The Sources of WTO Law and their Interpretation

In this incisive book, Petros C. Mavroidis examines the complex practice of interpreting the various sources of World Trade Organization (WTO) law. Written by a leading expert in WTO scholarship, the book serves as a broad grounding in the legal theory of the WTO contract and its sources, as well as its application in practice.
 
Delving into the workings of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and its use within the WTO courts, the author provides a critical assessment of the interpretation of the WTO contract and illuminates the role of WTO adjudicators and the Secretariat in clarifying obligations. Mavroidis then explores the uncertainty and distortion that emerge as a result of the discretion from adjudicators invited by the VCLT, explaining why this matters and offering steps towards resolving these issues.
 
Providing an expansive analysis of the interpretation of WTO treaties, this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students in the field of WTO law, as well as international trade and economic law more broadly. Its discussion of the possible future of dispute settlement, particularly its proposal for a re-evaluation of the judicial selection process, will also prove insightful to practitioners in this area.

Contents:

Introduction to The Sources of WTO Law and their Interpretation 1. What are sources of law and why do they matter? 2. The statutory definition of WTO sources of law 3. The WTO primary law 4. The WTO secondary law 5. Sources and general principles of (WTO) law 6. The interpretative elements of WTO sources of law 7. Practice … and its discontents 8. Noisy judgments, legal uncertainty, and beyond: cut the coat according to the cloth Annex 1: key provisions of the DSU Annex 2: Section 3 of VCLT, Interpretation of Treaties References Index