Book Reviews

Palmeter, David and Petros C. Mavroidis, Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization - Practice and Procedure. The Hague, London, Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1999; Pp. xvi, 313. Index.

One of the greatest achievements of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations which led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995 was the creation of a new, uniform and binding dispute settlement mechanism. Codified in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), this Agreement modifies and elaborates Articles XXII and XXIII of GATT 1947, which had hitherto governed the settlement of disputes between members of the GATT. Two key features of the new system are especially important: firstly, the DSU is applicable to disputes under any of the Multilateral Trade Agreements within the WTO framework. Thus, the phenomenon called `GATT à la carte' - i.e. the members themselves could decide which Agreements to join - which impaired the functioning of the old dispute settlement mechanism, has come to an end, also with regard to dispute settlement. Secondly, the establishment of a Panel as well as the adoption of the Panel (and Appellate Body) Reports no longer require consensus among the contracting parties of the GATT but, by contrast, unanimity is needed to prevent the adoption of a Report by the General Council in its guise as Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). This introduction of `negative consensus' can be regarded as one of the most dramatic changes in the GATT system. Since the winning party can always block negative consensus with its vote, this means that there is now an obligatory quasi-judicial dispute settlement procedure for economic disputes on a worldwide scale.

Certainly, however, the new dispute settlement system can only meet all expectations if its provisions are fully understood by those who must use it. Thus, Palmeter and Mavroidis, in their newly published book, aim to provide a manual for `practitioners, for diplomats and government lawyers who prepare and present cases to dispute settlement panels' of the WTO. These authors are exceptionally suited to this task since they have worked both as scholars and as practitioners in the field for a long time.

The first chapter of the book provides a historical introduction, starting with the failed attempts to create an International Trade Organization (ITO), moving on to the negotiation of GATT and finally to the WTO. The authors then examine in detail the jurisdiction of the Dispute Settlement Body under the DSU. In Chapter 3 the sources of law relevant to the settlement of disputes are analysed, following the order established in Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. On this basis the authors go on to explain each stage of the panel process in one chapter. Chapter 4 thus examines the panel process itself and addresses the legal problems that have been raised, such as burden of proof and standard of review issues. The next chapter is devoted to special rules and procedures for developing countries and under each of the Multilateral and Plurilateral Trade Agreements covered by the DSU. The appellate process is set out in Chapter 6, followed by a chapter on adoption and implementation of reports and another on remedies. Chapter 9 sums up some of the findings in a short conclusion. The book closes with a table of cases, a bibliography, an index and appendices containing relevant excerpts from the texts of the Agreements.

What Palmeter and Mavroidis have achieved is the first complete and systematic introduction to the WTO dispute settlement system. Although this is by no means the first book on the subject, earlier publications have dealt largely with the old GATT system, case law and policy questions (most notably E.-U. Petersmann's The GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement System) or international dispute settlement in general (including J. G. Merrills' International Dispute Settlement). Palmeter and Mavroidis focus exclusively on the new system, without discussing in depth academic questions and policy issues related to international dispute settlement and the way these questions were solved (or not solved) in the DSU. This lack of scholarly `depth' (exemplified by a chapter entitled `Conclusion', which is a mere two pages long) can be regarded as a shortcoming of the work. Issues like the appropriate standard of review in panel proceedings, which are the subject of dozens of articles in all relevant periodicals, are treated in two paragraphs without quoting any literature for further reading (the bibliography is also very `concise'). But then the book is not a comprehensive and conclusive commentary on the law of the DSU, nor does it purport to be one. Palmeter and Mavroidis intended to produce a manual for practitioners. With their well-written, clearly-structured and easily accessible book they have certainly fulfilled this objective.

Oliver Landwehr

Institut für Völkerrecht, LMU Munich

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