This handbook offers a detailed explanation of the rules and procedures of the WTO dispute settlement system.

Practical Aspects of WTO Litigation' is a complete, real-life account of World Trade Organization?s (WTO?s) dispute settlement procedures. This book explains and identifies the practices that are normally followed by disputing parties when using the WTO?s dispute settlement understanding (DSU) entered into force in 1995. Since then, it has spawned an extensive body of jurisprudence, making it a highly complex system to navigate. This book is the first in-depth practical guide to resolving a dispute at the WTO, edited by an international lawyer, who has hands-on experience in WTO litigation. Contributors identify the best practices and suggest potential areas for improvement of the dispute settlement mechanism from their respective points of view.

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.

The third edition of The WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures collects together the treaty texts, decisions and agreed practices relating to the procedures that apply in the settlement of WTO disputes. It affords ready answers to technical questions relating to matters such as: how disputes are initiated and conducted, including at the appellate stage; what deadlines apply and how to calculate them; what rules of conduct bind individuals involved in WTO dispute settlement; and what rules of procedure apply to meetings of the Dispute Settlement Body. This highly practical work, which includes cross-references and a subject index, will prove invaluable to anyone working in WTO dispute settlement, including lawyers, civil servants working in the field of trade, economists, academics and students. This edition has been fully updated to take account of revised rules and procedures.

This book examines aspects of the operation of the WTO dispute settlement system during the first ten years of the WTO. It covers a representative cross-section of the issues and situations WTO Members have dealt with under the Dispute Settlement Understanding. The book is unique in that it includes contributions from virtually the entire gamut of actors involved in the day-to-day operation of the WTO dispute settlement system: Member government representatives, private lawyers who litigate on behalf of Member governments in the system, Appellate Body members, Appellate Body Secretariat staff, and WTO Secretariat staff. It also includes contributions from several academics who closely follow and carefully scrutinize all that goes on within the system. It therefore provides fascinating insights into how the system has operated in practice, and how the lessons of the first decade can be applied to make the system even more successful in the years to come.

"First published by the World Trade Organization 1996"--Title page verso.