Consensus Analysis, State Practice, and Majoritarian Activism in the WTO

Abstract

World Trade Organization (WTO) judges regularly assess aggregate state practice and international standardswhen they adjudicate claims under Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and Art. XIV of the General Agreement on Trade inServices (GATS). How they do so has helped to determine the institutional evolution of the WTO, given the paralysis of its legislative organs. In this comment, we con-sider the reports in the EC-Seal Products dispute in light of this view, as well as theory and evidence of a comparative nature.