Remedies and the quantification of harm in WTO law

This chapter describes the system of 'remedies' in WTO law, in order to prepare the comparison and evaluation of WTO law 'remedies' with EU competition law sanctions and remedies. Since the law and economics benchmarks that are used for the evaluation relate to the more economic approach to EU competition law and the use of economic thinking and econometric evidence in the rules' application, enforcement, and adjudication, the chapter focuses in particular on the quantification of 'harm' for the purposes of providing remedial relief to the complainant WTO Member. The chapter begins with presenting the basic legal and historical context for remedies in WTO law, including a short explanation of the relation of public international law and of dispute resolution under the GATT 1947 provisions. It then proceeds to present briefly all the types of remedies that are available in WTO law through the DSU for violations and remedies that may be possibly available bilaterally, outside the DSU framework. Thereafter, it focuses on the most important remedy, namely countermeasures, giving an extensive account for the interpretation and application of countermeasures through WTO arbitrations. The aspects that are explored are the level of permissible retaliation, the purpose of countermeasures, and the relation of countermeasures with 'likeness', theories of harm, and effects.