Can Authoritative Interpretation under Art. IX:2 of the Agreement Establishing the WTO Modify the Rights and Obligations of Members?

Article IX:2 of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization is a provision of ‘high potential relevance’. It gives the Ministerial Conference and the General Council the exclusive authority to adopt interpretations of the Agreement establishing the WTO, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the other Multilateral Trade Agreements. It is undisputed that these interpretations are legally binding for all Members and the adjudicating bodies of the Organization. This essay discusses the most important and controversial question concerning this provision, namely whether authoritative interpretations can modify the rights and obligations stemming from membership of the Organization. Since this is essentially a question of treaty interpretation, the article follows the structure of Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), bearing in mind that ‘[i]nterpretation pursuant to the customary rules codified in Article 31 of the Vienna Convention is ultimately a holistic exercise that should not be mechanically subdivided into rigid components.’ First, however, the practice on Article IX:2 will be addressed briefly.