The World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism

The relationship between trade and environmental protection is one that has provoked much by way of debate. While there is recognition within WTO legal texts that trade liberalisation can have an impact upon environmental protection, much of the more contentious issues pertaining to the relationship between trade and the environment have been left to the WTO dispute settlement system to pronounce on. This chapter assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the WTO dispute settlement system as a forum for resolving disputes involving environmental matters. This chapter argues that while the jurisprudence of the WTO dispute settlement system has been sensitive to the idea that countries should have sufficient policy space to enact measures for environmental purposes, significant question marks remain over a number of questions such as how non-WTO law should be treated within the WTO dispute settlement system. With an increasing range of environmental threats facing the world, not least the spectre of climate change, change is needed within the WTO to better ensure a mutually supportive relationship between trade and environmental protection