Wto Dispute Settlement Mechanism Of The Standard Of Review

One of the key functions of WTO is to review the actions taken by domestic authorities and domestic laws and to make them be according with the related agreements. To what extent should panels and the Appellate Body review determinations of national or regional authorities of Member States, both in terms of facts and law? Should the by guided by a doctrine of de novo review, or should they exercise judicial restraint and thus grant a margin of appreciation to domestic authorities? This is standards of review in WTO dispute resolution.At the outset, this article defines the issue of standards of review (Introduction) and recalls the history of GATT (Section Ⅰ). Then it expounds the Uruguay Round negotiations (Section Ⅱ) and turns to the current WTO texts and the WTO dispute resolution practices (Section Ⅲ). The analysis of the WTO case law to date reveals that On the standards of review of facts, DSU11 and ADA17.6 doesn't permit panels rehear evidences and make a independent judgment on evidences. Panels can assess whether the competent authorities' explanation for its determination is reasoned and adequate only if the panel critically examines that explanation, in depth, and in the light of the facts before the panel. Panels must, therefore, reviews responds to other plausible interpretations of that data. On the standards of review of law, panels engage in a denovo review and interpret the WTO laws by international usual interpretative methods. At the end it evaluates the factors relating to standards of review, including national sovereignty, the aims of WTO, the merits of DSB, the allocation of resources, the specialty, the conflicts between group interests and public interests (Section Ⅳ).