Compliance with WTO dispute rulings

International Relations scholars and trade experts agree that the WTO is one of the most effective global institutions. They also agree that the WTO dispute settlement procedure is one of the key elements that has contributed to this success and to the process of legalisation in the global trading system more generally. Empirical support for this claim relies heavily on data that captures formal characteristics of the dispute settlement process itself such as the initiation of disputes, their escalation and the rulings at the panel or appellate body. However, quantitative studies rarely focus on what happens after the settlement has occurred. Given that available data on GATT dispute settlement suggests that almost a third of the defendants may not have complied with adverse rulings (Busch and Reinhardt 2002), the examination of whether rulings of the WTO are in fact implemented, that is complied with, is deemed to be necessary in assessing the effectiveness of the institution.

Research so far relies on data by Hudec (1993) which coded the outcomes of GATT disputes in terms of whether the respective dispute resulted in concessions by the defendant. We propose to collect new data on the implementation of WTO verdicts that goes beyond the rather crude Hudec measure of no, partial and full policy concessions. In particular we will focus on assessing the extent of substantive implementation and the time it takes to implement WTO verdicts based on surveys of and interviews with the country representatives at the WTO as well as trade experts.

References
Busch, Marc L. and Eric Reinhardt. 2002. Testing International Trade Law: Empirical Studies of GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement. In Daniel M. Kennedy and James D. Southwick (eds.) The Political Economy of International Trade Law: Essays in Honor of Robert Hudec. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hudec, Robert E. 1993. Enforcing International Trade Law: The Evolution of the Modern GATT Legal System. Salem, NH: Butterworth Legal Publishers.