Legal Effects and Enforcement Limits of the WTO Dispute Settlement Rulings in the European Union

In the global regime of international trade law, the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization plays a central role in ensuring compliance with multilateral trade rules. Nonetheless, the legal effects of WTO dispute settlement rulings within domestic legal orders remain inherently limited. This article examines the interaction between WTO law and EU law, focusing on the enforcement limits of WTO rulings, as well as the structural tension between external trade obligations and the autonomy of the EU legal order. The article explores the normative framework of the WTO dispute settlement system and analyzes the scope of trade-restrictive remedies as envisaged by the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The article also examines the EU Customs Union as an exception under Article XXIV GATT and its legal implications for WTO compliance. In addition, the article explores the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of EU concerning the direct and indirect effect of WTO law. Moreover, it evaluates the consequences of the limited enforceability of WTO rulings in the context of trade protectionism and regionalism, focusing on the ongoing crisis of the Appellate Body of WTO.