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Horn, Henrik; Mavroidis, Petros C. --- "International trade: dispute settlement" [2007] ELECD 96; in Guzman, T. Andrew; Sykes, O. Alan (eds), "Research Handbook in International Economic Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Research Handbook in International Economic Law

Editor(s): Guzman, T. Andrew; Sykes, O. Alan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843766742

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: International trade: dispute settlement

Author(s): Horn, Henrik; Mavroidis, Petros C.

Number of pages: 34

Extract:

5. International trade: dispute settlement1
Henrik Horn and Petros C. Mavroidis



1. Introduction
A considerable amount of academic interest has been shown in the dispute
settlement (DS) mechanisms of the GATT and the WTO, particularly during
the last decade. The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss what we
see as the main themes of this body of research.
Due to the enormous volume of research in the field, it is necessary to focus
our attention to a few areas, concentrating on themes that we find particularly
interesting and omitting many other (and surely to other observers more inter-
esting) issues. Moreover, the constraints of our format prevent us from cover-
ing everything that has been written, even within our area of focus. Rather, our
aim will be to discuss what we view as the central issues addressed in the liter-
ature. A noticeable omission is that we will not deal with enforcement issues,
the literature being too extensive to be covered in this survey.
The chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 highlights quintessential
elements of the DS mechanism in the WTO ­ the Understanding on Rules and
Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). The DSU is often
referred to as one of the main achievements of the Uruguay Round.
Section 3 briefly discusses the role of dispute settlement from the angle of
economic theory. The more policy-oriented literature often views the objec-
tive of dispute settlement as being to resolve conflicts, to enhance trans-
parency ...