貿易法專題研究
Seminar on International Trade Law
Health, Medicine and WTO
Chang-fa Lo
September 2009

Description and Requirements:
1. Important note: It is better for you to have some WTO and intellectual property backgrounds. If you do not have any background about WTO, it is suggested that you take the course “WTO Legal Issues” first or to spend extra time to read WTO textbook before the classes. In previous years, there were complaints about participants not having WTO background for the purpose of better understanding and engaging in the discussions.
2. The course will be conducted in English.
3. It will be divided into two parts. The first part will be for the discussion of health related trade issues, which include:
(1) GATT Article XX and Its context in the GATT and WTO
(2) Relevant health provisions in TRIPS Agreement
(3) Doha declaration
(4) Amendment to TRIPS Agreement
(5) FTA health related provisions
4. The second part of the course will be to read and discuss WTO cases concerning health related issues. Some of these cases only have panel reports; some others have AB reports or even arbitration reports. These reports can be found at the WTO official website. Participants are responsible for downloading the materials by themselves and bring a hard copy or the laptop to the class each time. They will also need to bring the texts of the WTO agreements to the class for constant references. The list of cases will be provided at the first class.
5. For the second part, we will divide the participants into several groups, each of which will be responsible for a dispute case. We will spend 1 to 2 weeks for each case. The group responsible for a dispute settlement case will have to (1) Report to the class about the factual background; (2) Report to the class about the stages and current status of the dispute; (3) Identify the important issues involved in the dispute; (4) Lead the discussions on each of these issues.
6. All participants need to come to the class each and every time with good preparations. In no event, the participants should miss two or more classes without good reason. Discussions in the classes are very important for their final evaluation.