Summary

The GATT/WTO system creates rights and obligations only for Member States and does not directly confer such rights and obligations on private actors. The effect of this is that private actors who are primarily and directly affected by the GATT/WTO illegal acts of another state will not have standing before any adjudicatory or arbitral tribunal to safeguard their interests - there is no private party access mechanism in the system. Instead, they have to follow the tortuous path of trying to persuade their own governments to bring action on their behalf against the ...