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

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 759-803
Author(s):  
Anna Ventouratou

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.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Patricia Yurie Dias

RESUMOO trabalho analisa o papel complementar dos regulamentos e padrões privados dos Estados e das entidades não estatais às regras da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) com o intuito de gerar maior segurança e qualidade para os produtos no âmbito do comércio internacional. A OMC visa promover a liberalização e eliminação da discriminação do comércio internacional. Dessa forma, por meio do estudo de alguns casos submetidos ao Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias (OSC) da OMC, em que pese a maioria dos casos submetidos ao OSC terem tido desfechos distintos, constatou-se que os padrões privados podem complementar as regras da OMC, desde que não sejam medidas protecionistas  disfarçadas de barreiras não tarifárias ao comércio internacional.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Direito Internacional; Jurisdição Internacional; Padrões privados; Comércio Internacional; OMC.ABSTRACTThe paper examines the complementary role of the private regulations and standards of States and non-state entities to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in order to promote safety and quality for products in the scope of international trade. The WTO aims to promote the liberalization and elimination of discrimination in international trade. Thus, through the study of some cases submitted to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), despite the fact that most cases submitted to the DSB had different conclusions, it was found that private standards can complement the rules of the WTO, if they are not protectionist measures disguised as non-tariff barriers to international trade.KEYWORDS: International Law; International Jurisdiction; Private Standards; International Trade; WTO.


2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost Pauwelyn

How does the World Trade Organization (WTO) relate to the wider corpus of public international law? What, in turn, is the role of public international law in WTO dispute settlement? This paper aims at resolving these two difficult questions. No straightforward answers to them can be found in WTO rules. Yet answering them has major ramifications both for the WTO (is the WTO a largely “self-contained regime” or is it not?) and for international law (is the future of international law further fragmentation or increased unity?). This exercise will be conducted under the law as it stands today—that is, the law as it may be invoked at present before the WTO “judiciary” (panels and the Appellate Body). Of course, WTO members (viz., the WTO “legislator”) could clarify or change the relationship between WTO rules and other rules of international law. However, it is unlikely that such changes will occur any time soon. In part I, I examine the general relationship between public international law and WTO law. I then assess, more specifically, the role of public international law in WTO dispute settlement in part II and offer some conclusions in part III.


Author(s):  
Charlotte E. Blattner

This chapter explores the breadth and scope of options available to states that want to indirectly protect animals across the border, in particular under the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The flurry of academic discussion at the intersection of animal and trade law was sparked by the Appellate Body’s Seals report in 2014, but it failed to cut deep enough to link to the doctrine of jurisdiction under general international law, and efforts to enter negotiations to more thoroughly protect animals in trade never materialized. The author advances the discussion and fills a gap in scholarship by examining whether and how states can use trade law to indirectly protect animals abroad through import prohibitions, taxes and tariffs, as well as labels. An analysis of the legality of trade-restrictive measures that indirectly protect animals under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) precedes a discussion of justifications for violating the agreement.


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARWEL DAVIES

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.


Con-texto ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Samuel Trujillo

<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>


Author(s):  
Vaughan Lowe

International law cannot manufacture agreement where none exists. For this reason, international law is not well suited to the promotion of innovative solutions to international problems where the interests of States are radically divergent. ‘What international law does badly (or not at all)’ considers this in relation to climate change and to the protection of commercial interests in proprietary drugs. Also, international law cannot itself deliver international justice. While the law is an invaluable instrument for the implementation of policies that aim to make the world more just—the special preferential treatment given to developing States within the World Trade Organization, for example—it will not miraculously produce justice and fairness of its own force.


2001 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Cameron ◽  
Kevin R. Gray

Unlike the original 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT), the 1994 Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement)1 covers a much wider range of trade. It extends beyond goods and now embraces services, intellectual property, procurement, investment and agriculture. Moreover, the new trade regime is no longer a collection of ad hoc agreements, Panel reports and understandings of the parties. All trade obligations are subsumed under the umbrella of the WTO, of which all parties are members. Member States have to accept the obligations contained in all the WTO covered agreements: they cannot pick and choose.


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