Studies On Jurisdiction Conflict And Coordination Between The Dispute Settlement Mechanisms Of World Trade Organization And Regional Trade Agreement

World Trade Organization(“WTO”)starts globalization and the development of international trade integration.Whereas the stagnation of Doha Round negotiation has aroused the concerns of various countries about the international trade system.To obtain more economic advantages or dominant position in the global market,states have strengthened regional trade cooperation and concluded Regional Trade Agreement(“RTA”)under the legal framework of WTO to seek greater trade liberalization and trade development.Nowadays,the increasing amount of RTA has a constant influence on the integrity of the international trade law system.One prominent problem is the jurisdiction conflict between WTO and RTA Disputes Settlement Mechanisms(“DSM” or “DSMs”).Since many countries are contracting parties of RTA and WTO,both of which have something in common in the regards of the substantive content and overall structure,both WTO DSM and RTA DSM have jurisdictions over many trade disputes between WTO member states.Furthermore,the DSM in RTA is often unable to integrate smoothly with the WTO DSM.Therefore,the issue of jurisdiction conflict between WTO and RTA DSMs arises where one of the disputing parties file a claim of the same subject matter before two forums concurrently.Jurisdiction conflicts between WTO DSM and RTA DSM not only results in the wastes international judicial resources but also impact the international trade legal system to some extents.Therefore,it is of great significance to coordinate settle this problem and prevent the fragmentation of international law.The thesis regards the concept of the jurisdiction conflict and possible solutions to these questions as its primary questions.To settle the primary question,the thesis summarizes three subsequent questions by analyzing four related cases including Mexico-Soft Drinks case,Argentina-Poultry case,Peru-Agricultural case and Brazil-Tyres case.Specifically,these subsequent questions are 1)when a disputing party launch a lawsuit in WTO DSM,but the counterparty challenges the jurisdiction of the WTO alleging that the RTA DSM have jurisdiction over the dispute and should exercise such jurisdiction,how should the problem be solved? 2)Is there a violation of good faith when the disputing party agrees on a waiver concerning their substantive rights in RTA and then brings a lawsuit of the substantive rights before WTO DSM? Where is the line to draw to determine whether a disputing party effectively waives its right to resort to WTO?(3)When the RTA Dispute Settlement Body(DSB)has made a judgment on a dispute and one disputing party appeals to the WTO DSM,how should the problem be addressed?Based on the primary and subsequent questions mentioned above,the thesis firstly analyzes the legal framework of both WTO and RTA and then explores potential reasons to these questions.Jurisdiction of WTO DSM is compulsory and exclusive while RTA jurisdiction varies from different RTA clauses.Concerning the reasons to the primary questions,it is found that WTO contracting parties are allowed to enter into RTA in accordance with WTO rules concerning the RTA and WTO DSM has compulsory and exclusive jurisdictions over the disputes arising out of the WTO covered agreements.The thesis argues that forum convenience or abuse rights cannot settle the problem of jurisdiction conflict between WTO and RTA DSM since they lack legal basis and may create legal unpredictability.Rather,the primary problem could be addressed appropriately by distinguishing jurisdiction and admissibility.Where both WTO DSM and RTA DSM have jurisdictions over same disputes,the WTO DSB should take the situations or background of the case into consideration and determine whether legal impediments are preventing the WTO DSB from exercising its jurisdiction.Finally,the thesis tries to coordinate the jurisdictional conflicts between WTO and RTA DSMs.The thesis contains four parts.The first part is to analyze the specific cases related to WTO and RTA DSMs’ jurisdiction conflict.The second part is to analyze WTO and RTA DSMs and clarify the relationship between both.The third part is to clarify the characteristics of WTO and RTA to further figure out the causes of the conflict of jurisdiction between both forums.The fourth part comes up with the corresponding coordination solution which is to distinguish the jurisdiction and the admissibility.