Developing Countries, Dispute Settlement, and the Advisory Centre on WTO Law

Bown, Chad P. ; McCulloch, Rachel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE;    AGREEMENT ON TEXTILES;    AGREEMENT ON TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5168
RP-ID  :  WPS5168

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Critical appraisals of the current andpotential benefits from developing country engagement in theWorld Trade Organization (WTO) focus mainly on the DohaRound of negotiations. This paper examines developingcountry participation in the WTO dispute settlement systemto enforce foreign market access rights already negotiatedin earlier multilateral rounds. The dispute data from 1995through 2008 reveal three notable trends: developingcountriessustained rate of self-enforcement actionsdespite declining use of the Dispute SettlementUnderstanding (DSU) by developed countries, developingcountriesincreased use of the DSU to self-enforce theiraccess to the markets of developing as well as developedcountry markets, and the prevalence of disputes targetinghighly observable causes of lost foreign market access, suchas antidumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. Thepaper also examines potential impacts of the Advisory Centreon WTO Law (ACWL) into the WTO system in 2001. A close lookat the data reveals evidence on at least three channelsthrough which the ACWL may be enhancing developingcountries' ability to self-enforce foreign marketaccess: increased initiation of sole-complainant cases, moreextensive pursuit of the DSU legal process for any givencase, and initiation of disputes over smaller values of lost trade.