Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Biographical note
- List of abbreviations
- PART I Reflections on the contributions of Florentino Feliciano to international law
- PART II Insights into the World Trade Organization
- 5 Justice Feliciano and the WTO environmental cases: laying the foundations of a ‘constitutional jurisprudence’ with implications for developing countries
- 6 International trade law, human rights and theories of justice
- 7 Developing countries and the international trading system
- 8 North–South issues of foreign direct investments in the WTO: is there a middle-of-the-road approach?
- 9 The participation of developing countries in WTO dispute settlement and the role of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law
- 10 Reform of the WTO dispute settlement system: what to expect from the Doha Development Round?
- 11 Interpretation and Application of WTO Rules: Florentino Feliciano and the First Seven
- 12 Dispute settlement in the WTO: on the trail of a court
- 13 A proposal to introduce an Advocate General's position into WTO dispute settlement
- 14 Arbitration at the WTO: a terra incognita to be further explored
- 15 The challenges to the legitimacy of the WTO
- 16 The World Trade Organization after Cancún
- PART III The changing landscape of investment arbitration
- PART IV New challenges in international adjudication
- Bibliography of works by Florentino Feliciano
- Index
14 - Arbitration at the WTO: a terra incognita to be further explored
from PART II - Insights into the World Trade Organization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Biographical note
- List of abbreviations
- PART I Reflections on the contributions of Florentino Feliciano to international law
- PART II Insights into the World Trade Organization
- 5 Justice Feliciano and the WTO environmental cases: laying the foundations of a ‘constitutional jurisprudence’ with implications for developing countries
- 6 International trade law, human rights and theories of justice
- 7 Developing countries and the international trading system
- 8 North–South issues of foreign direct investments in the WTO: is there a middle-of-the-road approach?
- 9 The participation of developing countries in WTO dispute settlement and the role of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law
- 10 Reform of the WTO dispute settlement system: what to expect from the Doha Development Round?
- 11 Interpretation and Application of WTO Rules: Florentino Feliciano and the First Seven
- 12 Dispute settlement in the WTO: on the trail of a court
- 13 A proposal to introduce an Advocate General's position into WTO dispute settlement
- 14 Arbitration at the WTO: a terra incognita to be further explored
- 15 The challenges to the legitimacy of the WTO
- 16 The World Trade Organization after Cancún
- PART III The changing landscape of investment arbitration
- PART IV New challenges in international adjudication
- Bibliography of works by Florentino Feliciano
- Index
Summary
Introduction
There is no doubt that the WTO dispute settlement system, set out in the 1994 Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), is ‘unique’, first, because of its compulsory jurisdiction covering any dispute between WTO members, and secondly, because of surveillance and implementation procedures put in place when a decision has been adopted. Another feature, not often highlighted but wisely noted by Florentino Feliciano and Peter Van den Bossche, is that the WTO provides ‘for a multitude of dispute settlement procedures’.
Articles 4 to 20 of the DSU set out in great detail the ‘mainstream procedures’ which rest on consultations, the possibility of establishing a panel, and recourse to the Appellate Body. However, parties to a dispute can agree to resort to other means of dispute settlement, of a more diplomatic nature, such as good offices, conciliation, and mediation. Parties can also resort to arbitration.
Among the alternative means to the WTO mainstream dispute settlement procedures, arbitration is worth taking into account. Indeed, it stands as a judicial ‘alternative means of dispute settlement’. In the context of the DSU, arbitration appears as a stand-alone procedure through Article 25. It can also be seen as a procedure complementing WTO mainstream dispute settlement procedures with respect to specific issues (DSU Articles 21.3 and 22.6).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law in the Service of Human DignityEssays in Honour of Florentino Feliciano, pp. 181 - 201Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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