On The Rules Of Evidence Of The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism

Evidence plays an important role both in domestic settlement and in the WTO dispute settlement. In the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, to make an objective assessment of the factual issues, Panels' analysis must be built on the basis of sufficient evidence. However, there's no unified and clear provisions related to rules of evidence in the WTO legal system.And in the pratice of the WTO dispute settlement,the rules of evidence are different from one case to another,which causes many controversy.This paper exploits multiple study methods, such as case study, comparative analysis, normative analysis, bases on provisions related to rules of evidence in the WTO legal system, combined with the interpretation and instructions made by Panels and Appellate Body of the rules of evidence in specific cases,according to every kinds of rule in the process of judicial proof in national Law of Evidence, from obtaining evidence, questioning evidence, burdening proof to attesting evidence,discusses the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Then the author makes suggestions to the perfection of the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.Besides,the author notes the enlightenment to China,in order to better safeguard our national interests and to promote the smooth operation of the multilateral trading system.The paper is divided into four parts besides the preface.The author outlines the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,analyzes the specific rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,the perfection of the rules of evidence and the enlightenment to China respectively, and makes a conclusion in the end.Part 1 Summary of the Rules of Evidence in the WTO Dispute Settlement MechanismThis part introduces the rules of evidence firstly.Then the author analyzes the importance and resources of the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Part 2 Analysis of the Rules of Evidence in The WTO Dispute Settlement MechanismThis is the main part of the paper. In this part, the author discusses the rules of obtaining evidence, questioning evidence, burdening proof and attesting evidence according to the process of judicial proof in detail. At the same time the author finds the problem of the rules of evidence in pratice,to serve for Part 3.Finally,the author elaborates the rules of confidential evidence.Part 3 The Perfection of The Rules of Evidence in The WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism And The Enlightenment to ChinaAfter the analysis of the problems in the pratice of the WTO dispute settlement in Part 2,the author makes suggestions to the perfection of the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,and recommendates the enlightment to China to help our government in the WTO dispute settlement.Part 4 ConclusionIn this part,the author summarizes the views of the paper.The author pointes out, there's no unified and clear provisions related to rules of evidence in the WTO legal system.However, Panels and Appellate Body have enriched the the rules of evidence in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in the pratice,and delveloped a system gradually.It has a strong function to the WTO dispute settlement.And the system consists of the origins,the rules of obtaining evidence, the rules of questioning evidence, the rules of burdening proof and the rules of attesting evidence.Moreover,it will be more perfect in the pratice of the WTO dispute settlement.