Surveillance Schemes: The GATT’s New Trade Policy Review Mechanism

This article describes and analyzes the current form of the TPRM, and advances some proposals for its future formation. The article is divided into five parts: Part I deals with the origin and the objectives of the TPRM; Part II analyzes the TPRM scheme and its functioning thus far; Part III presents the legal underpinnings of the TPRM; Part IV reviews and compares the surveillance schemes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the TPRM, since it is my belief that GATT’s TPRM can draw some valuable lessons from the experience of other international organizations; and Part V sets forth conclusions and proposals to strengthen GATT’s newly introduced surveillance scheme.