World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement - Essay Example

WTO was formulated from the Uruguay Round table negotiation of 1947 under the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Without a mechanism of dispute settlement, a system based on rules would not be fruitful since enforcing rules, would seem difficult. This particular paper seeks to evaluate the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The scope of the analysis will cover the process of dispute settlement, the preparation procedure of dispute settlement, the WTO jurisprudence principles, and lastly the role played by the WTO dispute settlement system. The dispute settlement processThe mechanism for dispute settlement initiated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) during the year 1995 has been the basis of the organization.

It has been able to offer all the 144 members of the World Trade Organization an assurance that the obligations, as well as the commitments negotiated, will be respected. It, therefore, does not enforce new obligations, but it enforces those that have already been agreed upon. The dispute settlement process is founded on explicitly defined rules having timetables through which a case is completed. The priority or the main concern is to resolve disputes by way of consultations wherever possible. According to Jackson (2009), by the end of July 2003, 32 out of the 203 cases had already been settled out of court without following the complete panel process.

In the same way as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now WTO) of 1994, practice under the World Trade Organization shows that parties can negotiate mutually decided solutions to various disputes without deciding on a third-party intervention, particularly in the past eighteen years, however, a large part of the disputes have also resulted into creation of a panel. Steps in the Dispute Settlement Process According to Jackson (2000) etal, the WTO dispute settlement process has basic steps which include; Consultation, Panel formation, and the Panel process.

ConsultationsThe dispute resolution process begins with consultation among the various parties involved in the dispute. Before any kind of action is taken, countries involved in a given dispute have to discuss their issues with each other to find out if they can solve their differences on their own. If talks do not succeed, they can ask for assistance from the World Trade Organization director-general to act as a mediator or to help them in any other way. The consultations offer an opportunity for a given nation to evaluate the merits of the other party’s case and as a result clarify the various facts (World Trade Organization, 2010).

To make easier the process, the country complaining can submit various written questions that the defending country is expected to answer during consultation. The countries can have more than one consultation in case the process is more informative or if they feel they can reach an agreement. Consultations are however not followed by requests from the panel. This is because at times the threat of action tends to be more compelling than the action itself. On the other hand, consultations can provide information as well as influence negotiations that eventually result in a successful settlement of disputes.

From time to time, a complaining party has an opportunity to learn through the consultation process the various weaknesses surrounding its arguments or the damaging facts which may result in a conclusion not to push the issue.