Dispute Settlement in the WTO Veronika Honzíková Abstract The WTO dispute settlement represents a significant improvement compared to the dispute settlement system under GATT 1947, but is still considered as his successor. The mechanism under GATT 1947 had many weaknesses which resulted to the need of reform. The procedure under GATT 1947 was not contradictory and all members of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) were entitled to use the veto right when adopting the reports. The contracting parties were conscious of such weaknesses and they have agreed on a new dispute settlement system during the Uruguay round. The Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) is part of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. The new system remains inter-state mechanism and as a consequence, available only to the Member States, excluding individuals and business operators. The dispute settlement under WTO has become compulsory while leaving each member the choice between this standard procedure and other dispute modes, such as Good Offices, Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. The dispute settlement system has been unified and has become more judicial. It excludes national jurisdictions and means strengthening the multilateralism. The dispute settlement is administrated by the Dispute Settlement Body,...

The aim of the work was to describe transparently the development of GATT and first of all WTO. The comlexity and topicality was stressed as well as the influence on Czechoslovakia or the Czech republic now. The work is organized chronologically exept for the last part which is dedicated directly to the position of the domestic economy in the purview of international business. There was the highest effort to bring balanced information and to picture consenqunces they cause for international business GATT and WTO.

The main goal of this thesis is to identify the most problematic area of trade liberalization process within the WTO. The thesis is based on the presumption, that in the WTO context exist three potentially problematic areas - institutional, political and technical. The thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter discusses institutional framework of the WTO. The second chapter contains analysis of positions and interests of the important member states. It also includes political and economic background of their attitude towards trade liberalization. Special attention is given to the various aspects of the relationship between advanced developing and developed countries. The third chapter is made up of three parts that correspond to the economic sectors and that describe technical aspect of negotiations about sensitive questions of liberalization. In conclusion, state of negotiations is summed up and some presumptions about the future of the negotiations and the WTO are presented.

A presente tese busca determinar a relação entre energia e desenvolvimento sustentável. Mostra as diferentes fontes de energia existentes, seus maiores benefícios e suas limitações. Da mesma forma traz um panorama do comércio de energia e sua importância para garantir segurança energética, acesso à energia, desenvolvimento econômico e social. Do ponto de vista ambiental, evidencia a necessidade da utilização de fontes de origens renováveis na redução de emissões e, consequentemente, na mitigação da mudança do clima. Após a análise detalhada da escolha das fontes energéticas que compõem uma matriz energética, analisa como garantir segurança energética, ao mesmo tempo em que se preserve a importante condição da sustentabilidade. Para tal, passa pelas normas que regulam o comércio internacional de energia no âmbito da Organização Mundial do Comércio. Sobre este último aspecto, enfatiza a inexistência de regras especificas para o comércio de energia o que cria incertezas jurídicas e imprevisibilidades que, por exemplo, diminuem o incentivo e o financiamento de novas fontes de origens renováveis. Chega-se à conclusão sobre a importância da proposição de um acordo plurilateral, ou ao menos da revisão de alguns Artigos dos atuais acordos da Organização Mundial do Comércio, como forma de se alcançar um melhor tratamento ao tema energético e, principalmente, como ferramenta para se alcançar o desenvolvimento sustentável. / The purpose of this thesis is to determine the relationship between energy and sustainable development. It shows the various existing energy sources and their major benefits and limitations. Likewise, it presents an overview of energy trade and its importance in ensuring energy security, access to energy, and economic and social development. From an environmental point of view, it demonstrates the necessity of using renewable energy sources to reduce emissions and, consequently, mitigate climate change. After a detailed analysis of choosing the energy sources in an energy mix, it studies how to ensure energy security while preserving the important condition of sustainability. For that purpose, it goes through the standards governing the international energy trade in the ambit of the World Trade Organization. With regard to this last aspect, it emphasizes the lack of specific rules on energy trade, which gives rise to legal uncertainties and unpredictabilities that, for example, reduce the fostering and funding of new renewable energy sources. It reaches a conclusion about the importance of proposing a plurilateral agreement or, at least, revising some of the articles of the current World Trade Organization agreements in order to better handle the issue of energy and, above all, as a tool to reach sustainable development.

Com o objetivo de analisar as demandas por um novo arcabouço sociojurídico na Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC), este trabalho analisa os movimentos que permitiram algumas \"desestruturações\" da \"ordem internacional\" e permitiram a identificação de dois modos de produção no sistema internacional: o interestatal e o cosmopolita. A promoção da autonomia do espaço cosmopolita influiu significativamente na estrutura dos tradicionais fóruns interestatais como é o caso da OMC. Através da análise das estruturas do sistema multilateral de comércio, indica-se aquelas que favoreceram as demandas das instituições não-estatais, com diversas racionalidades e formas de ação perante a OMC, e as influências dessas instituições nas formas de regulamentação dessa organização. Nossa preocupação é identificar no pluralismo de instituições a consolidação de um multilateralismo complexo, resultado de uma transformação na forma de governança da economia e dos movimentos sociais globais. Tais relações promovem a repolitização do sistema multilateral de comércio e apontam para o desafio da inserção da OMC num sistema de governança global. Uma segunda parte do trabalho analisa a recepção de um novo arcabouço sociojurídico na OMC pelo Estado e pela sociedade brasileiros. / The objective of this work is to analyse claims for a new social and legal structure in the World Trade Organization (WTO). For this purpose it investigates the movements which promoted the \"dismantling\" of the \"international order\" and encouraged the recognition of the existence of two different modes of production within the international system: on the one hand a system between states; and a cosmopolitan one on the other hand. The autonomy of the cosmopolitan space has changed the structure of the traditional fora, of which the WTO is part. A critical analysis of the multilateral trade system structures allows us to identify those structures that have allowed the claims of non state institutions to be expressed on the scale they did, albeit with varying levels of rationality and methods. It also shows the influences such institutions exercise on the WTO system of regulation. The aim is to identify how this plurality of institutions endorses a complex multilateralism, which is a result of the changes in the governance of both economic and global social movements. Such developments instigate the re-politization of the multilateral trade system and present a challenge for the inclusion of the WTO in a system of global governance. The second part of the work is focused on the responses of the Brazilian government and society to these new developments in the WTO structure.

<p>This study examines the possible incompatibility between environmental conventions and agreements promoting international trade. More specifically, it aims at discussing the Precautionary Principle and the WTO agreements on trade and how they might contradict each other on the international arena. The study focuses on the international trade with genetically modified organisms and discusses probable needs of reformulating the principles and/or conventions concerned if these are to function as tools of equal importance when handling environmental problems through policy making. The controversy is illustrated through a case-study of a trade dispute where the conflicting principles: the Precautionary Principle and WTO agreements on trade are involved, namely a dispute where a formal complaint to the WTO by the US, Canada and Argentina about the European Community supposedly applying a de facto moratorium on genetically modified organisms had the final outcome of the European Community being found to contravene international trade rules. The study concludes that actors on the international arena are still opinions apart concerning the way to perceive possible risks connected to biotechnology and genetically modified organisms. This incongruence is also found to apply to the status of the Precautionary Principle as a rule of international law as well as to which of the conventions that were applicable to the concerned dispute.</p>

This study examines the possible incompatibility between environmental conventions and agreements promoting international trade. More specifically, it aims at discussing the Precautionary Principle and the WTO agreements on trade and how they might contradict each other on the international arena. The study focuses on the international trade with genetically modified organisms and discusses probable needs of reformulating the principles and/or conventions concerned if these are to function as tools of equal importance when handling environmental problems through policy making. The controversy is illustrated through a case-study of a trade dispute where the conflicting principles: the Precautionary Principle and WTO agreements on trade are involved, namely a dispute where a formal complaint to the WTO by the US, Canada and Argentina about the European Community supposedly applying a de facto moratorium on genetically modified organisms had the final outcome of the European Community being found to contravene international trade rules. The study concludes that actors on the international arena are still opinions apart concerning the way to perceive possible risks connected to biotechnology and genetically modified organisms. This incongruence is also found to apply to the status of the Precautionary Principle as a rule of international law as well as to which of the conventions that were applicable to the concerned dispute.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

University of Macau / Faculty of Law