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.
WTO Law and Policy presents an authoritative account of the emergence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the basic principles and institutional law of the WTO. It explores how political economy has shaped the WTO’s legal philosophy and policies, and provides insights into how international trade law at the WTO has developed. This textbook examines the legal obligations of the Member States of the WTO under the multilateral trade agreements, the legal remedies available under the rules-based dispute settlement system, and incorporates the most relevant case laws from the WTO’s jurisprudence. It outlines several key contemporary issues which the WTO faces as well as areas that need reforming. Each chapter covers a specific topic in relation to the framework and functionality of the WTO, with particular focus on the legal aspects of the multilateral trade order. The book is guided by the legal pronouncements of the Dispute Settlement Body (Panels and Appellate Body), and the commentaries on the interpretation of the provisions of the covered agreements. This book is ideal for all students studying international trade law, including those coming to international law, international trade law, and WTO law for the first time.
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.
At a time when developments in WTO law have made this field increasingly complex, this concise and non-technical introduction provides a timely and carefully considered overview of the substantive rules and institutional arrangements of the WTO. A variety of text features enables a rich understanding of the law: illustrative examples clarify important issues of the law and demonstrate the law's practical application; boxed summaries of key rulings in WTO case law highlight the interpretation of the relevant provisions and lead readers to a deep understanding of the meaning and application of legal rules; and recommendations for further reading allow readers to engage with current debates. Online resources include links to useful sources of information for work and research within the field. Co-written by a leading authority in the field, this is essential reading for anyone who wants to get to grips with this fascinating yet challenging field of law.
Global Trade Law Series Volume-54 The World Trade Organization (WTO) 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 provides the first in-depth practical guide to resolving a dispute at the WTO, edited by an international lawyer, who has on-hands experience in WTO litigation. Contributors of individual chapters include government officials responsible for WTO dispute settlement from developing and developed countries, WTO Secretariat officials, a former member of the Appellate Body, academics specializing in international trade and related fields, and lawyers from major law firms specializing in WTO law. Contributors explain, in a detailed manner, the numerous procedural steps and practices developed over the past twenty-five years, on: preparing for WTO litigation; recognizing the importance of WTO consultations; presenting a case before a panel; panel requests and panels’ terms of reference; the role and assistance of the WTO Secretariat; the panel process; rules of evidence; confidentiality and transparency; additional working procedures for the treatment of confidential information; legal remedies to redeem a violation; general considerations for appeal; determining the reasonable period of time for compliance; retaliation proceedings; and use of non-WTO international law. Each contributor identifies the best practices and some of them also suggest potential areas for improvement of the dispute settlement mechanism from their respective points of view. Lawyers and advisors working on WTO law and stakeholders from the private sector, civil society and academia, interested in WTO litigation, will find in one source a deeply informed description of existing dispute resolution practices (some of them previously undocumented) including the most recent jurisprudence clarifying the scope of many procedural rules. With its real-life account of WTO dispute settlement procedures and its key insights and advice from WTO insiders, this book constitutes an expert assessment of a cornerstone of the rules-based multilateral trading system and will prove of enormous value to all stakeholders in international trade.
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 editors have succeeded in bringing together an excellent mix of leading scholars and practitioners. No book on the WTO has had this wide a scope before or covered the legal framework, economic and political issues, current and would-be countries and a outlook to the future like these three volumes do. 3000 pages, 80 chapters in 3 volumes cover a very interdiscplinary field that touches upon law, economics and politics.
One of the most prominent and urgent problems in international governance is how the different branches and norms of international law interact and what to do in the event of conflict. With no single 'international legislator' and a multitude of states, international organisations and tribunals making and enforcing the law, the international legal system is decentralised. This leads to a wide variety of international norms, ranging from customary international law and general principles of law, to multilateral and bilateral treaties on trade, the environment, human rights, the law of the sea, etc. Pauwelyn provides a framework on how these different norms interact, focusing on the relationship between the law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other rules of international law. He also examines the hierarchy of norms within the WTO treaty. His recurring theme is how to marry trade and non-trade rules, or economic and non-economic objectives at the international level.
This volume discusses the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the global forum for trade liberalization. It discusses in exhaustive manner the legal framework governing international trade that evolves out of the treaty regime and elaborates upon the major case law issued by the WTO. It further includes references to academic scholarship critiquing the caselaw, as well as discussions of the economic and political science theories of how WTO law is shaped.
