Originally from:
The WTO: Governance, Dispute Settlement & Developing Countries
The WTO: Governance, Dispute Settlement & Developing Countries-Digital
Chapter 29 - Preview Page
A Review of Major WTO Jurisprudence
Mitsuo Matsushita
The WTO celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2005. The WTO was created as a result of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, which was the eighth round under the GATT 1947. Although ten years is not a long period, it nevertheless constitutes a short history and it is time to reflect on the WTO’s accomplishment in establishing jurisprudence.
The WTO has encountered difficulties with negotiations, such as the failure of the Ministerial Conferences in Seattle (1999) and Cancun (2003). At this time, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the DDA. Although the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference held in 2005 adopted a resolution to continue international negotiations on agriculture, market access of nonagricultural products, trade rules such as antidumping and trade in services, the resolution constitutes a relatively small package. At the same time, FTAs and RTAs have proliferated and presented challenges to the multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO.
In sharp contrast to this, the WTO dispute settlement system has achieved a high degree of success. The WTO dispute settlement system has dealt with more than 350 cases since its establishment and, in more than 100 cases, panels and the Appellate Body rendered their decisions. Although there are a handful of cases in which there has been difficulty in implementing WTO recommendations,1 in the majority of cases, DSB recommendations have been successfully implemented. The WTO dispute settlement system has established itself as probably the most successful international tribunal not only in the area of international trade, but with respect to international disputes generally.
In the following passages, two topics will be discussed. In Section I, there will be some discussion of the advantages of the WTO dispute settlement system, for example, its contribution to the establishment of a rules-oriented international trading system and its advantages for WTO Members, especially for developing country Members in resolving disputes with more powerful trade partners.
About the Author:
Mitsuo Matsushita of Japan served at the WTO Appellate Body from 1995-2000.