Originially from: World Arbitration and Mediation Review (WAMR)

Comparison of the Dispute Settlement Mechanisms
Under the Turkey-Israel FTA and NAFTA
by Tankut Aydin
Foreign Trade Expert, Turkish Prime Ministry; Lt., Military
Academy, Turkey, 1988; J.D., Ankara University, Turkey, 1993; LL.M.,
Tulane University, 2000
I. North American Free-Trade Agreement
The main purpose of the North American Free-Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) is the establishment of a free-trade area between Canada,
Mexico, and United States.1 The Agreement attempts to eliminate trade
barriers with respect to goods and services; to promote conditions of fair
competition; to increase investment opportunities; to provide adequate and
effective protection for and enforcement of intellectual property rights; to
create effective procedures for the implementation and application of the
Agreement, for its joint administration by the three countries, and for the
resolution of disputes; and to establish a framework for further trilateral,
regional, and multilateral cooperation.2
The Dispute Settlement Regimes
NAFTA establishes five distinct and fully developed dispute
resolution procedures depending on the issue in dispute.3 There is a main
dispute settlement mechanism provided for general disputes arising under
the terms of NAFTA (Chapter 20).4 In addition, NAFTA provides four
separate, although similarly modeled, dispute settlement mechanisms for
the review of antidumping and countervailing duty determinations