A Study On Complaint-related Issues Of The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism Based On The US Definitive Safeguard Measures On Imports Of Certain Steel Products

Where there is a trade, there is a dispute. Under the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism (hereafter refer as DSM), a dispute is submitted to Dispute Settlement Body (hereafter refer as DSB) after it went through the consultation. As Request for the Establishment of a Panel is an essential section in the settlement of a dispute, especially in a dispute of several parties, studies on the relationships of the applicants and between the applicants and their counterpart are very important. Great significance was attached to such studies because they are useful and helpful in protection of our country's trade interests in a dispute-settlement under DSM.The UNITED STATES - DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON IMPORTS OF CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS(hereafter refer as the US 201 Steel Case), broke out on March 5^th, 2002, is the first momentous trade dispute for China since its entrance to WTO and is a case with"historically maximun applicants and legal disputes". Thus study on this case, associated with DSM under WTO, shall lead to a guiding significance on protection of our trade interests in such disputes in the future by exercise of WTO rules and DSM. Studies on this case , however, so far mainly focused on narration and legal disputes about it. On contrary, procedural study on this case is rare, especially procedural study on the section of Request for the Establishment of a Panel. So the writer in this thesis is trying to do a procedural study on the section of Request for the Establishment of a Panel of this case, by association with rules and regulations in the DSU. After analysis of our participation in this case, the writer brings forward the conclusion and apocalypse for our country's better performance in such trade disputes in the future by cultivation of our awareness of regulation and exercise of WTO rules and regulations.Besides the foreword, this thesis consists of three chapters, and approximately seventeen thousands words.Chapter one of this thesis brings forward these complaint-related issues. Part I presents the backgrounds and three phases in settlement of the US 201 Steel Case: the consultation, the Panel procedure and the Appellate Body procedure. Part II puts forward these legal issues in the complaint: the differences between legal disputes put forward by each parties, then introduces the processes from associated consultation to multiple complaints.Chapter Two analyses the complaint-related issues under DSM of WTO. Part I analyses the legal nature of DSM under WTO from the following aspects: transformation from "power-oriented" to "rule-oriented", negative consensus and compulsive jurisdiction, reasonable judicial structure and procedures, enhanced judicial administration and judicial independence, applied laws and law interpretation. Then part II focus on the subject, object and qualifications of taking a complaint to the DSB, analyses the connections between the consultation phase, Request for the Establishment of a Panel and the Panel phase. Part III analyses the relations between applicant and its counterparts, and relations between each applicant under a multi-complaint.Chapter Three analyses the defects of China's participation in the settlement of the dispute and brings forward corresponding countermeasures. Part I narrates and makes a detailed analysis of China's participation in settlement of the US 201 Steel Case. Then on this basis part II analyses the defects in our country's participation of the settlement of the dispute. Part III finally bring forward some useful suggestions and measures our country may take in a multiple-complaint in the future.