GATT and WTO Agreement: Legal Relationship Explained
This paper examines the legal relationship between the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement, drawing on Mavroidis's 2008 analysis. It explains how WTO jurisprudence—rather than legislative fiat—has resolved the relationship between GATT and the WTO Agreement, while legislative means govern GATT's relationship with other Annex 1A multilateral agreements. The paper discusses how the WTO Appellate Body treats the WTO Agreement as a single integrated instrument, the role of Annex 1A in trade-in-goods disputes, and the hierarchy of provisions when conflicts arise between GATT and other multilateral agreements. The Indonesia–New Zealand horticultural products dispute is used as an illustrative case.
- Introduction: Mavroidis and the GATT–WTO Relationship: Mavroidis's framework for resolving GATT–WTO conflicts
- GATT as an Annex to the WTO Agreement: Appellate Body treats WTO Agreement as one instrument
- GATT and Annex 1A Multilateral Trade Agreements: GATT's links to other Annex 1A trade-in-goods agreements
- Hierarchy of Provisions and Conflict Resolution: Annex 1A agreements prevail over GATT in conflicts
- WTO Appellate Body and Legislative Deference: How Appellate Body defers to legislative understandings
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds abstract legal doctrine in a concrete dispute (Indonesia–New Zealand horticultural products case), giving readers a real-world anchor for understanding GATT–WTO hierarchy.
- It clearly distinguishes between two resolution mechanisms—jurisprudential and legislative—allowing the reader to appreciate the dual nature of the GATT–WTO relationship.
- The paper accurately represents Mavroidis's scholarly argument and supports it with WTO procedural evidence, demonstrating engagement with both primary and secondary sources.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses a secondary scholarly source (Mavroidis) as a theoretical framework and then tests that framework against primary institutional sources—WTO dispute records and procedural rules. This two-layer approach, theory supported by primary evidence, is a standard and effective method in international trade law writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by introducing Mavroidis's central distinction between jurisprudential and legislative resolution of GATT–WTO conflicts. It then establishes GATT's status as a WTO annex, moves to GATT's relationship with other Annex 1A agreements, explains the hierarchy of provisions when conflicts arise, and closes by returning to Mavroidis's argument about Appellate Body deference, supported by WTO dispute-settlement procedure. The argument builds logically from foundational status to applied conflict resolution.
Introduction: Mavroidis and the GATT–WTO Relationship
In his 2008 book From GATT 1947 to GATT 1994, Mavroidis argues that the relationship of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement and its many understandings has been resolved by WTO jurisprudence rather than by legislative fiat. Conversely, the relationship of GATT with other annexes has been resolved through legislative means. This distinction forms the analytical foundation for understanding how GATT operates within the broader WTO legal framework.
GATT as an Annex to the WTO Agreement
The WTO Appellate Body has consistently maintained that the WTO Agreement is one agreement and that GATT is one of its annexes. The legal implication is that GATT disciplines must be construed in a manner that takes into account the WTO Agreement as a whole. Accordingly, GATT must be read in light of the WTO Agreement, given that it exists as the World Trade Organization's umbrella treaty for trade in goods.
This principle was illustrated in New Zealand's complaint regarding measures imposed by Indonesia on the importation of horticultural products, animals, and animal products. The WTO Appellate Body ruled that GATT measures must be adopted in consideration of the WTO Agreement.1 In that dispute, New Zealand argued that certain Indonesian measures were inconsistent with provisions of GATT 1994, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the Import Licensing Agreement, and the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection. The Appellate Body not only involved third-party member countries in the dispute resolution process, but focused on ensuring consistency between GATT and the WTO Agreement. As a result, the GATT measures adopted by Indonesia were required to be interpreted in light of the WTO Agreement.
Bibliography
World Trade Organization, 'DS477: Indonesia – Importation of Horticultural Products, Animals and Animal Products' (World Trade Organization, 2017) accessed 26 January 2019.
World Trade Organization, 'The Process – Stages in a Typical WTO Dispute Settlement Case' (World Trade Organization, 2018) accessed 26 January 2019.
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