The WTO at Ten: The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System

Description

Bringing together articles by some of the leading policy-makers, including previous WTO Director-Generals, practitioners, scholars of international trade law, government officials, international civil servants, members of the WTO Appellate Body, and judges from a number of international tribunals, this volume assesses the first ten years of the World Trade Organization. It examines: the relationship and balance between political governance and dispute settlement; the functioning of the dispute settlement procedures and various reform proposals; the contribution of the Appellate Body to the development of international trade law; and treaty interpretation in a number of international dispute settlement fora such as the WTO, the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Justice, and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The book has its origins in a series of events commemorating the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Appellate Body.

Giorgio Sacerdoti has been a Member of the WTO Appellate Body since 2001. He is also Professor of International Law and European Law (Jean Monnet chair) at Bocconi University, Milan. Alan Yanovich has been a Counsellor at the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat since 2001. He was previously a legal adviser at the General Secretariat of the Andean Community. Jan Bohanes has been Legal Officer at the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat since 2002. Previously, he was a visiting researcher at the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (tralac).

'... an important and valuable contribution to the debate on the current state and future of the dispute settlement system as well as the WTO as an institution. ... provides the reader, the non-trade expert in particular, but also the international trade observer, with a comprehensive and excellent tool. It presents an opportunity for a deeper and more profound understanding of the WTO dispute settlement system, the relationship between the different actors and institutions, as well as the interlinkages between this system and the broader international community. ... an important addition to the debate on the ... future role of the dispute settlement system and the WTO as a whole.' Journal of International Economic Law '... this is an excellent book ... it provides a rare opportunity to examine, from the inside, the WTO dispute settlement system, which is arguably the most important international dispute settlement system the world has ever seen.' Chinese Journal of International Law 'The breadth of issues and the richness of arguments covered in this collection of essays do justice to over a decade of jurisprudence of the WTO dispute settlement system. ... The book is the first instalment of a promising series of publications to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the WTO dispute settlement system.' Leiden Journal of International Law