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175.More information
The dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization appears as the central pillar of the multilateral trading system and main efficient tool for the implementation of the international trade law. The first part of the article aims at pointing out the main characteristics of this dispute settlement mechanism. As a global one, it has to be used by the Members in order to solve all the disputes rising among them when they apply the different WTO agreements. As an integrated mechanism, it has been established within the Organization as the only one to be used instead of taking unilateral action. That means abiding by the agreed procedures and respecting judgements. Therefore, the rule of law sounds as the ground basis of the mechanism, ensuring its efficiency and legitimacy. The second part deals with the main procedure provided by the dispute settlement understanding (DSU), which does resemble a judicial one. The different stages (consultations, panel and appeal) aim at guarantying a fair and equitable procedure based on the rule of law, in a quasi-judicial form. If condemned, the Member's measure has to be brought into conformity with WTO Law. Thus, the main originality of the mechanism relies on the possibility of taking authorized counter-measures in order to pressure the Member that fails to comply with the DSB's recommendation. The rule of law, the strict delays, and the higher automaticity in the adoption of the reports by the so-called “reversed consensus” tend to reinforce the security and the predictability of the multilateral trading system.
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