Competition between the jurisdiction of WTO disputes settlement bodies and regional trade agreements: lessons and prospects for the EAEU

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between the law of the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements, as well as the competition of their dispute resolution bodies. World practice has proposed several ways to eliminate competition between the jurisdictions of dispute resolution bodies of regional trade agreements and the WTO. One of them is the inclusion in the regional trade agreements of the forum exclusion clause — clauses on the exclusion of jurisdiction. Another approach is the introduction by regional trade agreements into their law of a norm that requires member states to resolve all disputes arising from founding treaties, within the framework of the mechanisms enshrined in them themselves. An example of such a rule is Article 344 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Which approach can be followed by the law of the Eurasian Economic Union and the case law of its judicial body is a question that the author discusses in this article. As a result, the author admits the possibility of treaty making within Eurasian economic union which may resolve the question of the competition between the jurisdictions of the Court of Eurasian economic union and WTO Dispute Settlement Body.

References

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