Implementation of the WTO Agreements in China

The implementation of the WTO Agreements in China has raised great international interest as a result of China’s increasing importance in the world economy and the unprecedented wide range of accession commitments that China has assumed.

This book researches the legal institutions, mechanisms and processes for the WTO implementation in China during more than three years of accession (up to 1 May 2005) and proposes legal solutions to improve the implementation status.

The primary objective of this book is to examine the legal institutions, mechanisms, and processes for implementing the WTO Agreements in the People’s Republic of China (‘China’ or ‘the PRC’).

While the WTO Agreements automatically became part of PRC law, China has always rejected their direct invoke-ability before courts for policy reasons, following the practices of major WTO Members.

It is therefore argued that the key to the WTO implementation in China should be national implementing measures.

Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of three key domestic regimes: market access, domestic regulation, and dispute resolution, it concludes that from the textual perspective most WTO commitments (but especially those on market access) have been complied within the Chinese case, but that the domestic regulatory process has serious problems in terms of uniformity and reasonableness.

In addition, the dispute resolution regime does not achieve the necessary degree of judicial independence mandated under the WTO Agreements. Dr Zhang’s study will significantly enhance the understanding of the interaction between China’s legal and regulatory reforms and the WTO implementation.

It provides key information to both policy makers and practitioners who are interested in this area.

Moreover, by analysing key issues in the WTO implementation process in the Chinese case, his work throws new light on important areas of international economic law.