Arab Countries' (Under) Participation in the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism
35 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2018
Date Written: August 22, 2018
Abstract
The WTO dispute settlement system has been in effect for nearly 17 years. Of those 130 cases, no Arab country has ever initiated a case before a panel as a complainant, and Egypt has been the only Arab country that was a respondent in a case. The purpose of the present article is two-fold. First, the article examines the reasons as to why Arab countries do not actively participate in WTO dispute settlement proceedings. Trade volume, lack of technical expertise, financial strains, political relations, enforcement, and language problems each play a role in Arab countries under-participation and are discussed herein. Second, the article provides possible avenues through which Arab countries can enhance their presence in the WTO dispute settlement process. In the process of examining these issues, the article highlights the case(s) in which Arab countries participated in the WTO dispute settlement system.
Keywords: WTO, Arab Countries, Dispute Settlement Mechanism
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