scholarly journals The WTO practice of legality is ensuring transparency for self-enforcing trade

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-155
Author(s):  
Abdulmalik Altamimi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interactional Theory ◽  
Original Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
State Actors

Purpose One of the core objectives of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is to maintain a practice of legality, including guaranteeing state and non-state actors interact based on the world trade norms. In seeking to achieve this objective, the WTO aims to uphold the trade rule of law by emphasising compliance with specified rules and procedures during the accession process, dispute settlement and trade policy review. This study aims to review these compliance procedures by invoking the interactional international law concept of a community of legal practice. Second, it briefly illuminates Chad Bown’s proposal to establish an institute for assessing WTO commitments to improve member states’ remit to detect, challenge and deter noncompliance. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on Jutta Brunnée and Stephen Toope’s Interactional Theory of International Law. Findings There is a strong link between transparency and enforcement in WTO law. The efficacy of the WTO law depends not only on its role in adjudication, but also on facilitating interactional legal practices, within and outside the WTO. Originality/value This paper offers an original analysis of the practices of compliance with WTO obligations and illuminates a new proposal for improving compliance. To attract and maintain compliance, the WTO needs to facilitate transparent interactional legal practices for states and non-state actors.

scholarly journals Trade in Financial Services—Has the IMF been Involved Constructively?

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Robert M. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Financial Liberalisation ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
The Imf

This paper considers the key policy issues related to liberalisation of trade in financial services that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be concerned with, and the role the IMF has played in advising on policies related to trade in financial services in its bilateral and multilateral surveillance and in conditionality attached to lending programmes. The IMF staff were generally aware of the literature and country experiences showing the benefits of financial liberalisation. But Fund advice in support of liberalisation can be best interpreted to be in support of country unilateral policy actions and the dynamics of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession process.

Reviewing dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization: a time to reconsider the role/s of compensation?

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARWEL DAVIES
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
Financial Compensation ◽  
Unilateral Action ◽  
Natural Time ◽  
The World ◽  
Do So

The World Trade Organization provides a forum for the settlement of trade disputes arising between its 148 Members. Should consultations fail, the parties may choose to initiate formal proceedings in Geneva, and must do so in preference to taking unilateral action. The dispute settlement rules are presently under review with a view to their clarification and improvement, making this a natural time to ask whether the appropriate strategy has been identified. This article focuses on the functions of compensation in the overall context of WTO remedies. Particular attention is given to the prospects for new disciplines and increased practice connected with the granting of both trade compensation and financial compensation. Also considered is the extent to which financial compensation can and should be linked to reparation in the sense of correcting the injury caused by WTO violations. The discussion is informed by the general international law position, by proposals made during the on-going review process and by emerging dispute settlement practice.

scholarly journals The Law on State Responsibility and the World Trade Organization

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 759-803
Author(s):  
Anna Ventouratou
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

Abstract This paper examines the role of general international law in the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, using the rules on state responsibility as a case study. It identifies and discusses instances in WTO case law where such rules were applied directly or were taken into consideration in interpreting relevant WTO provisions. The analysis demonstrates that direct application of general international law for the determination of indispensable matters not regulated by the WTO Agreements is part of the inherent powers of WTO adjudicative bodies. Moreover, under Article 3(2) Dispute Settlement Understanding and Article 31(3)(c) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, WTO adjudicative bodies have an obligation to take into account general international law in interpreting relevant WTO provisions. The paper delineates the methodology for assessing the interaction between general international law and WTO law and highlights the importance of adhering to this methodology to provide clarity and legal certainty regarding the scope and content of WTO obligations.

scholarly journals Sources of Law in the World Trade Organisation

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-25
Author(s):  
Giga Abuseridze
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Property Right ◽  
Intellectual Property Right ◽  
Trade In Services ◽  
Multilateral Agreements ◽  
The World ◽  
Principal Source

World Trade Organisation (WTO) law is, by international law standards, a wide-ranging and complex body of law. This Paper deals with the issue of sources of law in the WTO. The principal source of WTO law is the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO, concluded on April 15, 1995 and in force since January 1, 1995. The author presents various sources of WTO law, such as: 1. The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation; 2. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994; 3. General Agreement on Trade in Services; 4. Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right; 5. Other Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods. Pasaules Tirdzniecības organizācijas (PTO) tiesību akti atbilst starptautisko tiesību standartiem; tie ir plašs un sarežģīts tiesību aktu kopums. Rakstā apskatīti PTO tiesību avoti. Galvenais PTO tiesību avots ir Marakešas līgums par Pasaules Tirdzniecības organizācijas izveidošanu. Tas noslēgts 1995. gada 15. aprīlī. Publikācijas autors iepazīstina ar vairākiem PTO tiesību avotiem, piemēram, – Marakešas līgumu par Pasaules Tirdzniecības organizācijas izveidošanu; ar Vispārējo vienošanos par tarifiem un tirdzniecību; Vispārējo vienošanos par pakalpojumu tirdzniecību; Līgumu par ar tirdzniecību saistītām intelektuālā īpašuma tiesībām un citiem daudzpusējiem nolīgumiem par preču tirdzniecību.

scholarly journals Global Governance: The World Trade Organization’s Contribution

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1061
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Mitchell ◽  
Elizabeth Sheargold
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Current System ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Administrative Practices ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Dispute Settlement ◽  
The World ◽  
Wto Agreements

Democracy and administrative law concern ideas of governance, legitimacy, and accountability. With the growth of bureaucracy and regulation, many democratic theorists would argue that administrative law mechanisms are essential to achieving democratic objectives. This article considers the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) contribution to governance both in terms of global administrative law and democracy. In relation to administrative law, it first explores the extent to which the WTO’s own dispute settlement process contributes to this area. Second, it considers the operation of administrative law principles embedded within the WTO Agreements on Members. For example, the WTO Agreements require that certain laws be administered “in a uniform, impartial and reasonable manner.” This obligation was recently considered by the Appellate Body, but uncertainty remains about the scope this provision has to permit WTO panels to review domestic administrative practices. In relation to the WTO’s contribution to democracy, this article first considers the challenges and limitations of the current system of decision making within the WTO and compares it to democratic theory. Second, it examines how democracies comply with the findings of WTO dispute settlement tribunals and how compliance could be improved. It concludes by speculating on the implications of this discussion for public international law more broadly.

scholarly journals Demystifying the Prudential Carve-out: A proposal

Con-texto ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Samuel Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Expert Panel ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Prudential Regulation ◽  
The World

<p>This article explores how the broadest spirited exception in the framework of the World Trade Organization, commonly referred to as the prudential carve-out, could be applied without adding to or diminishing the rights and obligations of WTO Members. It argues that through the customary rules of interpretation of international law, the only standard applicable to the prudential carve out is that of a reasonable means to ends connection. However, this broad standard of review can be enriched by expert knowledge on financial and prudential regulation, given that the form of dispute settlement established in the Annex to Financial Services of the GATS provides a window for dissecting the concept of “prudential”. The AFS requires that an “expert panel” decide on controversies regarding financial and prudential issues, instead of the ordinary “highly qualified” WTO panel. The article draws on principles developed by the disciplines of micro- and macroprudential regulation to exemplify how expert knowledge can guide an otherwise vague standard of review.</p>

Capacity to sue and be sued under WTO law

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
RUTSEL SILVESTRE J. MARTHA
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors

This article discusses the issue of the capacity to be a party (legitima persona standi in iudicio) to the dispute settlement proceedings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and addresses the question whether there is a need stemming from the system of norms in the WTO to involve non-Members, especially non-State actors, as participants in its dispute settlement process.

The WTO as Linkage Machine

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
José E. Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
International Regimes ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Interstate Cooperation ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors

The contributors to this symposium, both principal authors and commentators, ably demonstrate that there are indeed “overarching constructs” linking the subdisciplines of international law. All of the writers here assume that linkage issues arise for the World Trade Organization, as they have with respect to a number of other intergovernmental organizations, precisely because centralized, quasi-autonomous institutions maybe relatively effective vehicles for the promotion of interstate cooperation between rational, egoistic state actors. All of them assume, as scholars of international relations and economists have long recognized, that many international regimes are linkage machines by their very nature. It is important to recall why this is so in order to consider when or how an organization’s attempts at linkage may fail.

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