论文题目 U.S. Implementation of Adverse WTO Rulings

作者         Jamie Strawbridge

所属领域 国际贸易法

内容简介        U.S. Implementation of Adverse WTO Rulings: A Closer Look at the Tuna-Dolphin, COOL, and Clove Cigarettes Cases

Critics of the World Trade Organization (WTO) fear that WTO rules can be used to challenge regulatory actions intended to protect the environment, bolster food safety, or promote public health. These fears were brought to the fore by three recent cases concerning the WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement). In those cases, the United States was found to have violated the non-discrimination obligation in Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement, and in particular the “national treatment” obligation, which prohibits “technical regulations” that discriminate against products imported from another WTO member. The challenged measures involved the United States’ “dolphin safe” labeling regime for tuna, its country-of-origin labeling (COOL) regime for meat products, and its ban on flavored cigarettes. But rather than weakening these regulations in order to comply with the WTO rulings, the United States has, in recent months, strengthened its regulatory regimes. This article examines these compliance actions.

If the WTO upholds U.S. compliance steps in some or all of these cases, the United States will have navigated around fears that adverse rulings necessarily lead to weakened regulatory standards. In fact, if the U.S. approaches are affirmed, it could be said that these challenges encouraged “pro-consumer” and “pro-health” outcomes and did not lead to increased access for imports - an ironic twist that may make other WTO members think twice before mounting similar challenges under the TBT Agreement.