Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Series
- Introductory Remarks
- 1 A Map of the World Trade Organization Law of Domestic Regulation of Goods
- 2 The WTO Impact on Internal Regulations: A Case Study of the Canada–EC Asbestos Dispute
- 3 Reflections on the Appellate Body Decision in the Hormones Case and the Meaning of the SPS Agreement
- 4 The Salmon Case: Evolution of Balancing Mechanisms for Non-Trade Values in WTO
- 5 Lotus Eaters: Reflections on the Varietals Dispute, the SPS Agreement and WTO Dispute Resolution
- 6 Regulatory Purpose and “Like Products” in Article III:4 of the GATT (with Additional Remarks on Article III:2)
- 7 The WTO Standard of Review in Health and Safety Disputes
- 8 Expert Advice in WTO Dispute Settlement
- 9 Domestic Regulation, Sovereignty and Scientific Evidence Requirements: A Pessimistic View
- 10 Time for a United Nations' “Global Compact” for Integrating Human Rights into the Law of Worldwide Organizations: Lessons from European Integration Law for Global Integration Law
- Index
5 - Lotus Eaters: Reflections on the Varietals Dispute, the SPS Agreement and WTO Dispute Resolution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Series
- Introductory Remarks
- 1 A Map of the World Trade Organization Law of Domestic Regulation of Goods
- 2 The WTO Impact on Internal Regulations: A Case Study of the Canada–EC Asbestos Dispute
- 3 Reflections on the Appellate Body Decision in the Hormones Case and the Meaning of the SPS Agreement
- 4 The Salmon Case: Evolution of Balancing Mechanisms for Non-Trade Values in WTO
- 5 Lotus Eaters: Reflections on the Varietals Dispute, the SPS Agreement and WTO Dispute Resolution
- 6 Regulatory Purpose and “Like Products” in Article III:4 of the GATT (with Additional Remarks on Article III:2)
- 7 The WTO Standard of Review in Health and Safety Disputes
- 8 Expert Advice in WTO Dispute Settlement
- 9 Domestic Regulation, Sovereignty and Scientific Evidence Requirements: A Pessimistic View
- 10 Time for a United Nations' “Global Compact” for Integrating Human Rights into the Law of Worldwide Organizations: Lessons from European Integration Law for Global Integration Law
- Index
Summary
In the international arena, dramatic events often expose the law's underlying conceptual and doctrinal fault lines. The September 11 attacks (and responses), the Pinochet litigation, and the International Court of Justice's opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons amply demonstrate how extraordinary events can highlight the limits of traditional international law doctrines and principles.
Surprisingly, apparently garden-variety disputes can also reveal much about the underlying tensions in the international legal system. The Varietals dispute, which apparently involves nothing other than a straightforward application of the SPS Agreement, is such a case. The panel and Appellate Body reports in this dispute reveal much about the function of WTO dispute resolution and the purposes of international trade law. More importantly, like other “great” WTO cases – such as Beef-Hormone and Shrimp-Turtle – the Varietals dispute directs our attention to the shifting relationship between the expanding reach of international regulation and state's regulatory autonomy, and hence to some of the most important questions regarding both globalization and the status and scope of contemporary international law.
While a full defense of these claims is beyond the scope of this chapter, I will highlight several features of this understudied but remarkably rich case to outline an argument about what the Varietals dispute teaches us about both the current state – and our understanding – of international trade law. To do so, this chapter will proceed in six parts. Part I introduces the factual background to the Varietals dispute.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Trade and Human Health and Safety , pp. 153 - 189Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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