The Impact of the WTO: The Environment, Public Health and Sovereignty [Hardcover]

Trish Kelly (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1847200818 | ISBN-13: 978-1847200815 | Publication Date: November 7, 2007

Trish Kelly's book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the nine environmental and health disputes that have been adjudicated at the WTO since 1995. The investigation concludes that criticism of the WTO has been overstated. The disputes suggest that the WTO has been able to balance trade, environmental and health objectives. Surprisingly, nations do in fact retain sovereignty over environmental and health policy. The discussion illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of the dispute resolution process and closes with suggestions for improving it. This book will appeal not only to academics, be they economists, lawyers, political scientists, and academic libraries, but also practitioners, policymakers, and members of consumer, environmental, and business organizations who follow the debates surrounding the WTO's influence on environmental and health regulations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Kelly's exhaustively researched and highly informative discussion of the nine WTO disputes involving environmental protection and public health represents an important scholarly contribution. This book is the most detailed and sophisticated analysis of the role of the WTO's dispute mechanisms in addressing an increasingly important and highly controversial category of trade disputes.'- David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US --David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US

About the Author

Trish Kelly, Data and Research Manager, Office of Federal Programs, Tennessee Department of Education, US

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub (November 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847200818
• ISBN-13: 978-1847200815
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,315,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Narrow, but informative (4.5 stars), June 22, 2008

By 

A. J. Sutter (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Impact of the WTO: The Environment, Public Health and Sovereignty (Hardcover)

Before reading this book, I'd been inclined to believe that the WTO could effectively force member nations to prioritize international trade above values like public health or a clean environment. Trish Kelly (TK) makes a good case that this hasn't clearly happened yet, at least.

TK's argument is based on the nine trade disputes relating to health and the environment that have actually been adjudicated under the WTO's Dispute Resolution Mechanism (most of which included decisions by the Appellate Body). Although in most cases a member's regulations were ruled unreasonable, TK's detailed analysis shows that usually this was because of problems with the member's actual implementation or with evidence, rather than because the regulation was impermissible in principle. In some cases, such as the asbestos case, import bans were even upheld. Moreover, since the "losers" were usually developed countries, they were able to game the compliance phase so that their sovereignty emerged pretty unscathed as a practical matter, too.

TK takes pains to point out lingering ambiguities, such as in the Appellate Body's view of whether public health considerations may be prioritized over commercial ones. She is often highly critical of the legal reasoning of the panels, and even of the Appellate Body, and offers suggestions for improving panel performance. She also describes academic and NGO reaction to many decisions, and includes a sprinkling of cites to critical opinions in the chapter bibliographies. An interesting subplot in the book, relevant for NGOs, is the WTO's evolving attitude toward "amicus curiae" briefs from outside parties. Throughout the book, TK's writing style is dry, but generally clear.

That said, it's important to recognize what this book does and does not do. It does stick to actually-adjudicated cases through early 2007. It does not "address virtually all of the environmental and health controversies surrounding the WTO" (@7). Many disputes under TRIPS relating to drug patents are mentioned only briefly, if at all. TK doesn't conjecture about potential future conflicts, even simply to point out where they might arise (such as concerning biotech seeds under TRIPs). There isn't any discussion of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which has potential impact on health care and on trading in carbon rights, among other pertinent areas.

Also, if you're looking for some background philosophical perspective on sovereignty, the precautionary principle, risk assessment and other broad concepts that provide context for understanding the WTO decisions, you'll need to look elsewhere. TK does discuss the precautionary principle in the specific context of several cases, but implicitly accepts that the burden of proof should be on the party who wants to place limits on action. For an analysis of why this might not be so straighforward, see, e.g., the 2006 article by Alessandra Arcuri available on SSRN. (BTW, the lack of any separate entry for the precautionary principle is just one of features that makes the book's index maddening to use.)

A final limitation is that, aside from a few brief allusions, the book tends to look at the WTO more or less in a vacuum. Generally, other treaties are discussed only to the extent they factored into arguments made by parties to a particular dispute. But many of the most problematic antagonisms between the values of commerce and those of health, environment and freedom from hunger are implicated in bilateral and regional trade agreements. The goal of such agreements is often for developed countries to grab concessions missing from the WTO agreements -- e.g. the US's program of encouraging trading partners to agree to "TRIPS-plus" provisions about intellectual property. It's not necessarily a flaw of the book that it deals with this broad topic with only a passing reference (@189). But if you're really interested in the WTO's impact on those fields, you need to consider this wider context.

This book provides a useful, concise synthesis of reams of information. Its analysis is narrow, but generally even-handed. It should be helpful to anyone wanting to get his or her feet wet in understanding WTO's experience with dispute resolution and with some important social and scientific issues of the day. Just keep in mind that it describes only part of "the impact of the WTO."

5.0 out of 5 stars Examines each of the issues - such as gasoline, hormones, asbestos, GMOs, among others, May 5, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Impact of the WTO: The Environment, Public Health and Sovereignty (Hardcover)

The World Trade Organization has been a highly controversial subject in the past thirteen years of its existence. Trish Kelly, Senior Lecturer at Vanderbilt University, looks to provide a comprehensive analysis on them in "The Impact of the WTO". Kelly asks if perhaps people's criticism over the WTO's practices has been overstated, and examines each of the issues - such as gasoline, hormones, asbestos, GMOs, among others - highlighting both sides of the WTO's impact on all of them. "The Impact of the WTO" is essential to any discussion involving the group and is highly recommended to economics and political science library collections.