Andrew Mitchell's book (“Legal Principles in WTO Disputes”) offers an account of the interplay of WTO with wider public international law viewed through the prism of principles. One part legal theory, one part case study, the book first develops a doctrinal framework for principles, which it...

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) received much scholarly attention when it was first established in 1989, but has been overshadowed of late by dispute settlement processes. This paper examines the relationship between barriers to trade that are flagged by the World Trade Organization's...

Coase's assumption of zero transaction cost is not realistic in the WTO; it bears substantive amount of transaction costs. Unlike Coase, Calabresi and Melamed, in their article of “Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral,” endogenously admit that...

The aim of this paper is to explore the interactions between international economic law and civil society. The starting point is to analyse the role of international economic law in facilitating the “competition of systems” (principally by reducing barriers to international trade and...

While countries continue to negotiate new mega free trade agreements in the EU and the US, they increasingly rely on anti-dumping laws to protect their industries from predatory pricing and the high costs of global structural change. Legally sanctioned protectionism has become a prominent...

This chapter assesses the applicable standard of review in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) disputes with complex factual issues. In particular, the chapter analyzes how the new deferential standard, set out by the Appellate Body (AB) in US/Canada - Continued Suspension of Obligations in the EC...

This chapter submits that science has become, in the context of the WTO, an important element (or even a point of reference) in the assessment of domestic health and environmental measures with respect to their compatibility with WTO obligations. Under current practice, WTO panels and the...

On 1 January 1995, the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) entered into force. Until August 2006, the DSU has since been applied to 348 complaints - more cases than dispute settlement under the GATT 1947 had dealt with in nearly five decades. The...

The early stages of the GATT focused on MEs and did not include rules related to NMEs. With the creation of the WTO in 1995 and the participation of NMEs in a multilateral trading system, the WTO became interested in different treatments between MEs and NMEs. However, the ambiguity of the WTO...

What shapes jurisprudence in international law? States dedicate considerable effort trying to influence not only the outcome, but also the content, of legal rulings. The stakes are high, as these legal opinions can redefine the meaning of the rules. Looking at the World Trade Organization, we...