Under the current WTO framework, the sustainability of international trade hinges on the domestic regulation of WTO members. While WTO law acknowledges members’ sovereign right to regulate, its effectiveness in supporting the implementation of these regulatory measures is debatable. Does the sovereign right imply that WTO members can effectively enact and enforce their national laws and regulations related to sustainable development? This Chapter will address this question. It begins by reviewing the evolution of regulatory autonomy within international trade. Then, it explains the concept of regulatory autonomy in WTO law and presents various scholarly perspectives on the topic. Notably, it focuses on the theory of embedded liberalism, which scholars have widely used in recent years to argue that WTO rules effectively guarantee the regulatory autonomy of members. Exploring this theory will inform my observations on the extent of WTO members’ regulatory autonomy under current WTO rules. Finally, this Chapter systematically analyses the impact of the objective assessment standards of review and analytical frameworks under the WTO Agreements on the domestic regulatory autonomy of WTO members.

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WTO Law’s Constraints on National Regulation

  • Xinyan Zhao

摘要

Under the current WTO framework, the sustainability of international trade hinges on the domestic regulation of WTO members. While WTO law acknowledges members’ sovereign right to regulate, its effectiveness in supporting the implementation of these regulatory measures is debatable. Does the sovereign right imply that WTO members can effectively enact and enforce their national laws and regulations related to sustainable development? This Chapter will address this question. It begins by reviewing the evolution of regulatory autonomy within international trade. Then, it explains the concept of regulatory autonomy in WTO law and presents various scholarly perspectives on the topic. Notably, it focuses on the theory of embedded liberalism, which scholars have widely used in recent years to argue that WTO rules effectively guarantee the regulatory autonomy of members. Exploring this theory will inform my observations on the extent of WTO members’ regulatory autonomy under current WTO rules. Finally, this Chapter systematically analyses the impact of the objective assessment standards of review and analytical frameworks under the WTO Agreements on the domestic regulatory autonomy of WTO members.