A Parliamentary Dimension to the WTO: More than Just a Vision?

The World Trade Organization

“…It discusses in nine chapters a variety of issues (the case for liberalizing trade; the erosion of non-discrimination, sovereignty, coherence and coordination with intergovernmental organizations, transparency, and dialogue with civil society; the WTO dispute settlement system, decision making, and variable geometry; and the role of the Director General and Secretariat). Other practitioners discuss, for instance, the role of domestic parliaments in WTO decision making based on their own experience with parliaments (Mann 2005;Skaggs 2005) or the adequacy of WTO decision-making procedures, based on their own experience (Ehlermann and Ehring 2005).…”

“…The impact of an interparliamentarian body on effectiveness, equity, and legitimacy of the WTO has been discussed in several contributions in an edited volume by Petersmann (see Shaffer 2005b;Skaggs 2005;Hilf 2005;Mann 2005). The Sutherland Report also discussed the establishment of a WTO interparliamentarian body.…”

“…Other scholars focus on procedural reforms concerning participation of the public and of NGOs (Charnovitz 2002a: 495ff. ), or on the creation of a Parliamentary Assembly at the WTO (Mann 2005;Shaffer 2005c, see also Petersmann 2001).…”