China’s stained Trips record

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: follows this. Preparation and provision of the final panel report to the parties involved in the case takes six months, while three weeks is allotted for the same report to be circulated among WTO members. A further 60 days is set aside for the DSB to adopt the report if there is no appeal lodged. In the case of an appeal, a further three months of negotiations is expected to ensue. It is often argued that the efficacy of the rule of law always depends on the effectiveness of its dispute settlement machinery. Stated differently, if disputes in a particular legal system are settled amicably and judiciously within a stipulated period of time, then one can assume that the writ of rule of law runs well in that system.

Since implementation of the WTO on January 1, 1995 its dispute settlement system has worked well, as some numbers will suggest. In the first ten years of its existence about 300 cases have been brought to the DSB. In fact, the US has taken a very strong beating at the DSB, losing several cases. The victory of smaller countries over bigger powers has certainly played an important role in developing the faith of these countries not just in the DSB but also in the multilateral trading regime. Interestingly, China has a very large number of IPR violations. Let us hope that China will improve its IPR regime and will not force the US from pursuing the IPR cases at the DSB further.