Are WTO Sanctions Unjust?
(2013) Social Justice — Location: Zurich (21.October.2004)
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- Abstract
- (en) This chapter presents a particular problem of justice in the sanction system of the World Trade Organization. After a brief description of the functioning of sanctions in the WTO, I explain (based on the example of the EU) why WTO rules have no direct effect in the member states. The combination of the rules on sanctions and the absence of direct effect implies that sanctions are not suffered by those who benefit from the violation of WTO rules. In practice, this mechanism is unjust: even if we assume that the benefit conferred to some economic agents by violating WTO rules is justified by legitimate wealth redistribution, the burden associated with such benefit falls on other economic agents, chosen independently of distributive justice in the violating state. I finally attempt to generalize my findings by showing that this justice problem can be seen as a consequence of legal personality.
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Culot, H. (2013). Are WTO Sanctions Unjust? In Merle, Jean-Christophe (ed.) (ed.), Spheres of Global Justice. Volume 2 Fair Distribution - Global Economic, Social and Intergenerational Justice (p. p. 527-538). Springer. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/163145