Les sanctions dans le droit de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce
(2012)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Coppens, Philippe
- Abstract
- (en) The law of the World Trade Organization (WTO) determines how to settle disputes that arise when a member state accuses another of violating its obligations. It establishes an exclusive and compulsory judicial mechanism, by which a member state may have the dispute decided by a panel and, on appeal, by the Appellate Body. In case of violation and if the respondent state does not comply with its obligations, the complainant state may be authorized to suspend some of its obligations towards the defendant. The thesis is dedicated to this suspension of obligations, which is generally considered as the sanction of WTO law. The thesis studies the system of sanctions, which is particularly developed and effective when compared to other sanctions of international law. After presenting and criticizing the theoretical foundations generally put forward by lawyers and economists to explain this system, the thesis proposes an additional explanation inspired by the institutional theory developed by French writers of the early twentieth century. Sanctions are then the sign of the WTO developing its own power and imposing its decisions on its member states. Free trade disciplined by rules appears as a form of collective interest, in contrast to the usual idea of market opening in the interest of individual States. This perspective also implies that WTO sanctions can no longer be understood as rebalancing of mutual obligations of States imposed when one of them breaches the contract, but as a constraint to enforce common rules upon all Members, ultimately for the benefit of international traders.
- Affiliations
Citations
Culot, H. (2012). Les sanctions dans le droit de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/158257