The dispute mechanism of the World Trade Organization resorts to international arbitration among its members to resolve trade issues. Arbitration is used for the implementation of the recommendations of the panels or appellate rulings and to determine the level of compensation in case of noncompliance with the rule of a panel. In all, some 138 countries are members of the WTO, including all Latin American countries and most of the Caribbean nations, and hence are subject to the dispute resolution procedures of the trade organizations as well. But it would not be appropriate to end this survey without a further note of warning and reservation. By that I mean that the baser instincts of the legal profession are prevailing in the conduct of the proceedings.
Jurisdictional arguments proliferate.
Discovery has reached intolerable levels. Hearings involve far more witnesses and oral argument. Briefing consumes far more words than are necessary to develop the sense of a just result. Final awards are delayed unconsciously beyond the time periods the parties have a right to expect and when they finally appear, months or years after the hearing, they are immensely complex and long-winded. Motivated or reasoned decisions majority, concurring and dissenting are now increasingly long and turgid, and too full of legal learning.