The East Asian International Economic Law and Policy (“EAIEL”) Programme was founded in 2003 in order to create a world-leading programme, situated in Hong Kong, on international economic law and policy; particularly with respect to developments in China and the East Asian region. China’s accession in 2001 to the World Trade Organization was a major event and provided the impetus for its establishment.

In its initial years under the leadership of Donald Lewis, Mattheo Bushehri and Henry Gao, the EAIEL Programme focused on two principal areas of activity: (i) academic research on WTO and international economic law and policy concerning China and East Asia; and (ii) training programmes on trade law and policy, principally for governments of the Asia Pacific region under the auspices of the WTO’s Regional Trade Policy Programme in the Asia-Pacific. Professor CL Lim was Convenor of the EAIEL Programme prior to Professor Douglas W. Arner.

Today, EAIEL has a track record not only in scholarship and capacity building but also in its outreach and knowledge-exchange programmes as it seeks to bring greater understanding of contemporary issues not only to local professionals and policy-makers, but also to the broader Hong Kong public, visiting scholars and high officials travelling through Hong Kong, as well as visiting students from outside Hong Kong. In this regard, EAIEL hosts lunch and evening talks on the HKU campus, hosts visiting delegations, and engages the global press on developments in China, Hong Kong and the region.

Conscious of the rapid pace of developments, EAIEL’s talks and research initiatives and the work of its fellows in Hong Kong and abroad continue to evolve; not least in light of China’s and Hong Kong’s roles in the international economic field. EAIEL’s Hong Kong-based scholars and foreign fellows currently work on a variety of subjects. These range from research on ASEAN rules of origin and the ASEAN Economic Community to Hong Kong’s engagement of ASEAN, developments in China’s competition law regime, the emergence of mega-regional economic treaties in the Asia-Pacific, China’s investment treaty negotiations, the growth in East Asian arbitration work and regional and global financial arrangements. In addition to its collaboration with other HKU Law Faculty Centres and Programmes, EAIEL has an interdisciplinary mandate and welcomes collaboration with other HKU faculties, centres and institutes.

EAIEL Fellows - Previous Appointments

EAIEL Senior Fellows

• Seung Chong, Consultant, Simmons & Simmons (Hong Kong)
• Stuart Harbinson, GBS, Senior Adviser, Fipra, Geneva (Switzerland)
• Patrick Low, Vice-President (Research), Fung Global Institute (Hong Kong)
• Professor Mitsuo Matsushita, Advisor, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo (Japan)
• Edmund W. Sim, Partner, Appleton Luff Pte Ltd (Singapore)
• Arnoud R. Willems, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP (Brussels)

EAIEL Fellows

• Davide Rovetta, Counsel, Grayston & Company (Belgium)
• Juan Ignacio Stampalija, Latin American Lawyer (Argentina)

EAIEL Visiting Fellows

• Dr. Alessandro Spano, Research Associate, UCL and Research Fellow, King’s College London (United Kingdom) (May 2014)
• Colin Picker, Associate Professor, UNSW Law School (Australia) (July – August 2013)
• Dr. Razeen Sally, Director, European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) and Senior Lecturer, International Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom) (July – November 2007)
• Professor Raj Bhala, Rice Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas School of Law (July – August 2007)
• Professor Rolf Weber, Professor for Civil, Commercial and European Law, University of Zurich and Director, European Law Institute (Switzerland) (November 2006 – January 2007)
• Shi Miao Miao, Deputy Director, WTO Division of the Ministry of Commerce (China) (September – December 2006)
• Akihiko Tamura, Legal Affairs Officer, Legal Affairs Division, World Trade Organization in Geneve (Switzerland) (July 2006 – 2007)
• Dr. Choi Won Mog, Associate Professor, College of Law, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea and Director, WTO Law Center (Korea) (January – February 2006)