Saving the WTO from the Risk of Irrelevance: The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism as a 'Common Good' for RTA Disputes

Gao, Henry S.; Lim, Chin Leng

doi:10.1093/jiel/jgn036

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…This is because the WTO-covered agreements do not identify the law that shall regulate the interpretation of the law. [32] The Panels and the Appellate Body's interpretations should only be binding on specific instances under the general international law principles. However, the Panels frequently consult prior Appellate Body decisions in related cases to avoid having their reports reversed.…”

Section: Precedents For Appellate Body Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Roots of the Crises in the WTO Appellate Body and Reform Proposals

2024

AEMPS

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Since the WTO Appellate Body "suspension" crisis, how to reform the Appellate Body has become a hot topic among member states. Especially after the official "suspension" of the Appellate Body, member states have put forward proposals to reform the Appellate Body, but these proposals have failed to achieve substantive results, and the reform of the Appellate Body has been stalled. Therefore, analyzing and studying the reform of the WTO Appellate Body is conducive to promoting the reform of the Appellate Body, getting rid of the crisis of the Appellate Body, and also has positive significance to the reform of the WTO dispute settlement system. The three parts of this article are as follows: the first part studies the WTO Appellate Body's fundamental procedures and gives a general overview of the body to lay the theoretical foundation for the subsequent investigation of the WTO Appellate Body's issues; The second portion examines the legal ramifications of the WTO suspension conundrum. The more divisive practical matters, such as overtime hearings, confusing hearing scope, and the influence of Appellate Body decisions on precedent; The third section of the WTO Appellate Body Reform Suggestions includes suggestions from WTO members regarding current trends in the reform, academic theory surrounding the reform, Appellate Body cases, and reform of the practice of combining future reform of the WTO-specific measures.

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Section: Precedents For Appellate Body Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Roots of the Crises in the WTO Appellate Body and Reform Proposals

2024

AEMPS

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“…17 Most of these requirements are pre-conditions that an RTA must fulfill in order for RTA"s Members to invoke the WTO jurisdiction over disputes arising from the free trade agreement, and to justify their deviation from Most Favored Nation (MFN) obligations. 18…”

Section: A Wto Dispute Settlement Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Jurisdictional Conflict Between Regional Trade Agreements and The World Trade Organization

Alajmy

2021

JALHSS

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The number of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) between countries has significantly increased over the past few decades. RTA may include rights and obligations that are parallel to those of WTO agreement, and provide for its own dispute settlement mechanism that is different from WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). This forum clause allows parties to both RTA and WTO to litigate their dispute outside the DSU. This article addresses the issue of jurisdictional conflict between the RTAs and the WTO dispute mechanism over a claim that is violative of both WTO and RTA"s obligations. The main question this article answers is whether it is possible for the forum clause incorporated in RTA to divest the jurisdiction of WTO if invoked during the proceeding. This article analyzes a number of cases and RTAs involving a choice of forum clause before the WTO panel. This paper proceeds to examine different legal principles to find a legal justification to reconcile the jurisdictional scope of both RTA and WTO. As in current international legal principles do not offer an effective solution, this paper suggests that DSU should be amended to provide a set of rules governing the conflict between the RTA and WTO jurisdictions.

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“…The RTA must meet many requirements, some of which are the "substantially all trade" (GATT 1947, Article XXIV.8.b), or the "substantial sectoral coverage" requirement (GATT 1947, Article V), whether certain trade policy instruments are considered "other restrictive regulations of commerce" (GATT 1947, Article XXIV.8.a.i), and whether the interim agreements contain a schedule of the free trade area in a reasonable time (GATT, 1947, Article XXIV 5.c). Most of these requirements are pre-conditions that an RTA must fulfill for the RTA's members to invoke the WTO jurisdiction over disputes arising from the free trade agreement, and to justify their deviation from Most Favoured Nation (MFN) obligations (Gao & Lim, 2008).…”

Section: World Customs Journalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Jurisdictional Conflict Between Regional Trade Agreements and the World Trade Organisation

Alajmi

2021

World Customs Journal

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The number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) between countries has significantly increased over the past few decades. RTAs may include rights and obligations that are parallel to those of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization 1994 (Marrakesh Agreement). They may also provide for their own dispute settlement mechanism that is different from the WTO Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). This forum clause allows parties to both RTAs and the WTO to litigate their dispute outside the DSU. This article addresses the issue of jurisdictional conflict between the RTAs and the WTO dispute mechanism over a claim that is violative of both the WTO’s and RTA’s obligations. The main question this article answers is whether it is possible for the forum clause incorporated in RTAs to divest the jurisdiction of the WTO if invoked during the proceeding. This article analyses several cases and RTAs involving a choice of forum clause before the WTO panel. This paper examines different legal principles to find a legal justification to reconcile the jurisdictional scope of both RTAs and the WTO agreements. As current international legal principles do not offer an effective solution, this paper suggests that the DSU should be amended to provide a set of rules governing the conflict between the RTAs and WTO jurisdictions.

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Saving the WTO from the Risk of Irrelevance: The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism as a 'Common Good' for RTA Disputes

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

The Roots of the Crises in the WTO Appellate Body and Reform Proposals

The Roots of the Crises in the WTO Appellate Body and Reform Proposals

The Jurisdictional Conflict Between Regional Trade Agreements and The World Trade Organization

The Jurisdictional Conflict Between Regional Trade Agreements and the World Trade Organisation

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