Jingjing Zhao gives invited seminar on GMOs to LLM students
On 21 November 2016, Jingjing Zhao, member of SCELG and PhD researcher in the Strathclyde Law School, gave an invited seminar to LLM students on the International Law and Sustainable Development programme on the topic of 'Examining the relationship between the WTO Agreements and the Cartagena Protocol from a norm conflict perspective: a doctrinal and empirical study'.
Trade and the environment in the context of GMOs
The seminar mainly looked at the widely debated issue of the relationship between trade and environment in the particular context of the international regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and discussed the following topics and issues:
- An introduction to GMOs and their position in international trade, followed with a brief introduction on the WTO Agreements and the Cartagena Protocol, including an overview of the substance of the treaties and potential conflicts between the WTO Agreements and the Cartagena Protocol.
- The general international conflict resolution techniques on this specific relationship, finding that no definitive answers can be given as to how the treaty conflicts should be resolved.
- Why and how the potential conflicts between the treaties should be avoided using the general international conflict avoidance techniques.
- A case study of the domestic/regional GMO regulatory frameworks and administrative structures, followed with an introduction of Jingjing's empirical research which involved interviews with governmental policy makers in the EU, UK and China, and delegates from international organisations including the WTO and the CBD.
Jingjing's presentation was followed with discussions with participants of the seminar.
