Transparency in the WTO SPS and TBT Agreements : the real jewel in the crown

"With these words, American Associate Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was one of the pioneers in bringing transparency into the American legal system. His metaphor of sunlight and its "disinfectant" benefits has been cited extensively in domestic law to describe transparency policies and to express their potential advantages. Recently, Mavroidis and Wolfe have applied this image to the WTO context, noting that "transparency contributes more to social order than does coercion" and "Transparency ought to improve the operation of the trading system by allowing verification by all Members that national law, policy, and implementation achieve the objective intended by the agreements." Taking this now famous image as a starting point to study transparency in WTO Law, this book explores the provisions within the WTO Agreements that set an obligation of transparency, in a way that 'purifies' or 'disinfects' trade regulations. In other words, the provisions that encourage Members to share information in a way that results in better compliance with WTO obligations"--