Community Interests in World Trade Law

Abstract

This chapter examines the question on whether World Trade Organization (WTO) law protects community interests, revisiting the interrelated scholarly debates about whether the WTO’s legal system resembles a ‘constitution’ or a ‘contract’ and whether WTO obligations are ‘bilateral’ or ‘collective’. The first part of the chapter addresses challenges that are brought forward against the WTO system pursuing community interests; in particular that it only sets forth bilateral obligations, disregards nontrade values, and is unfair to developing countries. The second part examines structural elements of WTO law that are indicative of community interests, namely the non-discrimination principles, the limits on derogability, and the design of enforcement mechanisms. The chapter concludes that WTO law protects the community interest of promoting an essentially rules-based and fair world market. It argues that the core concern of WTO law is to protect trade-conducive structures that enable and further global economic activity for the purpose of generating overall welfare.