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Is Wto Dispute Settlement Effective? Essay

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Comments on Chapter-10 | Is WTO Dispute Settlement Effective? Written by - Keisuke Iida Book: The Politics of Global Governance Edited by Paul F Diehl & Brain Frederking. | Khaleda AKHTAR, Public Policy Program, Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University. |

Prelude: In the massive protests in Seattle in 1999, more than 5000 protesters took part on issues of environment and exploitation of child labor in third world. It was an anti-globalization movement. World Trade Organization (WTO) became one of the most controversial institutions as evidenced by the massive protests in Seattle, Washington in November, 1999. Both the critics and supporters of WTO seem to believe that it is a highly …show more content…

In this respect, WTO dispute settlement can be seen as effective. Some WTO Members are using the system; they are not ignoring their WTO obligations and looking for other ways to settle disputes that can be resolved under WTO law. * The WTO dispute settlement process has been most effective in "disarming" Section 301or in fending off unilateralism. The US Trade Act of 1974, Section 301 authorizes the President to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy, or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement and that burden or restricts U.S. commerce. The law does not require that the U.S. government wait until it receives authorization from the WTO to take enforcement actions, but the U.S. has committed itself to pursuing the resolution of disputes under WTO agreements through the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.
Comments: WTO dispute settlement system is not effective * In the first few years of dispute settlement, the WTO performed well. Since 1998 WTO has not been working smoothly. One possible explanation is the complication of U.S.-EU relations. The WTO ruled on two of the most difficult cases in 1997--bananas and beef hormones. On finding the EU's act according to certain accepted standards was insufficient in the

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