- One of the pivotal works on the WTO, indispensable for scholars of international trade law and practitioners involved in trade disputes
- Provides comprehensive coverage of all areas within the WTO's scope, including most-favoured-nation, national treatment, subsidies, and agricultural trade, with a particular emphasis on the Dispute Settlement System
- Examines the effect of the WTO on national legislation and its interaction with other areas of law, such as competition law and intellectual property
- Features special chapters on trade and developing countries, environmental protection, and investment
New to this edition
- A fully restructured chapter on the WTO's sources of law and principles of interpretation; the other chapters are fully updated and revised as necessary in the light of developments since 2006; Michael Hahn has been added as a new author
The WTO is one of the most important intergovernmental organizations in the world, yet the way in which it functions as an organization and the scope of its authority and power are still poorly understood. This comprehensively revised new edition of the acclaimed work by an outstanding team of WTO law specialists provides a complete overview of the law and practice of the WTO.
The authors begin with the institutional law of the WTO (such as the sources of law and remedies of the dispute settlement system), then tackle the principal substantive obligations of the WTO regime (including tariffs, quotas, and MFN). They then move on to consider unfair trade, regional trading arrangements, and developing countries. In its final section the book deals with the consequences of globalization: firstly, where free trade is seen to be incompatible with environmental protection and, secondly, where WTO law confronts legal regimes governing issues of competition and intellectual property.
Readership: Scholars of WTO law, international trade law, and the law of international organizations; government and NGO policy-makers and legal officers concerned with the WTO or international trade law; practitioners involved in WTO dispute settlement; students of scholars of disciplines which relate to the WTO, such as economics, business, and international relations