1 - Introduction

Summary

The project

This is the third volume of the Reporters' Studies undertaken in the context of the American Law Institute (ALI) project Principles of World Trade Law: The World Trade Organization (WTO). The aim of the project is to provide a systematic analysis of WTO law based in both Economics and Law. This year's focus has mainly been on disputes that came to an administrative end during the year 2003, either because they were not appealed or because the appeal process concluded. Each dispute has been evaluated jointly by an economist and a lawyer. The general task of this two-person team is to evaluate whether the ruling “makes sense” from an economic as well as a legal point of view and, if it does not, whether the problem lies in the legal text or in the interpretation thereof. The authors do not always cover all issues discussed in a case, but they seek to discuss both the procedural and the substantive issues that form the “core” of the dispute, as they see it.

The Reporters' Studies have, this year, been drafted by the following persons, who have been appointed Reporters for the project by the ALI:

1. Gene M. Grossman, Jacob Viner Professor of International Economics, Princeton University, USA.

2. Henrik Horn, Professor of International Economics, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden.

3. Robert L. Howse, Alene and Allan F. Smith Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School, USA.

4. Petros C. Mavroidis, Professor of Law, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and Edwin B. Parker Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, USA.

5. […]