The project

This is the first annual report of the American Law Institute (ALI) project Principles of Trade Law: The World Trade Organization. The project's object of study hardly needs any motivation. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement is one of the most extensive international agreements ever. With 145 Members, ranging from the poorest to the richest countries on the globe, the Agreement covers the vast majority of international commerce in goods and services, and also contains an agreement on the protection of intellectual property.

The WTO contract contains a rarity in international relations – a compulsory third-party adjudication clause – embodying the idea that trade conflicts should be resolved through multilateral adjudication rather than through unilateral actions. As is the case with many contracts, many of the terms in the WTO Agreement are opaque, leaving much discretion to adjudicating bodies to determine the actual content of the obligations. The case law thus provides more than a mechanical execution of clear-cut rules.

The WTO contract and its interpretation by the WTO adjudicating bodies are subject to intensive policy debate, conducted largely by politicians and non-governmental organizations. There is also an ongoing debate among trade law practitioners and legal scholars concerning the appropriate interpretation of the law. Academic economists, on the other hand, with some notable exceptions, very rarely intervene in these discussions.

The aim of this project is to bridge this divide by providing systematic analysis of WTO law based in both Economics and Law.