Dr Chris Downes

About

Dr Chris Downes is a Guest Lecturer at the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent. He holds an MA in European Politics from the University of Brussels (1996) and and LLM in International Law from the University of Kent (2005). He completed a doctorate at the University of Kent in 2012, specialising in WTO sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations and their impact on European regulations. He is Senior Manager of International Trade and Regulatory Affairs at the European Consulting Company (ECCO), a Brussels-based consultancy specialising in food and trade policy and has 15 years experience of working with EU institutions in these fields. He teaches International Economic Law in Brussels.
Publications
Selected publications:
The Impact of WTO SPS Law on EU Food Regulations (Springer, May 2014)
‘The Rise and Fall of the New EU Novel Food Regulation: The Complex Influence of the WTO SPS Agreement’ (2013) 8(1) Asian Journal of WTO and International Health Law and Policy 249.
‘Only a Footnote? The Curious Codex Battle for Control of Additive Regulations’(2012) 5 European Food and Feed Law Review 232.
‘The Impact of WTO Transparency Rules: Is the 10,000th SPS Notification A Cause for Celebration? - A Case Study of EU Practice’ (2012) 15 Journal of International Economic Law 503.
‘Must the Losers of Free Trade Go Hungry? Reconciling WTO Obligations in the Right to Food' (2007) 47 Virginia Journal of International Law 619. 
'Targeted Killings" in an Age of Terror: The Legality of the Yemen Strike’ (2004) 9 Journal of Conflict & Security Law 277.
‘The Post-Brexit Management of EU Agricultural Tariff Rate Quotas’ (2017) 51 (4) Journal of World Trade 741.
‘The Legality of “Sleep-walking” in Trade Negotiations? The Missing Coherence in EU Trade Talks with Ukraine’ (2017) 42(1)European Law Review 27.
‘Worth Shopping Around? Defending Regulatory Autonomy under the SPS and TBT Agreements’ (2015) 14 World Trade Review 553.
‘EU or UK Child-Sponsored Family Reunification Policy: Who’s Right? Whose Rights?’ (2021) European Journal of Migration and Law
‘Managing Post-Brexit UK-EU Food Trade: How Deep Can ‘Deep Regulatory Cooperation’ Be? (2020) 15(1) European Food and Feed Law Review’ (forthcoming, February, 2021). 
Book Review: The EU, World Trade Law and the Right to Food: Rethinking Free Trade Agreements with Developing Countries, written by Giovanni Gruni (2019) 20 The Journal of World Investment & Trade 461.