Community Interests in World Trade Law

Abstract

The authors argue that WTO law protects the community interest of promoting an essentially rules-based and fair world market. The core concern of WTO law is to protect trade-conducive structures that enable and further global economic activity for the purpose of generating overall welfare. The foundational principles of national treatment and most favoured nation aim at protecting the equality of competitive conditions between WTO members. Derogations from WTO law are strictly limited whenever these principles are affected. The WTO enforcement regime entitles virtually every member to bring a complaint if a non-discrimination obligation is breached. Although bilateral elements have long been dominant and still prominently exist in the WTO legal order, communal elements are slowly overlapping and superseding bilateral elements as part of the legal and institutional transformation of the world trade system brought about by the founding of the WTO, in particular the establishment of the Appellate Body.

Keywords: International Law, Community Interests, International Trade, World Trade Organization (WTO), WTO Dispute Settlement Body.