The World Trade Organization and Regional Trade Agreements: Bridging the Constitutional Credibility Gap

While the world is witnessing a proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been ineffective in the verification of the WTO compliance of these regional arrangements. This dismal performance casts doubt on the WTO's constitutional role in international trade relations. The Doha Round negotiators tried to tackle the issue through the adoption of a new Transparency Mechanism for RTAs that was provisionally put into force in December 2006. However, more fundamental changes are needed. To close the WTO's credibility gap concerning the monitoring of RTAs, this article proposes a pragmatic approach derived from the rich theoretical literature analyzing compliance with international legal norms. It involves concrete proposals to clarify and streamline the WTO's substantive law and monitoring process applicable to RTAs. With respect to the actual enforcement of the WTO's disciplines in the field of RTAs, a distinction is drawn between overall legality of RTAs and the compatibility of concrete trade policy "measures". The WTO dispute settlement organs should focus on the latter. In contrast with the reasoning of the WTO's Appellate Body, the overall legality of specific regional arrangements should rather be the subject of improved transparency and diplomatic peer review on the basis of the strengthened benchmarks that are put forward in the article.
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