The Italian Yearbook of International Law

Volume XXVII of the Italian Yearbook of International Law features a Symposium on sanctions and restrictive measures in international law. The Symposium addresses: i) the legal status of autonomous and collective sanctions in international law; ii) the EU practice relating to the adoption of restrictive measures; iii) the standard of review for the legality of economic sanctions under the security exception clauses in international trade agreements; iv) the sanctions against Russia by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; v) the implementation of targeted sanctions in the Italian legal order; and vi) the role of sanctions in the UN architecture on children and armed conflict. There follows a Focus section on the ILC’s work on the identification of customary international law, with contributions zooming in on i) the value of domestic case law in the identification and formation of customary law; ii) the identification of exceptions to customary norms; iii) the “specialty” of customary human rights law; and iv) the persistent objector rule. The volume further contains timely contributions on the referenda in Catalonia and Kurdistan, on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, on the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation, and on the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya on cooperation to combat illegal migration. As in every volume the following sections, each containing a wealth of new information, are included: Practice of International Courts and Tribunals and Italian Practice Relating to International Law. The remaining part of the Volume contains a bibliographical index of Italian contributions to international law scholarship published in 2017, a book review section, and an analytical index for easy consultation and reference to materials cited in the Yearbook.