Study of the World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism and implications for trade policy

Abstract

The present study covers three major aspects: a) the system and procedures of the WTO and the Dispute Settlement, b) various characteristics of the disputes brought to the WTO DSB and the method of settling them and c) the way in which the WTO DSB adjudications impact the policy formulations of Member Countries. These aspects are scrutinized by fragmenting them into different variables. The first aspect, the system and procedures, is studied by including the variables like: the cases passing through various stages of disputes settlement, Consultations, Panel Process, Appellate Panel Process and Compliance/Retaliation; the elements of time in dispute settlement; patterns of adjudication; cases for which the losing defendant requested for a Reasonable Period of Time (RPT) and the process of arbitration. The characteristics of disputes and settlements are studied by observing the variables like: status of economic development of the parties to the disputes, the region wise origin of disputes, subject matters under disputes, the most disputed Agreements and related Provisions, the patterns of implementation, and records of cases lost by various countries. The third aspect of policy implications are studied by examination of cases which led to implementation and the consequent policy formulations/ reformulations on the part of the implementing nations. The type of research employed here is descriptive design adopting the technique of case study method of analysis. The study analyzes the present scenario of the functioning of the WTO and is not primarily focusing at making future predictions or projections. As the status of development of Member Countries forms major source of discussion about the WTO, data has been fundamentally organized based on the disaggregation of cases in terms of status of economic development.