This thesis the Reform of the WTO Dispute Settlement System, deals with urgent questions about the most important system resolution in international economic law. The WTO Dispute Settlement was established in 1995 and since then it has become a prime example of evolution in the field of international dispute resolution. The system itself has indeed its flaws and therefore its critics. Even its "founding fathers" indented to conduct a reform of the mechanism after few years in action. However, the reform has not yet materialised. The aim of the thesis is to discuss the state of negotiations over the reform of the system, in particular in context of power and rule orientation, and to analyze possible causes of the current state. The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One offers brief characterization of the WTO Dispute Settlement and its main document Understanding on rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes (DSU), which is found in Annex 2 of the WTO Agreement. Chapter Two chronologically follows the so far unsuccessful development of DSU Revision in WTO. In international trade disputes, two ways of their settlement are recognised: power-oriented and rule-oriented. Both methods are described in Chapter Three. The Chapter Four focuses on the institutional dimension of the...

Updates are a natural part of the life cycle of an application. The traditional way of updating an application by stopping it, replacing it with the new version and restarting it is lacking in many ways. There have been previous research in the field of dynamic software updates (DSU) that attempt to salvage this problem by updating the app while running. Most of the previous research have focused on static languages like C and Java, research with dynamic languages have been lacking. This thesis takes advantage of the dynamic features of JavaScript in order to allow for dynamic updates of applications for mobile devices. The solution is implemented and used to answer questions about how correctness can be ensured and what state transfer needs to be manually written by a programmer. The conclusion is that most failures that occur as the result of an update and is in need of a manually written state transfer can be put into one of three categories. To verify correctness of an update tests for these types of failures should be performed.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system is facing unprecedented challenges, following the United States (US) decision to block the appointment of all Appellate Body members. The US has justified its blocking tactic, already implemented since 2017 by raising several procedural and substantive concerns with the Appellate Body's failure to follow WTO rules. On 10 December 2019, the Appellate Body was forced to suspend its activities after the second terms of two of the remaining three members expired. While the WTO dispute settlement system continues to function at the panel stage, the Appellate Body is currently unable to review appeals because it lacks the minimum number of three members required to establish a division. In addition, the collapse of the Appellate Body means that any party to a dispute can block the adoption of a panel report by filing a notice to appeal which is likely to remain in limbo for an indefinite period. Numerous studies have discussed the Appellate Body crisis and its implications for the WTO dispute settlement system. Few, however, have critically analysed the validity of the concerns that the US has raised about the Appellate Body's work over the past few years. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to discuss and critically analyse these concerns to determine whether the Appellate Body has indeed strayed from its limited mandate. In addition, the research will provide recommendations on how to save the appellate stage and ensure that appeals are resolved while WTO members attempt to find permanent solutions to this unprecedented crisis.

本論文主要在討論，先決之爭點與「爭端解決規則與程序瞭解書（DSU）」第六條二項（成立小組請求）間之互動。 首先，作者區別成立小組請求兩大要件，分別為：敘明系爭措施及提供法律根據已釐清系爭案件。 其次，在此架構下，本文進而從近來所發生之四十七個爭端解決案件中，分析上訴機構對兩要件之認定標準的發展。本文發現，爭端解決小組及上訴機構透過放寬先決爭點認定標準之結果，會降低成立小組請求之明確性。同時，本文也蒐集相關實證統計資料，藉以呈現先決爭點如何影響DSU之功能。經由歸納後，本文認為，當前先決之爭點的負面影響大於正面影響。 再者，儘管先決爭點有上述問題，作者一方面仍肯定先決之爭點的正面功能，並認同爭端解決實務放寬認定標準之趨勢；另方面，則嘗試提出若干工具以避免上述負面影響大過正面影響。 最後則提出第六條第二項之修法建議。 關鍵字：爭端解決規則與程序瞭解書（DSU）第六條二項、成立小組請求、先決之爭點 / This thesis focused on the interaction between the preliminary issues and Article 6.2(panel request) of Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing The Settlement of Disputes(DSU). First, the author distinguished the two main requirements of panel request: identify the specific measures at issue, and provide a brief summary of the legal basis of the complaint sufficient to present the problem clearly. Secondly, with the two requirements as framework, the author started to scrutinize how preliminary issues affected recent 47 dispute settlement cases and analyze its implication. Then, it was observed that the Dispute Settlement Panel and the Appellate Body were broadening their review standards as to preliminary issues, which would then lead to reduce the precision of panel request. Meanwhile, this thesis collected relevant statistic data to show how the preliminary issues affected the current DSU function. Then, it was observed that the preliminary issues, so far, had strong negative effects and few positive effects on the dispute settlement system. Moreover, the author, on the one hand, recognized the function of preliminary issues and viewed current dispute settlement practice as good trend with some deficit; and, on the other hand, tried to propose some useful tools to prevent the negative effect to overcome positive effects. And eventually, proposed revision of Article 6.2 of DSU. Key words: Article 6.2 of Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing The Settlement of Disputes (DSU), panel request, preliminary issues

2001年11月世界貿易組織召開杜哈部長會議，重啟檢討爭端解決規則與程序瞭解書（DSU）之新回合談判，其中「法庭之友」議題頗受注目，已開發國家與開發中國家立場截然不同，幾無共識。DSU之本文與其附件皆未提及「法庭之友」一詞，歷經幾次關鍵性案件之裁決，上訴機構逐漸發展出一套規則，認為DSU第13條、第17.9條與上訴審查作業程序第16(1)條可資引用為小組與上訴機構接受與考慮「法庭之友」書面意見之法律基礎。本文首先從法律面向著手，將現行條文加以適當之解釋，認為目前上開條文之規定並無法為「法庭之友」提供一合理之法律基礎，上訴機構向來有關之裁決並不正確。 本文繼而從政策面向分析，主張未來世界貿易組織應適度突破傳統國際公法之限制，讓公民社會之成員有機會以「法庭之友」的身份，「間接」、「例外」地參與WTO爭端解決程序，以爭取全球民眾對世界貿易組織之支持與認同。為解決「法庭之友」之爭議，世界貿易組織會員應以修正DSU條文或另外做成決議之方式，明確釐清此一高度爭議問題，而非繼續任其模糊不清，徒增紛擾。 / The World Trade Organization (WTO) convened the Doha Ministerial Conference and restarted the review of provisions of Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) in November 2001. Inter alia, the issue of ‘amicus curiae’ was very controversial, opposite positions were raised during the DSB Special Session between the developed countries and developing countries. Since there are no words about amicus curiae in DSU and its annex, the Appellate Body concluded in some Appellate Body reports that Article 13 and 17.9 of DSU and 16(1) of Working Procedures for Appellate Review could be constituted as proper legal basis for Panel and the Appellate Body to accept and consider the amicus curiae briefs. This article starts with interpreting the existing provisions of DSU from the legal perspective, and concludes that the provisions mentioned above could not be regarded as a legal basis to for Panel and the Appellate Body to accept and consider the amicus curiae briefs and therefore, the Appellate Body’s decisions might not be appropriate. This article then suggests from the policy perspective that the WTO release itself from the restriction of traditional international public law in the future, allowing the members of civil society to present their submission in a ‘indirect’ and ‘exceptional’ way by the name of ‘amicus curiae’ in the WTO dispute settlement proceedings. At last, it also recommends that the WTO members revise some provisions of DSU or make a decision to solve this controversial problem manifestly, instead of leaving it ambiguous for a long time.

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