WTO dispute settlement and the study of compliance

The purpose of this research note is to draw on the concept of compliance as developed in international relations theory to point to future avenues of research. It is widely understood that the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system has worked well in the past 20 years. Surprisingly, however, systematic research on compliance with WTO law is still in its infancy.

The research note draws a distinction between first-order and second-order compliance and discusses limitations of existing work and possible ways forward.

This note suggests that more work, both conceptually as well as empirically, needs to be carried out.

Very little systematic research has been carried out on compliance with WTO law.