Cases of contested sovereignty and civil wars touch upon the cardinal principle on which statehood and the functioning of the international community are based: that only a governmental authority represents at the international level human groups located in a given state territory. These situations of contested sovereignty might put into question the legitimacy of entertaining economic relations with entities responsible for the conduct that brought about the situation itself.
Against this complex backdrop, the project aims at investigating the process of formation of the EU trade policy in cases of contested sovereignty, based on the scrutiny of the practice of the relevant actors, and at assessing the consistency of the EU trade policy in light of the rules of international and EU law.
Both the problems and their possible solutions will be at the very centre of the dissemination activities carried out during the project. Through a partnership with Trentino Sviluppo - a company established by the Autonomous Province of Trento to foster the sustainable growth of the local economy - the research team will organize a number of seminars and meetings with local entrepreneurs and companies with the aim of bridging the gap between practitioners and the academia. Since late 2019, the project is supported also by the Department of Law of the University of Verona.

Research Team

  • Marco Pertile, Antonino Alì, Andrea Fracasso

Post-doc fellow

  • Sondra Faccio
  • Vito Todeschini (until December 2017)

Publications

Forthcoming:

A. Alì, ‘National Security and Trade Wars, Legal implications for Multilateralism’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, 2020.
A. Alì, ‘The Intersection between the Security of the EU and its Member States and the Screening of the Foreign Direct Investments into the Union, in La Comunità Internazionale, Vol. 3, 2020.
A. Alì, ‘Le Ambiguità e l’Evoluzione della Lawfare: l’Utilizzo del Diritto per il Conseguimento di Obiettivi Politico-Strategici, in GNOSIS, 2020.
S. Faccio, ‘Public Participation in Investment Arbitration’, in Kent, De Brabandere, Gazzini (a cura di) Public Participation and Foreign Investment Law, Brill/Nijhoff, 2020.

2020:

S. Faccio (2020), "Disability in EU Trade and Investment Agreements", in D. Ferri, A. Broderick (Eds) Research Handbook on EU Disability Law, pp. 396-413. Edward Elgar.

S. Faccio, "Indirect expropriation in international investment law. Between state regulatory powers and investor protection" (Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli, 2020).
S. Faccio, “Investimenti Esteri dopo l'Emergenza Covid-19. Quale Ruolo per i Contratti di Investimento?”, in P. Acconci, E. Baroncini (Eds.) Gli effetti dell’emergenza Covid-19 su commercio, investimenti e occupazione. Una prospettiva italiana (Bologna: Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche 2020).
M. Pertile, S. Faccio, ‘What we talk about when we talk about Jerusalem: The duty of non-recognition and the prospects for peace after the US embassy’s relocation to the Holy City’, in Leiden Journal of International Law, 2020, 1-27.
Allegato (‘What we talk about when we talk about Jerusalem: The duty of non-recognition and the prospects for peace after the US embassy’s relocation to the Holy City’): State Practice on the Relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (December 2017-August 2018) - Annex to an Article published on the Leiden Journal of International Law by Marco Pertile & Sondra Faccio
M. Pertile, ‘Mettere in discussione la stabilità delle situazioni territoriali illecite: l’obbligo di non riconoscimento nella prospettiva dello jus post bellum’ in L. Lacchè e V. Lavenia (a cura di), Alberico Gentili e lo jus post bellum. Prospettive tra diritto e storia. Atti del convegno della XVIII Giornata Gentiliana, San Ginesio, 21-22 settembre 2018, EUM, 2020, pp. 117-155.
S. Faccio, ‘The assessment of the FET standard between legitimate expectations and economic impact in the Italian solar energy investment case law’, in Questions of International Law, 2020, Vol. 71, 3-20.

2019:

A. Alì, ‘L’analisi dati social network per finalità politiche dopo Facebook-Cambridge Analytica’, in GNOSIS, 2019, 45-51.
A. Alì, ‘The Challenges of a Sanctions Machine: Some Reflections on the Legal Issues of EU Restrictive Measures in the Field of Common Foreign Security Policy’, in Antoniolli, Bonatti, Ruzza (a cura di) Highs and Lows of European Integration. Sixty Years After the Treaty of Rome, Springer, 2019, 49-62.
A. Alì, ‘L’Italia e le Sanzioni alla Russia’, in Italy on the Rimland, Storia militare di una Penisola Eurasiatica’, Tomo I, Intermarium, pp. 527-534.
M. Pertile, ‘The Illegal Trafficking in Crude Oil and Petroleum Products from Libya and the Relationship between Italy and Malta’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XXVIII, 2019, 557-564.
M. Pertile, ‘The Threatened Demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar “Rubber Tire School” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XXVIII, 2018, 529-536.
M. Pertile, S. Faccio, ‘Access to Water in Donbass and Crimea: Attacks against Water Infrastructures and the Blockade of the North Crimea Canal’, in Review of European, Comparative, International Environmental Law, 2019, Vol. 29, 56-66.
M Pertile, ‘Sul riconoscimento di governo nella crisi venezuelana: la trasformazione alchemica è completa?’ in SIDI Blog 2019, reperibile a questo link.
S Faccio, ‘The Interplay between Investment Law and the Duty of Non-Recognition in Situations of Contested Sovereignty’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XXVIII, 2019, 111-134.
S Faccio, ‘New Developments in Proceedings Involving Venezuela: Interim President Guaidó Intervenes Before US Courts’, in Kluwer Arbitration Blog 2019, reperibile a questo link.

2018:

A. Alì, ‘The Annexation of Crimea and the Sanctions against the Russian Federation’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XXVIII, 2018, 505-509.
A. Alì, ‘The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Sanctions against the Russian Federation in Response to the Crisis in Ukraine’, in Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XXVII, 2017, pp.77-91.
S. Faccio, ‘The EU Dimension of EU Investment Law and Policy’, in Ferri, Cortese (a cura di) The EU Social Market Economy and the Law. Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Challenges for the EU, Routledge, 2018, 293-309.

Events and Seminars

09.09.2020, S. Faccio “International investment law after the Covid-19 emergency: what role for the foreign investment contract?”, ESIL International Economic Law Interest Group, Online Workshop “International economic law between emergencies and reforms”.
11.05.2020, A. Alì ‘Il controllo degli investimenti esteri diretti nell’Unione Europea e la protezione delle attività strategiche europee nel contesto dell’emergenza Covid-19’, EUIL Webminar Gli effetti dell’emergenza Covid-19 su commercio, investimenti e strumenti finanziari transnazionali.
11.05.2020, S. Faccio ‘Sviluppo sostenibile e investimenti diretti esteri dopo l’emergenza Covid-19. Quale ruolo per le ZES e i contratti di investimento?’, EUIL Webminar Gli effetti dell’emergenza Covid-19 su commercio, investimenti e strumenti finanziari transnazionali.
20.09.2019, A. Alì ‘EU Sanctions against the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in a comparative perspective’, EUREGIO International Conference: EU Sanctions against the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in a comparative perspective, SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento.
20.09.2019, M. Pertile, ‘Economic sanctions and general international law obligations’, EUREGIO International Conference: EU Sanctions against the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in a comparative perspective, SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento.
20.09.2019, S. Faccio ‘The effects of sanctions on the investments in Crimea/Ukraine/Russia’, EUREGIO International Conference: EU Sanctions against the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in a comparative perspective, SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento.
17-18.09.2019, Workshop ‘Introduction to International Investment Arbitration’, SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento.
23.05.2019, S. Faccio ‘The protection of investment in Crimea’, #TILT Young Academics Colloquium, Università degli Studi di Verona.
09.04.2019, M. Pertile, ‘Economic, social and cultural rights in occupied territories: Reflections on their applicability and interaction with international humanitarian law’, International Conference on the Impacts of Illegal Economic Activities in Conflict Areas on Human Rights, Palais des Nations, Geneva.
30.10.2018, S. Faccio ‘Investing in disputed territories. The application of BITs in Crimea and other cases’, Guest Lecture Series SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento.
15.10.2018, M. Pertile, M. Caselli, S. Faccio ‘Investimenti Diretti Esteri nei Paesi dell’America Latina: gli Strumenti di Tutela Offerti dal Diritto Internazionale’, SSI, Università degli Studi di Trento. Evento organizzato in partnership con Trentino Sviluppo.

Other outcomes

Sondra Faccio: Starting Grant for young researchers 2018/2019 (University of Trento).

In partnership with Dipartimento Scienze Giuridiche, Università di Verona