Browsing by Author "Devine, Erica"

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The Liberalisation of Movements of Natural Persons under New Zealand's Free Trade Agreements: Scope, Effects and Implications
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2011) Devine, Erica; Anderson, Gordon
Trade liberalisations have become one of the defining trends of the globalisation movements besieging the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. New Zealand’s increasing free trade agreement commitments over the past few decades are clear evidence this trend. While trade liberalisation in goods is well publicised, there are equally important provisions relating to the liberalisation of trade in services, especially those regarding the movements of natural persons between countries for the purposes of business or temporary employment. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (The Agreement) is an integral international agreement created within the World Trade Organisation framework facilitating such trade in services liberalisations. New Zealand under their recent free trade agreements has made many commitments to implement The Agreement’s provisions regarding the free movements of natural persons for the purposes of temporary employment and business. The associated effects of these provisions are variable, resulting in not only significant benefits and advantages for trading partners, but negative outcomes as well. It is the competing implications of these effects which set the foundation for an examination of the overall net effects of liberalised cross-border movements of persons. This paper will examine the commitments New Zealand has made under their free trade agreements to liberalise the movements of natural persons across borders between themselves and their trading partners. It will initially examine the specific obligations New Zealand has undertaken through these agreements and their compliance with the international framework established under the The Agreement. The paper will then consider the negative and positive implications associated with these liberalised movements of natural persons, critiquing New Zealand’s overall commitments and their associated effects, seeking to determine whether or not such liberalisations can be determined to be a success. It will then identify if there are any areas for improvement or changes which could be implemented in the future.
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Sovereign Immunity and the Execution of Arbitral Awards Against Sovereign States
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2012) Devine, Erica; McLachlan, Campbell
This paper seeks to examine the tension that arises between the sovereign immunity of states and the execution of arbitral awards against sovereign states. This is specifically examined in the context of Democratic Republic of Congo v FG Hemisphere Associates LLC [2011] HKEC 747, where the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal found that Hong Kong is bound to apply the doctrine of absolute sovereign immunity, consistent with the policy applied in the People’s Republic of China. The effect of this was to prevent FG Hemisphere Associates LLC from enforcing the awards that had been rendered against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in previous ICC arbitrations. This paper progresses through an examination of the scope of the international commercial arbitration regime and the theory of sovereign immunity at international law. It addresses many issues that arise in the context of this case and the enforcement of international commercial arbitration awards more generally, through the interplay of the international arbitration regime and the doctrine of sovereign immunity.