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Global Health, Trade and Investment Law (LAWS90092)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2023

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Overview

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This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

Health, trade, intellectual property and investment laws and norms interact in multiple ways, both to the benefit of health and to its detriment. This subject explores both the harmonies and the tensions across these critical areas of policy and governance at legal, normative, operational and institutional levels. It draws out some of the key themes by examining the major global health challenges of our time including global pandemics (primarily through discussion of COVID-19), noncommunicable diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. The subject examines a number of high-profile areas of controversy in detail, in particular restrictions on international traffic and trade imposed by countries in response to COVID-19; the World Trade Organization and investment treaty challenges to tobacco packaging laws; and the tensions between intellectual property protection and access to affordable medicines, medical technologies, devices and vaccines.

Principal topics include:

  • Global health law and governance
  • International trade, intellectual property and investment law and governance
  • International cooperation to control the spread of infectious diseases, including through the International Health Regulations
  • International trade and investment challenges to tobacco control
  • Trade, intellectual property and investment law issues in pharmaceutical innovation and access to affordable medicines, medical technologies, devices and vaccines
  • Trade, intellectual property and investment law issues in the development of antimicrobial resistance and in efforts to combat it
  • Trade and investment law issues in the regulation of alcohol and unhealthy food
  • The role of evidence in health-trade-investment policy development and litigation
  • The opportunities and challenges for achieving multi-sectoral health-trade-investment collaboration and understanding

Intended learning outcomes

Students who complete this subject will:



  • Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the major global health law obligations, the way in which global health law is constituted, and the key global health institutions and actors
  • Have an advanced and integrated understanding of the major substantive obligations, and the key institutions and actors in international trade and investment law
  • Have a nuanced awareness and understanding of the current harmonies and tensions between global health concerns, and international trade, intellectual property and investment laws and norms, including in relation to pandemics, tobacco control, pharmaceutical innovation, access to medicines and vaccines, and antimicrobial resistance
  • Be able to apply the relevant global health, and international trade, intellectual property and investment law and norms to a range of topical factual scenarios relating to health, so as to reach logical and reasoned conclusions about the rights and obligations of the various state and non-state actors involved
  • Be able to analyse critically and reflect on the role of global health, and trade and investment law actors and institutions in responding to, and resolving, current concerns in global health
  • Be able to be an engaged, knowledgeable and critical participant in debates concerning global health, and international trade and investment laws, norms and institutions
  • Have transmitted knowledge, ideas, analysis and reflections on an issue in global health law and trade and investment law to a specialist legal audience
  • Have undertaken advanced legal research and analysed, reflected and synthesised knowledge, information, concepts and theories to produce a substantial and expert written work on an issue in global health and trade and investment law
  • Have been required to demonstrate the autonomy, judgment, responsibility and accountability expected of an advanced learner of global health and trade and investment law.

Last updated: 10 November 2023