The World Trade Organisation and its Dispute Settlement Mechanism
The TRIPS Agreement, as mentioned above, was a part of the package adopted as a result of the Uruguay Round. The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (hereafter Final Act) included not only a series of trade agreements but also an agreement seeking to transform GATT into a fully-fledged organisation, the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO, having superseded the GATT as of 1995, has taken over the administration of all the substantive and procedural agreements included in the Final Act7 . This includes firstly the GATT, which generally regulates trade in goods, an Agreement on Agriculture, an Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, an Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, and an Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. This also includes an Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures, an Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures as well as new agreements like the TRIPS Agreement and the General Agreement on Trade in Services8 . This indicates the breadth of issues covered under WTO-related agreements.
In the field of intellectual property, the role of the WTO remains limited. This is due to the fact that while the TRIPS Agreement is administered by the WTO, it is still WIPO that administers IPR issues on a day-to-day level. Further, the TRIPS Agreement does not establish international IPR standards but minimum standards, which have to be introduced at the national level.
There is, however, at least one major area where the WTO is directly relevant in the field of intellectual property. One of the perceived shortcomings of WIPO, as mentioned earlier, was that it lacked a strong dispute settlement mechanism. This aspect was addressed in the Uruguay Round negotiations not only for the specific case of IPR but also more generally for agreements administered by the WTO. The result is the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, which is a part of the package deal of the Final Act9 . The Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO is one of the elements that sets the WTO apart from most other international organisations where dispute settlement tends to be weak or non-binding. In the WTO, the dispute settlement system is compulsory for all member states and compliance with the rulings and recommendations of the Dispute Settlement Body are given special attention 10 .
Notes and References
7 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation, Marrakech, 15 April 1994, 33, International Legal Matters 1144 (1994) [hereafter WTO Agreement].
8 See General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
9 Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, 33 International Legal Matters 1226 (1994) [hereafter Dispute Settlement Understanding]
10 Another feature of the dispute settlement system is that it is subject to tight time limits and usually the whole procedure is completed within eighteen months.