How to Successfully Manage Conflicts and Prevent Dispute Adjudication in International Trade

The growing body of WTO jurisprudence can help facilitate rules-based negotiations as a way of avoiding formal litigation more than ever before, and developing countries are now in a position to reap the benefits of the WTO dispute settlement system to solve trade problems without ever having to submit a formal dispute. The paper explores challenges that developing countries face in trying to resolve conflicts outside the formal WTO system. Recommendations for developing countries are made on two levels. Domestically, capacity building for government officials is crucial, supported by institutional structures allowing proper administration of trade agreements along with information and communication protocols with the private sector. Internationally, developing countries must foster greater activism in the institutional framework of the WTO, for example by participating in the different committees and bodies of the WTO. And, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) should be taken more seriously by developing countries and be given a formal – even compulsory – footing in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) as a way of managing trade conflicts.