Remedies Under WTO Law

Abstract

This article discusses the nature of the remedies that are available to Members of the WTO under the dispute settlement mechanism introduced by the Dispute Settlement Understanding. It will argue that the rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes under the WTO have not greatly expanded or modified the jurisdictional powers of panels when it comes to recommendations of remedial action, vis‐à‐vis the powers once exercised by panels under the GATT system. It will also show that the performance of the primary rule through the ‘withdrawal of the measures concerned where these are found to be inconsistent ’, is a prospective remedy and the primary form of reparation under the WTO dispute settlement system. It lists those instances in GATT and WTO case law where panels have braved recommendations that go beyond a mere bringing into conformity or withdrawal of the measure. To conclude, the article looks at what the future may hold and considers how much further WTO law could or should go in the field of remedial action, drawing to the extent possible from the notions of state responsibility in general international law.