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Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of the WTO DSU, its efficiency in maintaining a rules-based trading system, and development from the GATT. The DSU has greatly enhanced the fight for the implementation of trade arrangements with the use of the two-tier review system and making apprehensions obligatory as opposed to the investigations of GATT that were not determinative. However, the system has encountered some serious challenges which include; lengthy practical timelines, high costs of participation, and excessive reliance on the Appellate Body, which has recently been rendered ineffective due to the inability to appoint new members. This paralysis has beggared the DSU and instability and vulnerabilities of the structure have been identified in the implementation process. Also, there is inconsistency in the flow of credit since developed nations dominate the system and because developing countries have less bargaining power thanks to their weak financial capabilities. Therefore the authors of the study concluded that despite the innovations achieved so far by the DSU substantial changes are called for in the listed aspects. Poor performance indicators call for the imposition of penalties for delay, improving supervision, offering more assistance to the weaker nations, and the reform of the Appellate Body. These reforms are crucial to guarantee that the DSU is capable of playing the roles that were envisaged when it was adopted to promote a fair and effective mechanism for the resolution of trade disputes.