the developed and developing world. You can watch the interview here. 

On August 25, 2009, an official of the Ministry of Commerce in Cambodia stated that the Law on Compulsory Licensing for Public Health was being sent to the Council of Ministers for submissions to the Cambodian legislature for passage into law. This is the law that Bennett Gastle drafted in consultation with the Ministry of Commerce and other stakeholders in Cambodia.  The news article can be found at the link below:

On June 17th, Chuck appeared on Business News Network to discuss the new $1 billion in subsidies given to the Canadian pulp and paper companies using “black liquor” in their chemical production processes. This program is in response to subsidies given in the United States under its tax code for promoting the use of alternative fuels. Canadian subsidies likely breach the Softwood Lumber Agreement in 2006 and will probably result in a trade action before the London Court of International Arbitration. The American subsidies likely are not inconsistent with the World Trade Organization. The American tax code provides these subsidies to any company in the United States using alternative fuels so they are generally available and are not actionable according to World Trade Organization law. The upshot?  Canada will likely face duties or a restriction in the quotas for export of softwood lumber into the United States equal to the amount of the subsidy.  As a result, it is a bad policy attempting to placate the forestry workers in the light of the huge subsidies given to the auto sector in central Canada.

To view the BNN Appearance click here

Bennett Gastle welcomes Yujia Song and Camille Perez!  Yujia is from China and is in the process of completing her LLM in Business Law at Osgoode Hall Law School.  She is looking forward to her summer internship at Bennett Gastle to gain professional experience in a foreign country. Camille is from Aix en Provence, France and has graduated from the Law University of Aix-en-Provence.  He is completing his internship at Bennett Gastle to improve his English and is looking forward to his first experience in a common law country.  When Camille returns to France, he is going to work at a Tax Assistant at Ernst & Young, Paris.

On May 6th, Chuck appeared on BNN to discuss Canada’s planned WTO challenge to the ban on pork products that has been imposed by 20 countries. There is no scientific justification for the ban on the import of meat. There may be scientific justification for the ban on the import of live swine given the H1N1 virus, according to one WHO expert. The WTO provides a valuable forum for consultations on the issue but the threat of a WTO complaint is pretty much meaningless due to the two to four year time frame for a decision to be rendered.

Chuck also talked about the Certificate of Origin Legislation in the United States that will require the identification of each stage in the process of foods such as beef, pork, vegetables and shell fish, among others. Canada is bringing a WTO complaint and Canada has a good case based on the fact that the labels will have an impact on trade and it will be a violation of the National Treatment principle.

The video can be found at:  (http://watch.bnn.ca/commodities/may-2009/commodities-may-6-2009/#clip169039).

April 20th, 2009, Osgoode Hall Law School announced today that Chuck has been named as the recipient of the Alumni Gold-Key Award for “Service” by the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association. Osgoode states that this award was created “to honour outstanding Alumni of the Law School who have made contributions to the Law School and to the legal community.” The award is to be presented at the Dean’s Annual Alumni Reception on May 20th, 2009.

We have been advised that Charles Chantala, one of Chuck’s students from the Magistere, Driot des Affaires Fiscalite et Comptabilite, Universite D'Aix Marseille III, has been given an internship at the University of Puthisastra and at the National University of Management, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The internship will last for six months starting November 1st, 2009.  Charles is the second student from France that Chuck has arranged internships in Cambodia for. Last year, Clare Cunnac had a two month internship at the Khmer Rouge War Crimes Tribunal. Clare will be an intern in Toronto from September through December, 2009.

Chuck was a guest on Business News Network on April 8th to discuss the Softwood Lumber settlement Agreement (SLA) signed by Canada and the United States in 2006. Yesterday, the United States announced that it would impose duties of $55 million USD on Canadian softwood exported from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan as a result of an arbitral decision issued by the London Court of International Arbitration pursuant to the terms of the Agreement. 

If the United States succeeds in this argument, it will cause problems for almost any support program introduced by Canada or one of the provinces.

From March 10th to 13th, Chuck took the Osgoode Hall Law School ELSA (European Law Students Association) moot team to Washington D.C. This was the North American preliminary round in the debating competition on a case involving the World Trade Organization. The winner advanced to the finals in Taipei with teams from around the world. The case involved environmental issues, including differential taxation schemes by developing countries and eco-labelling regimes. The moot took place at Georgetown Law School. This was the first time that Osgoode participated in the moot competition, and although Osgoode did not advance, it was a wonderful experience for all concerned.  More information can be obtained on the moot competition at www.elsamootcourt.org

February 20, 2009, Bennett Gastle made a $500.00 U.S.contribution to the Balkh University Jessup Moot Court Team. The Jessup Moot is to take place in Washington, D.C. in April, 2009.  Balkh University is located in Northern Afghanistan.

On February 5th, Chuck appeared on BNN television to discuss the changes to the stimulus program to ensure that the “Buy American” policy is consistent with the United States’ trade obligations in NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. Assuming that this proposal passes into law, it is all that Canada could ask for. It is what the World Trade Organization would order after a lengthy dispute settlement process. It does not mean that Canadian companies are going to be able to bid on all contracts arising from the stimulus program. They likely will not be able to benefit from spending by state and local governments and nor should they expect to because there is no obligation to include Canadian companies in such procurement. Canada cannot expect a better deal than it bargained for.

Back to Cambodia!
During the week of January 26^th, 2009 Chuck will be teaching a course on the World Trade Organization at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh. During the week of February 1^st, Chuck will be in Bangkokconsulting on issues related to International Competition Law.

During the week of January 26^th, 2009 Chuck will be teaching a course on the World Trade Organization at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh. During the week of February 1^st, Chuck will be in Bangkokconsulting on issues related to International Competition Law.