Introduction to the WTO Dispute Settlement System

The WTO Agreement is a treaty negotiated by dozens of countries over the seven-year span of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. It comprises agreements setting out a delicate and carefully achieved balance of rights and obligations for WTO members in respect of a vast array of measures affecting trade, such as tariffs, internal taxes, subsidies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, and services, to name but a few. Some of these agreements were negotiated and concluded in successive rounds throughout the lifespan of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the predecessor to the WTO. Others build on and further elaborate previously negotiated agreements. Except for the plurilateral agreements, the WTO Agreement was adopted by the WTO members as a “single undertaking”. This means that in agreeing to be bound by the WTO Agreement, WTO members must accept the entirety of the WTO Agreement and may not pick and choose among the constituent trade agreements. In so agreeing, WTO members consider the balance of negotiated rights and obligations across the entirety of the WTO Agreement.