Study On The Ordinary Meaning Interpretation In The WTO Dispute Settlement

Among the World Trade Organization(WTO) dispute settlement practice, interpreting the ordinary meaning occupies a lot of space. Moreover,among the cases which have ruled,almost each one of them involves interpreting the ordinary meaning of terms.Ordinary meaning interpretation not only lies in the heart of treaty interpretation,but also be essential to the results of ruling.Thence, how to properly interpret the ordinary meaning has become an important issue which can not be ignored.And in the process of interpreting the ordinary meaning,dictionary plays a vital role.But due to the shortage of dictionary itself,the interpreter may fall into the predicament of the polysemy.Furthermore,owing to the over reliance on using the dictionary occurs an embarrassing situation that the ordinary meaning equals with the dictionary definition,et cetera.In consideration of these facts,this article will focus on the ordinary meaning interpretation in the WTO dispute settlement.This article synthetically uses text analysis, comparative analysis and empirical analysis method. First of all, it discusses the origin and definition of ordinary meaning interpretation by analyzing article 31.1 of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and its draft.Secondly,it analyzes the relationship between the ordinary meaning and other interpretation elements by comparative analysis method.Thirdly, it explains the specific application of the ordinary meaning in the WTO dispute settlement by empirical analysis method.This article consists of five parts:The first part is the introduction of the ordinary meaning interpretation.This part starts from the origin and definition of ordinary meaning interpretation by analyzing the draft history of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,the WTO cases and the academic debate.Then it explains the importance of the ordinary meaning interpretation.The second part displays the relationship between the ordinary meaning and good faith,dictionaries,context and object and purpose.The third part discusses the application of the ordinary meaning interpretation in the WTO dispute settlement. It analyzes the specific applications of ordinary meaning in the WTO dispute settlement.The fourth part demonstrates three issues lying in the process of interpreting the ordinary meaning.One is during the process of interpreting the ordinary meaning,dictionary itself has some shortages.The other issue will be the dictionary definition’s improper use.The last one is the mechanical approach using by the interpreter during the ordinary meaning interpretation.The fifth part states the resolving strategies directing to the forth part.This part puts forward three ways.One is to interpret the ordinary meaning by properly using dictionary.The other one is to interpret the ordinary meaning case-by-case.The last strategy is to use a holistic approach to interpret the ordinary meaning of term.It unites the ordinary meaning,the context and the object and purpose to solve the problem of polysemy.