Critically assess the scope, meaning and relevance of Essay

Critically assess the scope, meaning and relevance of non-discrimination in WTO law - Essay Example This paper tackles the most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment obligations of member countries and its twin principle which is a national treatment obligation; the WTO is supposed to equally grant MFN-like status to all countries. The WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as the world global trading body tasked to implement and adjudicate the rules for international commerce. The recent global Great Recession has highlighted anew the importance of the role of WTO in settling trade disputes as countries scramble for ways out of the recession. Trade frictions are again on the rise as countries find ways to revive their economies. This paper discusses the non-discrimination principle and its increased relevance in international trade.2 B. Discussion The WTO is a big improvement over the GATT and its still-born cousin ITO. In the WTO rule of consensus decision making (termed derisively as its mass management), there is no board of directors like in modern corporatio ns.3 The consensus makes the WTO a success it is today although in rare instances, majority votes may also rule. If trade disputes arise, the WTO works to resolve it through negotiations. Once a WTO resolution is deemed final, the concerned country must conform to the ruling such as amending its laws or pay compensation to the adjudged winner; failure to do so results in non-negotiable sanctions as no appeals are allowed. This is how non-discrimination is enforced in the WTO; its stated aims are to expand free trade equally without barriers to all members, make trade predictable through rules and a truly competitive undertaking by removal of subsidies.4 The lack of a governing body similar to a corporation's board of directors is intentional to address previous complaints of smaller countries. There is no body within WTO that has a delegated power from its members despite proposals for creation of a smaller executive body.5 Members make their decisions known through its committees a nd councils. Decisions reached by the members are more acceptable to all implemented quickly like the Japanese way of doing things.6 This loose set up has advantages but sometimes, people end up confused.7 Its culture is designed to promote sharing of common values and reassure smaller nations their weaknesses are being addressed.8 Fusion of interests of all countries helps build harmony through transparency and inclusion. The WTO success is its rules-based disputes resolution.†9 Non-discrimination in WTO Law – experts call WTO a modern miracle for sheer fact it managed to exist.10 The guiding idea behind WTO is its Dispute Settlement Understanding or DSU. For the first time, the DSU codified all procedural rules as they pertain to the core principles in any dispute across all types of trade agreements.11 It is the basic document that sets out the jurisdictional scope of the WTO dispute settlement and all members must submit to its authority. There is less reason to sus pect any subjectivity in any of the WTO decisions.12 Relative to transparency and