Facilitating access to dispute settlement for African members of the World Trade Organization

The reasons why African Member States have not pursued a single formal complaint since the inception of the WTO legal system are complex and multilayered. They may be characterised as four key barriers: first, the significant cost and high levels of expertise in law and economics required; second, the lack of appropriate domestic mechanisms such as legislation implementing WTO law, procedures for receipt and investigation of complaints, and avenues for raising industry awareness; third, the inadequate remedy of trade sanctions under the dispute settlement mechanism; and fourth, issues of politics, arising from the power imbalance between donor and donee nations, and priorities, particularly those more pressing than trade, such as poverty and AIDS. This article seeks to explore these barriers on the basis of data collected by the author through interviews conducted in 15 African WTO Member states. Further the author has examined and suggested possible solutions in each case.