WTO Dispute Settlement in Trade Remedies in Developing Country Members

Abstract

In order to achieve a positive settlement of the disputes arising from WTO agreements, the WTO provides a disputes settlement mechanism to its all Members. It is argued that developed country Members benefit from the mechanism rather than developing country ones. To effectively partake in this system, developing Members face certain challenges. The challenges comprise insufficient legal capacity, financial constraints, retaliation concerns, implementation of DSB’ rulings and recommendations, and ineffectiveness of clauses favorable to developing countries in relevant WTO agreements. Especially, in the trade remedies area, protectionism and the application of NMES by the United States and the European Union to anti-dumping and anti-subsidies and countervailing duties cases are supplementary difficulties for developing countries in settling trade remedies disputes under the WTO DSS. The number of trade remedies disputes has recently been increasing, accounting for approximately one half of the total of WTO disputes. This paper seeks to address key aspects of the constraints and challenges that developing country Members normally confront in resolving the disputes under the system. The paper begins by introducing the key functions of the DSU and main features of the trade remedies measures. It studies how developing country Members participate in the system. It looks at the preferential and differential treatments for developing members under the DSU. It discusses protectionism and NMES applications of the United States and European Union in anti-dumping and anti-subsidies and countervailing duties cases. The paper also analyzes several WTO disputes in trade remedies as an illustration of obstacles that many developing country Members face in solving these disputes. It explores how developing Members utilize the legal assistance provided by the ACWL to bring a claim to the WTO DSS. Finally, some suggestions are made on how the constraints facing developing countries under the system can be dealt with in order to produce more satisfactory results.