Exploring the Rise of Legalization in the World Trade Organization and its Consequences: A Case Study of the Anti-dumping Regime

PhDThis study examines the rise of legalization and its consequences in the trade regime centred on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It observes a continued move to a higher level of legalization in the GATT/WTO over the past sixty years, although the ongoing expansion of legalization is uneven and imbalanced in many aspects. It also observes that the consequences of legalization are complicated. In particular, this study analyzest wo aspectso f the consequenceso f legalization, namely 1) the move to a higher degree of legalization in a particular subject area of the GATT/WTO corresponds to major changes on domestic legislations and practices in that subject area; and 2) a higher degree of legalization provides stronger incentives for WTO Members to build up institutional and legal capacity to more effectively utilize the GATT/WTO dispute settlement mechanism (DSM). Nevertheless, this study notes that the impact of legalization has limitations and legalization is only one of the many factors that shape the domestic systems and the strategic behaviour of trading parties. To exemplify the rise of legalization and its complicated consequencest,h is study empirically examines the pragmatic process of legalization and its consequences in a particular field of the GATT/W`I'O law - Anti-dumping (AD). It sketches the development of legalization in the multilateral AD framework by identifying increased obligation, greater precision and stronger delegation in the regime. It also explores the impact of international legalization on the European AD regime and China's AD-related dispute settlement activities. This study concludes that the evolution of the GATTIWTO system is an illustrative example of the phenomenal rise of legalization in international organizations. The consequences of the proliferation of legalization in the GATT/WTO are however complicated. Effort has been made to update the law and cases to 1 January 2008. For the integrity of the discussion, afew materials dated later than I January 2008 are included