Dr. David Luff
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Dr. David Luff |
Practice Experience
David Luff has been practicing international law at both EC and international levels for nineteen years. He was trained in top international law firms. He was in charge of major trade remedy cases and has worked on projects where he dealt with technical barriers to trade, customs rules, WTO dispute settlement, international arbitration, regional integration and market access actions. He has advised private multinational companies and governments in the sectors of financial services, postal and telecommunications services, textiles and clothing, steel, chemicals, sugar, bananas, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. He advised the governments of Vietnam, Ukraine, China, South Korea, Thailand, Canada and South Africa on WTO implementation and trade negotiations issues and held missions in more than thirty five developing countries. He has been advising African countries on cross-sectoral strategies to take advantage of international trade rules and is helping them to negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements. He has also been advising the Overseas countries and territories of the EU on regional integration and optimal integration into the international trade system. He is appointed to advise the government of Syria to identify inter-ministerial mechanisms required to adjust to the multilateral trade rules. He has worked with the Inter-American development bank on the means and administrative reforms used to foster implementation of trade agreements. He has worked with the International Trade Centre on devising mechanisms to foster public-private dialogue in several developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Balkans. He has been advising the government of Ukraine in its WTO accession negotiations and has been delivering technical assistance activities in the country, particularly in the agricultural and services sectors. He also advised the governments of Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Canada and South Africa on International economic law and trade negotiations issues and on the means to adjust to the challenges posed by multilateral trade negotiations.
Until 27 March 2008, David Luff was the Director of the Programme Management Unit for the TradeCom Facility, an all-ACP trade-related assistance programme, financed by the European Development Fund. He was in charge of the planning, conduct and evaluation of more than fourty trade-related projects (EPA and WTO) and more than one hundred requests for technical assistance throughout the ACP region. There is a measurable track record of TA activities that he and his team have been managing throughout entire project cycles, according to strict and carefully planned quality criteria. David Luff has been designing activities is one of the components of the EU-Vietnam Trade Technical assistance project MUTRAP III and is partiicpating in the planning of the next phase of the OIF / Commonwealth Programme for the “Capacity Building of ACP States for the Formulation, Negotiation and Implementation of Trade Policies” (Hubs Spokes). David Luff has also been evaluating the trade law assistance provided by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
David Luff is a professor of International Trade Law at the University of Liege in Belgium, at the College of Europe, and at the MGIMO University in Moscow. He obtained a PhD at the University of Brussels. His thesis examined the regulatory powers of States under WTO law to pursue domestic policy objectives. David Luff published several articles in international reviews on subjects related to economic law, particularly in the area of services and held visiting appointments in India, China, Vietnam, Switzerland and Italy. He trained trade officials of the EC, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West African countries and China on WTO law and trade policy, including on SPS and TBT rules. He organised international workshops and conferences and oversaw training programmes. He is the author of a 1328 pages book in French, which provides an exhaustive and critical analysis of the WTO law and its jurisprudence.
David Luff has extensive experience of developing countries, in particular the ACP and South East Asia. He has been planning and delivering technical assistance activities in the five continents of the world.
Education
Ph.D. in Law, Free University of Brussels (ULB), June 2003
Masters in Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York, USA, June 1995 (consistently ranked No 1 public administration programme in the United States)
LL.M. in Public International Law, Free University of Brussels (ULB), June 1993 (Two-year graduate degree pursued while working full-time as an attorney)
Licence en droit (Law Degree), June 1991
Membership of Professional Bodies
Brussels Bar (Ordre français des avocats du Barreau de Bruxelles),
European Trade Law Association (ETLA),
Former Chair or Brussel’s University Academic Commission of the Faculty of Law on the Relationship with Secondary Schools;
Europe Tribune (EU-China Issues): Member of the Editorial Board
Languages
English, French, Italian and Spanish