Akhil specializes in all aspects of international trade law, with a focus on WTO dispute settlement and trade remedies.
Akhil Raina
E: akhil.raina@vvgb-law.com
T: +32 2 542 07 80
T: +32 2 210 59 81
Experience
Dr. Akhil Raina has been involved with international economic law for over a decade. He joined VVGB in 2021.
Akhil represents governments in international trade disputes, and has litigated all three types of trade remedies at the State-to-State level. Currently, he is co-counsel for Indonesia and China in their WTO cases against the EU. Previously, he helped defend China's anti-dumping and countervailing duties against Australia's WTO challenge (dispute settled). He also represented the EU, in its FTA challenge to SACU’s safeguard duties on chicken cuts – the first arbitration between two international organizations – wherein the panel ruled that SACU’s measures were substantively and procedurally flawed.
Akhil also works on trade remedy investigations in Europe and Asia. He has represented companies and governments in EU cases such as BEVs, PVC, TiO2, OFC, CRS, as well as the Steel II and Alloys safeguards. Akhil assists VVGB in representing clients before EU courts, and advises governments on trade policy, arbitration, and general public international law matters.
Before joining VVGB, Akhil trained at law firms and government institutions in New Delhi, and at the WTO and a legal organization in Geneva. During this time, he advised two South American governments on international trade and investment matters.
Akhil co-teaches a course on WTO litigation at the World Trade Institute (University of Bern), and has mentored students from India, Belgium, Ukraine, Kenya, China, Colombia, and Mexico. His academic work has been published in the Cambridge International Law Journal, the Journal of World Trade, the International Trade Law Review, the Global Trade and Customs Journal, and the Indian Journal of International Economic Law. He is on the editorial board of the NLIU International Trade Law Journal, a student-run journal based out of India.
Akhil holds bachelor's degrees in science and law from National Law University, Jodhpur (India). He received his master's degree in international economic law and policy (IELPO LL.M.) from Universidad de Barcelona (Spain) as an ELSA Scholar. He studied for his PhD as a Marie Curie Fellow and in 2022 was awarded a doctorate in international law from KU Leuven (Belgium). His dissertation, on compliance with WTO rulings, was unanimously passed by the doctoral jury, without changes (best possible outcome).
Credentials
Education
- KU Leuven: PhD in International Law
- University of Barcelona: LL.M. International Economic Law and Policy
- National Law University, Jodhpur: LL.B. in Indian Law (with a specialization in international trade law)
- National Law University, Jodhpur: B.Sc
Bar admissions
- New Delhi Bar
- Brussels Bar (B-List)
Languages
- English
- Hindi
- Kashmiri
Publications & Events
‘European Union’ (with Nicolaj Kuplewatzky), International Trade Law Review (2022-2024)
‘Compliance with WTO Rulings and Mutually Agreed Solutions: Problems, Theory, and a Case-Study of India’, Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law (2021).
‘EU and Global Economic Governance: A Leader without a Roadmap?’ (with Jan Wouters), Sixty Years of European Integration and Global Power Shifts: Perceptions, Interactions and Lessons (2020).
‘Is the Rules-Based Multilateral Trade Order in Decline? – Current Practices, Trends, and their Impact’ (with Vineet Hegde and Jan Wouters), Cambridge International Law Journal (2021).
‘Canada – Renewable Energy (Panel and Appellate Body)’, Edward Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law (2021).
‘US – Renewable Energy’ and ‘US – Coated Paper (Indonesia)’, Oxford Reports on International Law (2018, 2021).
‘The Evolution of EU Trade Law through the Prism of Competence: A Quantitative, Longitudinal Perspective’ (with Michal Ovádek), Journal of World Trade (2019).
‘Meditations in an Emergency: The Appellate Body Deadlock – What It Is, Why It’s a Problem, and What to Do About It’, Global Trade and Customs Journal (2018).
‘Multicolored in a Monochrome World: WTO and Conflicting Regulatory Purposes’, Global Trade and Customs Journal, (2017).
‘The Day the Music Died: Good Faith in WTO Dispute Settlement and the Curious Case of Peru – Agricultural Products’, Global Trade and Customs Journal (2016).
‘Legal Problems with Data Localization Requirements’ (with Simón Hernández), Global Trade and Customs Journal (2020).
‘What is a Safeguard Measure under WTO Law?’, Trade Law and Development (2018).
‘The Question of Market Access in the field of Environmental Services: Determining and Defending its Scope’, Indian Journal of International Economic Law (2014).