This volume is a unique study focussing on the highly controversial issue of standards of review in WTO dispute resolution. Standards of review reflect the extent to which the WTO adjudication bodies can override the decisions taken by national authorities. As such they play a crucial role in shaping the balance of power and responsibility for decisions on factual and legal issues. In this volume, the current state of law and practice is analysed and critically assessed in a commentary on the evolution of, and inconsistencies amongst, the relevant cases.
All three parts [of the book] are without question extremely detailed and thorough treatises of the three different instruments of contingent protection. The case law of the DSB as well as policy proposals put forward in the Doha Round are referred to and analysed extensively. Every part of the book is an excellent and very thoughtful work on the respective instrument and will be helpful for everyone working in the field. Christoph Herrmann, Common Market Law Review Although the legal landscape is littered with literature about the WTO, antidumping, safeguards, subsidies and countervailing measures, the missing piece has been a comprehensive text tying together the law and economics of these topics. Mavroidis, Messerlin and Wauters fill this gap. The authors form an unparalleled triumvirate who successfully draw on their complementary legal-economic experiences from policymaking, practitioner expertise and academic scholarship to comprehensively examine contingent protection. In a single book, they manage to explain the economics to the lawyers, the law to the economists, and the increasing importance of contingent protection policies to everyone. Chad P. Bown, Brandeis University, US The new book by Petros Mavroidis, Patrick Messerlin and Jasper Wauters, The Law and Economics of Contingent Protection in the WTO, fills a gap in the international trade literature by providing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary (law and economics) treatment of three of the most arcane and least well-understood trade protection regimes permitted under the GATT/WTO, i.e., anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. The authors expertly weave together both a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the complex legal rules and case law with an economic critique of the law governing each of these three regimes. The book is a tour de force and will become the standard reference work for scholars, policy makers, and practitioners specializing in these areas. Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Canada Trade barriers that are contingent on the existence of specific conditions dumping by, or subsidization of, exporters, and injury of domestic firms have historically been used intensively by many OECD countries and are now increasingly applied by developing countries. This volume provides an excellent discussion and accessible analysis of WTO rules on contingent protection and the rapidly expanding case law. The authors have done a major service to both legal practitioners and trade policy analysts with an interest in this area. Bernard Hoekman, The World Bank, US In this important book, three of the leading authors in the field of international economic law discuss the law and economics of the three most frequently used contingent protection instruments: anti-dumping, countervailing measures, and safeguards. When discussing countervailing measures, the authors also discuss legal challenges against prohibited and/or actionable subsidies. The authors choice is mandated by the fact that the effects of a subsidy cannot always be confined to the market of the WTO Member wishing to react against it. Assuming there are effects outside its market, an injured WTO Member can challenge the scheme as such before a WTO Panel. Taking the three agreements for granted as a starting point, the book provides comprehensive discussion of both the original contracts, and the case law that has substantially contributed to the understanding of these agreements. The agreements discussed by the authors provide generally worded disciplines on Members and leave a lot of discretion to the investigating authorities of such Members. A great number of the many questions that arise in the course of a domestic trade remedies investigation are not explicitly addressed in these agreements. In such a situation, the authors highlight the important role that the judge has to play. Much like domestic investigating authorities adopt a line which is either more liberal
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 text analyses the law of treaty interpretation as applied by the WTO Appellate Body. By focusing on the development of the law in practice, and the intersection of customary international law principles with the growth of WTO specific law, the book reveals the complexity of treaty interpretation in a major international law forum.
Subsidies are arguably the dominant theme in International Economic Law. A prolific case law has been elaborated by WTO Panels and Appellate Body in response to the multitude of complaints lodged in the past two decades (Softwood Lumber, Airbus, Boeing, etc.) Unfortunately, it is possible to be overwhelmed by the complexity of this case law. This book provides a comprehensive approach in response to this complexity. First, it avoids unnecessary legal jargon, making it accessible to a large public. Second, it adopts a comprehensive and progressive approach where legal subtleties are not avoided but presented at the right moment and the right place. The reader is therefore not overwhelmed from the outset by a multitude of details. The first Part of the book adopts the perspective of a WTO Member seeking to counter an alleged subsidy granted by another Member. To this end, this first Part scans and analyzes in detail all WTO Agreements, containing cumulative disciplines and remedies relating to subsidies. Therefore, it is not only the SCM Agreement that is scanned and analyzed but also the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), GATT 1994, and even the 1980 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (ATCA). The second Part of the book adopts the perspective of a WTO Member accused of granting subsidies violating subsidies disciplines.To this end, an original classification is offered of the various strategies that can be used by this Member. For this purpose, a distinction is made between the “threshold strategy” where the existence of a challengeable subsidy is recused from the outset, the “denying violation of disciplines strategy,”the “exemption or exception strategy,” the “procedural and evidentiary strategy,” and finally the “implementing strategy.” The last Part of this book, which could turn out to be the most useful for the community of agents concerned by subsidies, offers an original examination of pending legal issues. To this end, a relevant distinction is established between pending legal issues partially answered by present case law and pending legal issues not still answered by present case law. This case law and the norms disciplining subsidies in WTO Agreements are of utmost importance first for International Trade Ministries, Parliaments, and International Institutions (OECD, CNUCED, FAO, etc.). However, Non-Governmental Organizations (World Wide Fund, etc.) are also directly concerned by this topic regarding, for example, fisheries subsidies and their impact on overexploitation of marine resources. The private sector (fishing fleets, fishermen, extractive industries, etc.) is also affected by this topic particularly regarding future investments.Law firms involved in subsidies cases are naturally at the forefront of the community of agents concerned by this topic.
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
Over the past 10 years, the content and application of international trade law has grown dramatically. The WTO created a binding dispute settlement process and in resolving disputes, the judicial organs of the WTO have built up a substantial amount of new international trade law. Emerging from this new WTO process is an international trade law system that is in some respects self-contained and in other respects overlapping and linked to other international legal, economic and political regimes. The 'boundaries' of trade law are now generating enormous interest and controversy which, at a broader level, is subsumed within the debate over globalization. The detailed development of the rules of international trade is being examined with increasing frequency by scholars, government officials and trade law practitioners. But how does it fit with existing systems? How it is modified by them? How does the international trade law system affect and modify other regimes? This Handbook places international trade law within its broader context, providing comment and critique on contemporary thinking on a range of questions both related specifically to the discipline of international trade law itself and to the outside face of international trade law and its intersection with States and other aspects of the international system. It examines the economic and institutional context of the world trading system, its substantive law (including regional trade regimes) and the settlement of disputes. The final part of the book explores the wider framework of the world trading system, considering issues including the relationship of the WTO to civil society, the use of economic sanctions, state responsibility, and the regulation of multinational corporations.
This is primarily a textbook for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students of law. However, practising lawyers and policy-makers who are looking for an introduction to WTO law will also find it invaluable. The book covers both the institutional and substantive law of the WTO. While the treatment of the law is often quite detailed, the main aim of this textbook is to make clear the basic principles and underlying logic of WTO law and the world trading system. Each section contains questions and assignments, to allow students to assess their understanding and develop useful practical skills. At the end of each chapter there is a helpful summary, as well as an exercise on specific, true-to-life international trade problems.
'Applying the proper standard of review has been a vexing issue for WTO panels and Members alike. As in national systems, the degree to which the reviewing body (here the panel) defers to the investigating authority is frequently controversial. Dr. Becroft has provided a thorough analysis of the WTO jurisprudence to date, identified the shortcomings of the present approach and offered a thoughtful series of recommendations for formulating a new and better standard of review.' David A. Gantz, The University of Arizona, US 'Ross Becroft has produced a solid monograph which adds to the existing literature on the correct standard of review to be applied by a WTO panel. Becroft's work is well-research and written and his analysis is straight-forward and comprehensive. His call for a new standard of review is well thought out, creative and feasible. Becroft's book is recommended reading for those interested in the workings and decision-making in WTO dispute settlement.' Bryan Mercurio, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 'This is an important book and should be considered to be on the required reading list of anyone professionally involved in dispute settlement at the WTO. The standard of review is at the core of the dispute settlement process and Ross Becroft has made a major contribution with his comprehensive and insightful analysis and suggestions for a new standard of review for the future.' Andrew Stoler, Executive Director, Institute for International Trade and former WTO Deputy Director-General This detailed book critiques how the World Trade Organization scrutinizes domestic measures to determine compliance with the WTO Agreements. This scrutiny, known as the standard of review, is particularly relevant when WTO panels are examining measures involving controversial domestic policy issues. The author argues that the current WTO standard of review is inadequate and a flexible standard based on the responsibilities that WTO members have retained for themselves under the WTO Agreements is preferable. This new standard of review would better reflect the autonomy contemplated for members under the WTO rules and reduce scope for the contention that the WTO overreaching its mandate. This work provides a foundation for mediating relations between states and the WTO, and similar international organisations. It will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners in the fields of law and international relations with an interest in international economic law, the WTO or international organisations in general.
