Early dispute settlement in the GATT

One of the most successful features of international trade law, as represented by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and later by the WTO, is its dispute settlement system. Already at the start of the negotiations setting up the GATT in 1947, it was realised that for a multilateral trading regime to function efficiently there needed to be rules on how to settle disputes between contracting parties or members. The GATT thus provides the basic rules for the settlement of disputes in its Articles XXII and XXIII, rules largely inspired by Article 93 of the Havana Charter, an agreement which never came into force.