Enhanced Third Party Rights under the WTO Dispute Settlement System

Abstract

Enhanced third party rights are an instructive topic when examining the appropriateness of procedural invention by the World Trade Organization (WTO) adjudicators. This is because the foundation for those rights are not clearly indicated under the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) and granting or rejecting enhanced rights is left in the hands of the WTO panels. To date, enhanced rights have been requested in 26 cases: 9 requests have been approved and the rest have been rejected. However, the granting or rejection of such rights by the panels was not always persuasively decided, and the criteria for granting those rights remain vague. This necessitates a comprehensive and critical analysis of enhanced third party rights and it is hoped that such an analysis will contribute to a more predictable and fairer implementation of an enhanced rights system.