GoJIL Vol. 4, No. 3 (2012)
The Supplement of Deficiencies in the Complaint Within the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism
Ana Constanza Conover
Abstract
This paper analyzes the underprivileged status of developing countries as complainants in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. After addressing the existing special and differential treatment provisions under the DSU, the competences of WTO panels, the role of complaints and the experience of developing countries as complainants within the WTO DSM, the author proposes an amendment to Article 7 of the DSU that would allow panels to supplement deficiencies in the complaints of developing-country and least-developed country Members, to compensate for a general lack of financial and human resources in these countries. Such amendment, as a means to correct defective or incomplete motions filed by the complainant party to a dispute, would enable panels to correct mistakes in the citation of legal authority and to remedy any deficiency found in the requests for the establishment of WTO panels, as well as the complainants’ first written submissions.
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