Professional Affiliation

Research Fellow, Europa Institute, University of Zurich

Expert Bio

After studies in law at the university of Zurich (Switzerland) and studies focusing on international economic law at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands), Mr. Schnegg worked as an assistant at the chair of Prof. Christine Kaufmann at the University of Zurich (from 2011 on). During his work at the University of Zurich, Mr. Schnegg focused on the implications international business can have for the development of human rights. From 2015 on, Mr. Schnegg is a research fellow at the Europe Institute at the University of Zurich, where his research pertains to European and International Economic Law. He focuses his work on transatlantic economic relationships and the development of European integration in Eastern European countries. Next to his academic work, Mr. Schnegg worked for the Swiss foreign policy think tank foraus.

Wilson Center Project

“Reconciling Labor Law Obligations and International Investment Agreements”

Project Summary

Mr Schnegg focuses on analysing tensions between labor protection obligations of states and their commitment to attract investors to their countries by ratifying International Investment Agreements (IIAs), which grant a simplified legal protection for investors or restrict the power of a host state of an investment to regulate. Due to such privileged treatments or restrictions, IIAs can lead to a deterioration of workers’ protection in the host state of an investment. Therefore, states have started to refer to labor protection in IIAs and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) pertaining to investment protection. Mr. Schnegg will suggest different inclusion mechanisms for labor clauses in IIAs, in order to provide policy-makers with a "toolbox" for drafting IIAs in the future.The actuality of the project is reflected by the importance of the normative developments expected for IIAs and FTAs. As states such as the USA or the EU member states are more and more becoming host states of investments themselves (and no only home states of investors anymore), we can expect the inclusion of labor protection provisions to become more prominent on the political agenda of these states.

Major Publications

Antoine Schnegg et al., Etude sur le Suivi des Recommandations Adressées à la Suisse Dans Le Cadre de l’Examen Périodique Universel du Conseil des Droits de l’Homme De l’ONU, Bern 2012.
Antoine Schnegg, Ein neues Rahmenabkommen als Eckpunkt der Bilateralen III: Schweizerische Optionen zur Lösung der verschiedenen institutionellen Probleme mit der EU, in: APARIUZ XV, Europäisierung der schweizerischen Rechtsordnung, Zurich/St. Gallen 2013.
Antoine Schnegg & Christoph Good, Constitutionalising Custom in International Humanitarian Law? – The experimental codification of customary IHL by the ICRC, presented at the annual conference of the International Law Association, Oxford 2013.