This article examines the phenomena of dissent within WTO dispute settlement panels and within Appellate Body divisions ("horizontal disagreement") and the failure of certain WTO dispute settlement panels to follow previous rulings of the Appellate Body ("vertical disagreement"). With respect to...

An examination of some of the recent decisions of the panels and Appellate Body demonstrates the continuing evolution of WTO trade rules through traditional processes of treaty interpretation, reference to earlier jurisprudence and judicial reasoning. The quasi-judicial development of the law in...

This short paper examines the decision by a binational panel constituted under Article 1904(2) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip In Coils From Mexico: Final Results of 2004/2005 Antidumping Review. In the course of clarifying the Chevron and...

This article explores the still-controversial role of arbitrators in settlement facilitation and whether the professional guidelines put forward supposedly to assist arbitrators in this role take into account the psychological factors at play. Do “best practice” guidelines address the...

One of the evolving issues that have stimulated a real debate among WTO members is the reform of third party rights. The aim of this study is to analyze the importance of such rights for developing counties, showing how exercising them more widely could give developing counties a real insight...

For decades, China has maintained state import monopoly in cultural products. The opaque state-trading operations ensure a maximum level of flexibility and efficacy in the government censorship of imports. The WTO judiciary held in the China-Publications case that this practice is inconsistent...

This article analyzes the extent to which the Appellate Body and WTO panels compare the authentic texts in their examination of the WTO Agreements and the extent to which the parties themselves do so in their arguments. The texts of the WTO Agreements are authentic in English, French and...

The relationship between human rights law and international trade law has been a point of discussion for many years. An explicit reference to human rights is nowhere to be found in the WTO Agreement, but the ruling of the Appellate Body in the EC-Tariff Preferences case has made an important...

I propose a framework within which to interpret and evaluate the major reforms introduced to the GATT system in its transition to the WTO. In particular, I examine the WTO Agreement on Safeguards that has replaced the GATT escape clause (Article XIX), and the Dispute Settlement Process (DSP)...

We provide a simple but novel model of trade agreements that highlights the role of transaction costs, renegotiation and dispute settlement. The model allows us to characterize the appropriate remedy for breach and whether the agreement should be structured as a system of "property rights" or...