Mapping the Law of WTO Accession

WTO AT TEN: GOVERNANCE, DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, Merit E. Janow, Victoria Donaldson and Alan Yanovich, eds., Juris Publishing, Inc., Forthcoming

GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 237

GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 237

84 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2007

See all articles by Steve Charnovitz

Steve Charnovitz

George Washington University - Law School

Abstract

The member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) joined either as original members or through the Article XII accession process. To date, over 20 members have joined through accession including most notably China in 2001. Recently, Vietnam completed its accession negotiations and Russia made do so sometime in 2007. Governments joining the WTO through accession have to abide by WTO rules, as all members do, but applicant governments are also often asked to accept individualized rules tailored for them through negotiations. These special rules have not received extensive examination in previous scholarship. The purpose of this article is to put forward a framework for understanding these market-oriented rules negotiated between applicant governments and the WTO. The first part of the article defines and illustrates the categories of applicant WTO-plus, applicant WTO-minus, incumbent WTO-plus, incumbent WTO-minus, and some residual categories. The second part of the article considers the potential enforceability of these special provisions under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding by examining options for a theory of the case as to why enforceability is justified. The article includes that accession commitments are enforceable as secondary WTO law under Article XII, rather than as a treaty between an international organization and a state.

Keywords: World Trade Organization, WTO, trade, accession, international organization, China, dispute settlement, trade negotiations, transparency, asymmetric bargaining, discrimination, protectionism

JEL Classification: D73, F13, O19, K33, P45

Suggested Citation

Charnovitz, Steve, Mapping the Law of WTO Accession. WTO AT TEN: GOVERNANCE, DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, Merit E. Janow, Victoria Donaldson and Alan Yanovich, eds., Juris Publishing, Inc., Forthcoming, GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 237, GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 237, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=957651

Steve Charnovitz (Contact Author)

George Washington University - Law School ( email )

2000 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
United States

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