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How the Eu Defends its Non-Trade Objectives Before the Wto: an Analysis of Sps/Tbt Disputes
Ferdi De Ville
Sažetak
The European Union is at the same time one of the staunchest
defenders of a liberal and multilateral trading order and often the
most radical regulator in protecting the health of citizens and the European
and global environment. This might be problematic when ‘protective’
regulations at home are perceived as ‘protectionist’ measures
abroad. This article looks at a particular arena where the EU has to
confront this potential contradiction: the World Trade Organization’s
dispute settlement system. How does the EU reconcile its free trade
ambitions with its regulatory stringency there? It is found that the EU
manages to act consistently before the WTO courts by refraining from
pressing charges against other countries’ sanitary and phytosanitary
and technical measures and, as a third party, speaking out for the
defendant by advocating discretion in deciding on and maintaining
the appropriate level of protection. That the EU is so much on the ‘protection’
side of the continuum before the WTO courts is explained by
its own early losses in some high-profile, sensitive WTO disputes in
combination with the more risk-averse stance of the European public.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
131647
URI
Datum izdavanja:
17.12.2014.
Posjeta: 1.202 *