Sanctions in the WTO: Problems and solutions

This brief contribution on sanctions in the WTO attempts to do three things. First, it overviews the current state of compliance with WTO dispute settlement decisions in order to set the stage for considering how important effective sanctions are to the successful operation of that system. Second, it comments on chapter 16 by Professor Sykes, above and proposes an alteration to the current system of sanctions. Third, it discusses several topics relevant to the calculation and implementation of sanctions in specific cases. The issues treated are: (1) timing considerations; (2) the use of counterfactuals to set the level of sanctions; (3) the use of so-called carousel provisions; (4) causation issues; and (5) how to handle changed circumstances, such as a claim that the violation has been corrected after the sanctions were imposed.