An Analysis Of The Possibility Of Invoking WTO Agreements In Private Lawsuit And Its Enlightenment To China

At current international level, particular that of WTO, the disputants are governments and only governments can be disputants under WTO DS procedure, whereas the potential beneficiaries may be traders and commercials entities as well as individuals, who, in some situations, are accorded little opportunities for input into the DS procedures. Of course, governments may heed those interests, but large governments in particular will also trade them off at the nation-state level. However, things may come different in European Union, as the theory of the direct effect, which is developed through the EU case law, may entitle private entities with legal position and right directly relying on international agreement to claim damages before courts, including both domestic courts and European Court of Justice. This dissertation is very aimed to demonstrate the possibility of claiming rights inside of EU by relying on WTO Agreements, and to advice Chinese authorities when they are facing the same situations.