Five Years of China’s Wto Membership. EU and US Perspectives on China’s Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism

ABSTRACT China s accession to the WTO represents a goal achieved after nearly fifteen years of exhausting negotiations. However, many legal, political and social problems have not yet been tackled in terms of achieving real implementation of WTO provisions throughout the territory of the People s Republic of China. The Protocol requires a general and deep application of transparency, which will radically influence and change the Chinese legal system. There are a wide range of transparency related problems such as the formal publication of laws and regulations, procedural fairness in decision-making, the judicial review and the non-discrimination principle. The special precautionary instrument, the Transitio nal Review Mechanism (TRM), was included in the Protocol of China s Accession to the WTO, as requested by the US and supported by the EU. The TRM has the objective of monitoring and enforcement of implementation of WTO commitments, promoting transparency and the exchange of information in trade relations with China. Bilateral engagements and the multilateral forums are both essential to bring China into full compliance with its WTO commitments.