Bangladesh-India Lead Acid Battery Case : Importance of WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism and Lesson for LDCs

Bangladesh-India trade dispute over India’s imposition of anti-dumping duty on Bangladesh’s lead acid battery export is a significant event in the history of World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism. After 10 years of WTO’s establishment, this was the first instance when a least developed country (LDC) challenged a much stronger economy at the highest level of trade related international legal process. After the beginning of the legal proceedings, India’s decision to go back to negation table to find a mutually agreed solution and subsequent termination of anti-dumping duty proves that the process is important for making the big economies follow the norms and laws of international trade. In addition, the very existence of such mechanism acts as a deterrent against arbitrary enactment of unfair, unlawful and unilateral trade measures. Finally, this is a milestone for other LDCs to overcome the psychological barrier of standing up against stronger economies and claim their fair rights in international trade regime