Shall We Talk? Judicial Communication between the CJEU and WTO Dispute Settlement

In this paper, ‘judicial communication’ refers to the reference made by a tribunal, during the process of adjudication, to the decision and/or practice of another tribunal. This contribution looks into the communication between two major international adjudicators, namely, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO DSM). The research shows that the communication approach adopted and activities carried out by each of the adjudicators significantly differ from the other; and this is mainly caused by the different perception of the referencing adjudicator towards the law applied and the decisions made by the adjudicator being referenced. While the communication is ongoing, a number of important questions remain unanswered, including the fundamental enquiry as regards the legal basis and consequences of such inter-jurisdiction communication. It is thus the task of the adjudicators involved to elucidate these