scholarly journals Path to judicial activism? The use of “relevant rules of international law” by the WTO Appellate Body

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Clara De Andrade
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Appellate Body

scholarly journals The Shape and Structure of the ‘Usable Past’: An Empirical Analysis of the Use of Precedent in International Adjudication

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-247
Author(s):  
Niccolò Ridi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Usable Past

Abstract How do international adjudicators use precedent? This question has been addressed several times in the literature, but doctrinal accounts have generally failed to consider the aggregate dimension of the phenomenon. This article seeks to provide an alternative outlook by offering a large-scale computational analysis of the body of jurisprudence of three international fora (the ICJ, the WTO Appellate Body and investment arbitration tribunals) and comparing their citation patterns with those of other judicial bodies—national and international. Building on a very large dataset (comprising over 200,000 citations), it employs network analysis tools to measure the evolution of international law citation networks. It then unpacks this emerging complexity by considering what, in a precedent, holds ‘citing value’, highlighting the expansion of the range of precedential resources as well as the consecration of established authorities. Finally, the article considers three examples of computational analysis of citations to precedent in order to better gauge the level of engagement with the past.

scholarly journals FTA Law in WTO Dispute Settlement: Peru–Additional Duty and the Fragmentation of Trade Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREGORY SHAFFER ◽  
L. ALAN WINTERS
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Dispute Settlement ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Wto Appellate Body

AbstractThere is a serious imbalance between the sclerosis of the political system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the automatic adoption of WTO Appellate Body judicial reports. The question is whether the WTO Appellate Body will recognize bilateral political agreements (such as under Free Trade Agreements, FTAs) that modify WTO obligations between two parties. In addressing this question, the Appellate Body decision inPeru–Additional Duty on Imports of Certain Agricultural Productsis important. The decision addressed the availability of defenses under FTAs in WTO disputes, as well as under public international law generally. After critically assessing the decision, we set forth a series of judicial and political choices for addressing the interaction of WTO and FTA rules going forward. In particular, we contend that clear modifications of WTO commitments under an FTA should be recognized by WTO panels as a defense, but subject to the FTA itself complying with WTO requirements under GATT Article XXIV. The case is important not only for trade specialists, but generally for policymakers and scholars of global governance in a world of fragmented international treaties.

scholarly journals The Shape and Structure of the ‘Usable Past’: An Empirical Analysis of the use of Precedent in International Adjudication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niccolo Ridi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
The Icj ◽  
International Adjudication ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Usable Past

How do international adjudicators use precedent? This question has been addressed several times in the literature, but doctrinal accounts have generally failed to consider the aggregate dimension of the phenomenon. This article seeks to provide an alternative outlook by offering a large-scale computational analysis of the body of jurisprudence of three international fora (the ICJ, the WTO Appellate Body and investment arbitration tribunals) and comparing their citation patterns with those of other judicial bodies—national and international. Building on a very large dataset (comprising over 200,000 citations), it employs network analysis tools to measure the evolution of international law citation networks. It then unpacks this emerging complexity by considering what, in a precedent, holds ‘citing value’, highlighting the expansion of the range of precedential resources as well as the consecration of established authorities. Finally, the article considers three examples of computational analysis of citations to precedent in order to better gauge the level of engagement with the past.

United States—Measures Concerning the Importation, Marketing and Sale of Tuna and Tuna Products

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Production Methods ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
The World ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
First Time

In a Mexican challenge against U.S. criteria for labeling tuna products as “dolphin-safe,” the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), on May 16, 2012, held against the United States while reversing various findings of the panel. The case was one of three WTO Appellate Body decisions issued in 2012 that interpreted and applied the key substantive provisions of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement or TBT) for the first time. Systemically, the decision is important for its interpretation of the TBT Agreement’s substantive obligations, the types of labeling that fall within the scope of the Agreement, the legitimacy of labeling based on foreign process and production methods (PPMs), and the relation of other international law to WTO law.

The WTO Appellate Body and the TRIPS Agreement

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gervais
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Domestic Court ◽  
Dispute Settlement Mechanism ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Settlement Mechanism

This contribution reviews the role of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body—a part of its dispute-settlement mechanism—in interpreting the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It discusses, first, the way in which the Appellate Body functions when compared to a common law jurisdiction or a general or specialized domestic court. The contribution then turns to the three disputes concerning the TRIPS Agreement that have reached the Appellate Body since 1995, and the five cases filed against Australia challenging plain packaging measures targeting tobacco products. The primary purpose of the contribution is not to discuss those cases individually in detail but rather to offer a perspective on how the Appellate Body might play a greater role in building the interface between the rules and standards contained in the TRIPS Agreement, and those contained in international law outside the WTO.

General Principles of Procedural Law in the Practice of the WTO Appellate Body

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Mariana Clara de Andrade
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Dispute Settlement ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Domestic Law

Abstract The method of identification of general principles and their function as a source of law have long been object of doctrinal debate. This topic is now under the programme of work of the International Law Commission. Relatedly, international courts and tribunals have relied on general principles of procedural law derived from national legal systems in their practice and reasoning, but the methodology employed by adjudicators in importing these sources from domestic law remains obscure. This research examines the use of general principles of procedural law in WTO dispute settlement, in particular by its Appellate Body. The aim is two-fold: first, to study the methodology employed in the identification of general principles of procedural law in the case law of the WTO Appellate Body; second, to examine the functions performed by general principles in the practice of this international jurisdiction.

Extraterritorial Shrimps, NGOs and the WTO Appellate Body

1999 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif H. Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Market Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Wto Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Us ◽  
Wto Appellate Body ◽  
Dispute Settlement System

At the centre of the international trading order, under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), lies a dispute-settlement system. This system offers a graduated conflict-resolution mechanism that begins with a consultation process; progresses to adjudication, through a panel system, and ends in an appellate process.1 Under this machinery, in October 1996 India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand (the complainants) requested joint consultations with the United States, regarding the US prohibition on the importation of certain shrimps and shrimp products caught with fishing technology considered by the United States adversely to affect the population of sea turtles—an endangered species under CITES.2 The US prohibition arose from section 609 of Public Law 101–1623 and associated regulations and judicial rulings (hereafter referred to as section 609). In a nutshell the complainants claimed denial of market access to their exports, and the United States justified this on grounds of conservation. However, as a consequence of the failure of the consultations, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body established a panel, around April 1997, to consider a joint complaint against the United States in relation to section 609. Australia, Ecuador, the European Communities, HongKong, China, Mexico and Nigeria joined the complainants as third parties. In May 1998 the panel's report was published, containing a decision in favour of the complainants. In July 1998 the United States appealed to the WTO Appellate Body, and in October 1998 the Appellate Body issued its report.4

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