The Principle Of Good Faith In WTO Legal System

The Principle of Good Faith is a basic principle of both municipal law and international law. It governs the exercise of rights of both individuals and states. As to civil law, the Principle of Good Faith is one significant basic principle in modern contract law and even in the entire civil law. It is widely recognized by all most every country's civil law around the world, and plays a very important role in civil law sphere. The Principle of Good Faith then enters the realm of international law, and becomes one of the most basic criteria and basic principles of international law, dominating the exercise of state rights. A state should act in accordance with good faith, including mainly the fulfillment of treaty obligation in good faith and the prohibition of abuse of right. Judicial decisions of ICJ and arbitral awards of all kinds of arbitral tribunals develop the Principle of Good Faith from all aspects. The Principle of Good Faith has an even greater use in WTO, especially in the field of WTO dispute settlement. If a dispute rises, WTO members should participate in these proceedings for dispute settlement in good faith. DSB should interpret treaty provisions according to customary rules of public international law in good faith. The Appellate Body has for several times affirmed the status of the Principle of Good Faith in WTO dispute settlement, and has admitted the pertinence of this principle in several cases. The Principle of Good Faith is a general principle of law and that of international law. It regulates the WTO agreements and other related agreements. WTO members should implement WTO obligations in good faith, and WTO treaties should be interpreted in good faith. It can be said that every single part of DSB, including the panel, appellate body, and arbitrator, may observe the Principle of Good Faith in dispute settlement.This article has three chapters besides the foreword and conclusion.Chapter One summarizes the general legal basis of the Principle of Good Faith. It begins with an introduction about the essence of this principle, its origin, and its functions and its application, in order to show its civil law basis. Then it introduces the international law basis of the Principle of Good Faith, including its status in international law and its application in treaty implementation, in the exercise of state rights, in the protection of trust interests and estoppel.Chapter Two explains the connotation and extension of the Principle of Good Faith. In the first instance, it explains the status of this principle in WTO, trying to reveal the connotation of this principle with the help of WTO document provisions and dispute settlement practice. Then it explains the extension of the Principle of Good Faith, which includes pacta sunt servanda, estoppel, prohibition of abuse of rights, protection of legitimate expectations, and etc.Chapter Three discusses in detail the application of the Principle of Good Faith in WTO. In the first place, it introduces DSB' s obligation to interpret WTO treaties in good faith, which includes the applications of the general rule of interpretation and special rules of interpretation in good faith. Then it introduces the due process obligation that embodies good faith, i.e. due process obligation of DSB and due process obligation of dispute settlement participants. Finally, for the problems existing in the implementation of DSB 's decisions, it gives suggestions on how to improve the legal liability system for violation of this principle. Chapter Three is the major part of this article.