Analysis Of Forum Shopping Under The Dispute Settlement Mechanism Between RTAs And WTO

In recent years,as the Doha Round negotiations of World Trade Organization have stagnated,countries have adopted regional economic organizations to promote further economic and trade development.With the increase of regional economic organizations,the WTO system has gradually been affected and impacted.According to article 24 of the "General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade",the " Enabling Clause " of the Tokyo Round and Article 5 of the "General Agreement on Trade in Services",the members of the WTO can have the identity of RTAS members at the same time.Therefore,the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO and RTAs has jurisdiction over the same dispute.When the complaining parties submit a same dispute to different dispute settlement mechanism,it will lead to the “Forum Shopping”.This phenomenon will bring a series of issues such as the conflict of adjudication,which is not conducive to the stability of international trade order and the legal order of international trade.In view of this,it is very necessary to coordinate the jurisdictional concurrence between RTAs and WTO dispute mechanism to avoid the phenomenon of " Forum Shopping ".Firstly,this article introduces the case of " Argentina — Definitive Anti-Dumping Duties on Poultry from Brazil " and " Mexico-Tax Measures on Soft Drinks and Other Beverages ".Through the case introduction,it presents the manifestation of " Forum Shopping " phenomenon more intuitively.Secondly,on the basis of the case introduction,it analyses the causes of the phenomenon of "Forum Shopping " from the legal and practical aspects.Thirdly,the paper further analyzes the negative results brought by the “Forum Shopping” phenomenon.From the perspective of outcome of the referee,it will produce conflicting adjudication,from the perspective of the “Exclusive Jurisdiction Clause” of the RTAs,it will make the clause lose its significance,and then draw a conclusion that measures should be taken to avoid the occurrence of " Forum Shopping ".Finally,this paper proposes to avoid the occurrence of “Forum Shopping” by applying the principles of international law and introducing the concept of “admissibility”.