On The Interaction Between European Communities And WTO: Law, Policy And Practice

The dissertation is to explore the complicated interactive relationships between European Communities (EC) and the WTO. Since the topic is too vast and extensive, the author focuses on EC foreign external trade relations law and narrows it into three specific important issues, i.e. the direct effect of WTO law, EC’s utilization of WTO dispute settlement mechanism, and the adaptation of EC Common Commercial Policy (CCP) to facing the challenge of WTO law. The dissertation consists of five Chapters.Chapter One elucidates that the special legal status of EC in the GATT/WTO is determined by its international legal personality which was conferred by EC Member States and recognized by the third countries around the world. EC participated extensively in GATT activities as a member de fato and played a major role in concluding the Uruguay Round negotiations. With the establishment of WTO in 1995, EC ultimately obtained the full membership in the multilateral trade system, thus EC and its Member States have got the double memberships within another international organization, which is a kind of breakthrough in public international law. At present, EC has played a leading role and as driving force in the Doha Round negotiations.As the full member of the WTO, undoubtedly EC shall be bound by WTO law, thus the status and effect of WTO Agreements in EC legal system is a question needing probe. Starting from the doctrine of direct effect in EC law, Chapter Two extensively analyzes this question with the emphasis on the case law of the European Court of justice (ECJ) over the last thirty more years. ECJ denied the direct effect of WTO Agreements in EC legal system not on the basis of legal factors, but rather on political motives. Specially, some factors, such as the protection of the overall interest of the Community, the maintenance of the internal political structure and balance of powers, etc. determined ECJ’s conservative stance towards the direct effect of WTO agreements.The internal effect of DSB’s rulings is the extension of the direct effect of WTO agreements. Chapter Three probes in depth on the issue, with the analysis of heated debate on the legal effects of DSB’s rulings in international academic circle and the recent ECJ case law. The ECJ denied the direct effect of DSB’s rulings through the method of derogating the international legal force of DSB’s rulings. It still maintained the conservative stance towards the direct effect of DSB’s rulings, on basic reasons such as the freedom of the institutions to reach a mutually acceptable solution and the principle of reciprocity, etc., thus the private parties in the EC can not invoke the relevant DSB’s rulings to claim non-contractual damages in the ECJ.Chapter Four analyzes the EC’s policy and practice towards the utilization of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. On the latest statistics, EC is the most frequent user of the dispute settlement mechanism just next to the USA throughout the WTO, which reveals that EC has made full use of the dispute settlement mechanism positively. However, EC has another attitude towards the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. As to the adverse DSB rulings, EC almost delayed, even denied in performance. The defects in the WTO "trade retaliation" procedure and the complexities in the CCP decision-making mechanism are the factors inducing the delay in performance.Chapter Five explains the adaptation of EC Common Commercial Policy to facing the challenge of WTO law. Specifically, the adaptation and reform of CCP operation mechanism, new trade protection policy instruments and the Preferential Trade Agreements paid much attention on the compatibility and coordination with WTO rules on surface. However, these kinds of adaptation and reform have some deep motives for political and economic considerations, which are beneficial for the EC to safeguard its economic and trade interest around the globe.In the Conclusion part, the author briefly sums up the characteristics of EC’s policy and practice towards WTO, and then proposes some advice and suggestion on some issues, such as how to utilize the WTO dispute settlement system and how to deal with China-EC trade frictions.