3 Sources of Law and Principles of Interpretation

Subject(s):

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties — Sources of international law — State practice

This chapter discusses the sources of World Trade Organization (WTO) law, which are the covered agreements that appear in Appendix 1 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing Settlement of Disputes (Dispute Settlement Understanding or DSU). These agreements include provisions of various other international agreements, which should also be regarded as sources of WTO law. However, the covered and incorporated agreements do not exhaust the WTO sources of law. Additional sources of WTO law include state practice, secondary law, implied powers of WTO adjudicating bodies, and rules of public international law that may have relevance through the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT).