The Wto Dispute Settlement System 1995 2003

In its ten years of existence, the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system has continued to differentiate itself in many ways from more conventional international judicial proceedings such as those before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or regional integration courts. The regular participation of third parties, the emphasis at all levels of the ?ordinary meaning? of the text of WTO rules, and the raft of proposed amendments to the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) all characterise WTO jurisprudence. In twenty-six incisive contributions, this book covers both the ?legislative? and ?(quasi) judicial? activities encompassed by the WTO dispute settlement system. Essays concerned with rules emphasise proposed improvements and clarifications in such areas as special and differential treatment of less-developed countries, surveillance of implementation, compensation, and suspension of concessions. Other contributions discuss such jurisprudential and practical issues as discrimination, trade-related environmental measures, subsidies and countervailing measures, and trade-related intellectual property rights. The authors refer frequently to the panel, Appellate Body and arbitration reports, a chronological list of which appears as an annex. The contributors include WTO arbitrators, members of the WTO Appellate Body, WTO panelists, and academics from a broad spectrum of countries engaged as legal advisers by the WTO, by governments, or by non-governmental organisations. More than a mere snapshot of the current status of the WTO dispute settlement system, this outstanding work represents a comprehensive analysis that brings a fast-moving and crucially significant body of international law into sharp focus.

Any experienced lawyer knows that cases are most often won or lost on procedural grounds; yet procedural issues are often considered too technical for proper treatment in legal literature. In this extensively revised new edition of Palmeter and Mavroidis' authoritative book on WTO dispute settlement, the authors discuss all WTO dispute settlement provisions and their interpretation in WTO jurisprudence. All the decisions of panels and the Appellate Body are discussed, from the inception of the WTO in 1995 until the end of May 2003. Although the book contains considerable technical expertise, it is at the same time written for accessibility to a wide readership. This volume - an essential tool for practitioners, diplomats and government lawyers - is a comprehensive study of compulsory third party adjudication in international law.

The GATT and WTO dispute settlement systems have become the most frequently used international mechanisms for the settlement of trade disputes among governments. The 1994 Agreement Establishing the WTO introduced a historically unprecedented new dispute settlement procedure for conflicts involving trade in goods and services, trade-related investment measures, and intellectual property rights. This procedure provided for the compulsory jurisdiction of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, WTO Panels, and the WTO Appellate Body. The first 18 months from the time the WTO Agreement came into force on 1 January 1995 witnessed more than 50 invocations of the new dispute settlement procedures by a large number of countries, including many from the developing world. This large response, and the proposals for further extending the scope of WTO law, suggest that the WTO dispute settlement system will continue to be the most frequently applied, worldwide systems for the legal settlement of trade disputes among governments. This book provides students, lawyers and diplomats a thought-provoking and practice-oriented analysis of the GATT/WTO dispute settlement rules, procedures, and problems. The Annexes include a useful collection of relevant texts and tables of past GATT and WTO case law.

This incisive book provides a comprehensive overview of the WTO dispute settlement practice from 1995 up until the present day, illustrating the need for it to be resurrected from its current state of crisis. The WTO Dispute Settlement System will prove an essential read for students and scholars of WTO law, as well as lawyers, political scientists and policy-oriented economists interested in the WTO dispute settlement system.

The WTO dispute settlement system plays an important role in clarifying and enforcing the legal obligations contained in the WTO Agreement. It has gained a strong practical relevance as more than 300 disputes have been brought from 1 January 1995 through October 2003. While dispute settlement is certainly not the only activity taking place within the WTO, it has become an important part of the practical reality of the Organization. WTO dispute settlement has also become an important tool in the management by WTO Members of their international economic relations at large. The objective of this handbook is to give the reader a good understanding of the practical operation of this system. Working through this guide, the reader will be introduced to all elements of the dispute settlement process, from the initiation of a case through to the implementation of the decision.

The review of the dispute settlement system of the WTO was written into the results of the Uruguay Round establishing the organization. The planned review after four years failed to reach a conclusion and the review process was extended several times, to be finally taken up as a separate part of the Doha Round.