DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SYSTEM TRAINING MODULE: CHAPTER
10
Legal issues arising in WTO dispute settlement proceedings
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10.1
Standing
There is no DSU requirement
for a complainant to have a “legal interest” as a prerequisite for requesting
the establishment of a panel in a dispute.1 Indeed,
complainants have already been allowed to bring complaints against violations
of the WTO Agreement,
even though such violations were to the detriment of other Members.2 However,
the issue of standing (the right to bring a complaint) was not specifically
raised in those disputes. In the one case where the respondent specifically
challenged the complainant’s standing to bring a violation claim under GATT
1994, the Appellate Body was satisfied with the fact that the complainant was
a producer and potential exporter of the product in question. Moreover, the
claims in that case were interwoven with claims under other covered agreements,
for which the complainant’s standing had not been challenged. The Appellate
Body also relied on a Member’s interest in enforcing WTO rules
due to the possible direct or indirect economic effects of a WTO violation.3
