Two of the greatest achievements of the Uruguay Round were the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as – compared to the GATT – a fully-fledged international organization and the creation of a new, uniform and binding dispute settlement system. While the failure of the Ministerial Conferences in Seattle and Cancún revealed the first cracks in the institutional structure of the WTO, the operation of the new dispute settlement system has so far been a remarkable success. In a practical and authoritative article-by-article account, this volume covers the legislative history, interpretation and practical application of the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, Articles XXII, XXIII, and XXIV GATT 1994, the Dispute Settlement Understanding, the Trade Review Policy Mechanism, the Understanding in Respect of Waivers of Obligations under the GATT 1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV GATT 1994. Written by a team of distinguished scholars and practitioners, the volume is an indispensable work of reference for all those interested in the WTO institutional fundamentals and the dispute settlement system (international lawyers, scholars and students of WTO law, diplomats and international civil servants, members of NGOs).

Publisher Description

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.

This volume gives a detailed account of the parameters for technical standards and measures seeking to protect health and environment

This is a comprehensive overview of the law and practice of the World Trade Organization. It begins with the institutional law of the WTO, moving eventually to the consequences of globalization. New chapters on Trade in Agriculture and on Government Procurement and Trade.