This impressive collection edited by Thilo Rensmann represents a long overdue
comprehensive analysis of the implications of international economic law for small
and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). The focus is on international trade law and
international investment law, at the bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral levels.
Despite the significant proportion and role of SMEs in the international economy,
they are largely ignored in the scholarly literature of international economic law.
Against that background, this volume offers crucial insights into how international
economic law does and should accommodate SMEs, given their special characteristics,
as well as how SMEs can best manage the current international economic law
framework as it affects their day- to- day business.
The volume investigates SMEs in the light of traditional institutions in international
economic law such as the World Trade Organization, the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment
Disputes (part of the World Bank), and core areas of international economic
law, including trade in services, anti- dumping law, government procurement,
and dispute settlement. At the same time, it covers related areas of domestic and
international law, including human rights law, competition law, and sustainable
development. As Rensmann explains in the Introduction, SMEs may play a role in
‘generating more inclusive growth in a social sense’, including through ‘higher levels
of employment, as well as improving wages and working conditions’, especially
in developing countries.