The EU Member States in the WTO – Status, obligations and the effects of the WTO law

Horváthy, Balázs and Knapp, László (2024) The EU Member States in the WTO – Status, obligations and the effects of the WTO law. RECHTSKULTUR. pp. 233-248. ISSN 2568-4469

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Abstract

The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization is a mixed agreement, therefore both the European Union and its Member States are members of the WTO. For the Member States, this status of ‘double membership’ raises complex issues: although the WTO membership of the EU countries gives rise to their responsibilities under the international law, the framework for the exercise of these responsibilities is, at the same time, shaped by their obligations under the EU law. This article aims to examine this challenging issue and its major question is how this intersection of international as well as EU law can practically determine the responsibilities of EU Member States for the implementation of WTO law. The analysis focuses on two major aspects of this question. First, the article examines this special status of the EU Member States in the WTO and determines their responsibilities as well as distinguishes it from the responsibilities of the EU. Second, it explores the effects of the GATT as well as WTO law and how the EU Member States are obliged to implement directly these obligations in the light of development of CJEU case law.

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