Research On Non-violation Complaints In GATT/WTO

Non-violation complaints was derived from the bilateral trade agreements in the 1920s and particular in the mid-1930s, which began to use provisions to protect contracting parties from the nullification and impairment of benefits by measures not directly addressed in the agreement itself and allow demands for relief. The similar provisions were absorbed into the GATT23.1(b) known as non-violation complaints which states: if any contracting party should consider that any benefit accruing to it directly or indirectly under this Agreement is being nullified or that the attainment of any objective of the Agreement is being impeded as the result of the application by another contracting party of any measure, whether or not it conflicts with theprovisions of this Agreement......the contracting party may, with a view to thesatisfactory adjustment of the matter, make written representations or proposals to the other contracting party or parties which it considers to be concerned.Though non-violation complaints was very few in the history of GATT, it really had protected the benefits of tariff concessions. In other word, non-violation complaints has a function of "a procedural fastening of the loophole". WTO took this article as a whole and used to TRIMS, TRIPS and GATS. In addition, WTO completed the procedures of non-violation complaints through DSU26.The panel reports have set forth three elements of a non-violation complaint: (1) application of a measure by a WTO member, (2) a benefit accruing under a WTO agreement, (3) nullification or impairment of the benefit as a result of the application of the measure. Non-violation complaints is fundamental to pacta sunt servanda which is the basic norm of treaty law and is beneficiary to the establishment of the strict liability in the international law.China has been one of the contracting parties of WTO and faced to the condition of more applications of non-violation complaints. It is urgent to do more research on non-violation complaints which is the most intriguing aspect of the WTO dispute settlement system.