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Foreign states’ amicus curiae briefs submitted before the U.S. courts are a special type of pleading. This article analyzes such submissions made in U.S. antitrust cases during the period 1978 to 2015, identifying which foreign nations used amicus briefs to present their views and what sort of issues attracted their attention. This piece examines also the issue of deference due to such filings, arguing that while foreign states’ submissions should be treated respectfully, they do not warrant a dispositive effect. Furthermore, this article outlines the practice of filing, explaining the shift from diplomatic correspondence towards amicus curiae submissions and the creation of a niche market of authoring them. It also indicates general trends in relation to stages of filings and the degree of their prevalence. Some broader comments are offered on the functions of foreign nations’ amicus filings and their contribution to the ongoing development of competition law and policy internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has indicated that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) may have an effect beyond the borders of States Parties, meaning that states may be bound by their obligations under the treaty when acting extraterritorially. The present contribution aims at researching the use of the notion of the extraterritorial scope of the ICESCR in the documents adopted by the Committee, such as General Comments, Statements and Concluding Observations. The article concludes that, although the Committee did introduce some basic notions, it has never clarified at length, in-depth and systematically the notion of the extraterritorial scope of State Parties’ obligations from a conceptual perspective. There is therefore a need for the Committee to further develop the notion of the international scope and application of the ICESCR, for example, by holding a day of general discussion and adopting a key document on this topic which should contain concrete guidance to States Parties. The present article provides examples of questions and issues that are relevant in order to gain a more coherent understanding of the extraterritorial scope of the ICESCR from a legal point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article analyses one specific aspect of the long and complicated proceedings in which the Russian oil company Yukos was involved: the question of jurisdiction relating to the application that Yukos made to a court in Houston, Texas, to open bankruptcy proceedings under chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code and thus grant protection against the creditors to permit restructuring of the company. Yukos being a Russian company burdened by massive debt connected with taxes owed to the Russian authorities, and virtually the totality of its as-sets being located on Russian territory, the first question that arises is how it is possible for a court in the United States to have jurisdiction in this case. This article examines the question of extraterritorial jurisdiction in civil cases, from the point of view of both private and public international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]