Standard of Review of Dispute Settlement Body (WTO) in Anti-Dumping Disputes

Abstract

Contrasted from the international regime, the 'Dispute Settlement Understanding' of the World Trade Organisation stands aloof from other multilateral dispute settlement provisions in the sense that it is the only mechanism having compulsory jurisdiction over all the Members and its decision requiring complete compliance at both the national and international plane. The structuring of the WTO has been such that the Members are required to streamline their national laws and policies as compatible to the WTO norms and obligations.

Article XXII and XXIII of the GATT, read with the provisions of the DSU, require the establishment of Panels to look into the complaints of the Members vis-à-vis each other as regards (i) 'violation' nullification or impairment action, (ii) 'non-violation' nullification or impairment action, or (iii) 'any other situation' action, as regards international trade transactions under the WTO are concerned.

The standards adopted by these Panels to adjudge these claims, therefore, assume huge significance.

This paper seeks to analyse one such specific standard of review, as applicable to the evaluation of municipal investigating authorities' anti-dumping determinations by the WTO Panels. Quiet peculiar to the WTO dispute settlement system, a specific standard of review has been prescribed towards this end in the Anti-Dumping Agreement and the same forms the basis of analysis in the paper. This paper attempts to trace the factual and legal necessities compelling such a standard and the outcome of its application thereof.

The chapterization of the paper is as under; I. Introduction II. Standard of Review: Meaning and Connotation (A) What is standard of review? (B) Why standard of review? (C) DSU provisions on Standard of Review III. Standard of Review in Anti-Dumping Disputes (A) Background (B) Text of Article 17.6 (C) DSB interpretation of Article 17.6 a. Clause (i) b. Clause (ii) (D) Article 17.6: Reform and future IV. Conclusion V. Select Bibliography

Keywords: Standard of Review, Anti Dumping, WTO

JEL Classification: K33, K40, K41, K49