Liberalising Trade in the EU and the WTO: A Legal Comparison, by Sanford E. Gaines, Birgitte Egelund Olsen, and Karsten Engsig Sørensen (eds) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012), 503 pages, £75, Hardcover, ISBN 9781107012752

In spite of the fact that the EU and GATT/WTO are not new international entities, and that free trade as defined and promoted by the multilateral trade system “greatly inspired the model of peace through economic integration within the European Economic Community founded in 1957” (see, in the volume here presented, Thomas Cottier, Matthias Oesch, Direct and Indirect Discrimination in WTO and EU Law, pp. 141-175, at p. 143), only a few scholars devoted at least part of their research activity to the comparison of the two systems –inter alia, we recall the seminal monographs also edited by Joseph Weiler (The EU, the WTO and the NAFTA: Towards a Common Law of International Trade?, OUP, 2001), and Grainne De Búrca and Joanne Scott (The EU and the WTO: Legal and Constitutional Issues, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001), together with the volumes authored by Federico Ortino (Basic Legal Instruments for the Liberalization of Trade – A Comparative Analysis of EC and WTO Law, Portland, Hart Publishing, 2004), Marco Slotboom (A Comparison of WTO and EC Law: Do Different Objectives and Purposes Matter for Treaty Interpretation?, London, Cameron May, 2006), and Joachim Wiers (Trade and Environment in the EC and the WTO, Groningen, Europa Law Publishing, 2003). The book under review is a complete and excellent analysis, and a very rich overview, of the current “consolidation period” characterizing trade liberalization in the EU and WTO systems, where, since at least a decade, political will for multilateral or supranational economic initiatives is missing. Gathering the relevant and detailed contributions of 21 major experts, and updated at the beginning of 2012, the monograph is edited by three Professors of the Aarhus Universitet (Sanford E. Gaines, Birgitte Egelund Olsen and Karsten Engsig Sørensen), being part of the research project on “WTO Law and EU Law: Legal Conflicts and Integration (2007-2011)” funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research – Social Sciences. The ultimate purpose of the book is the promotion of “a constructive coordination of policies for the benefit of the many private enterprises, governments and policy-makers that must live and work in both systems simultaneously” (Sanford E. Gaines, Birgitte Egelund Olsen, Karsten Engsig Sørensen, Comparing Two Trade Liberalisation Regimes, pp. 3-17, at p. 8). In order to realize its aim, beyond Part I, devoted to a general illustration of the methodology, content and results of the research, the volume has been organized into three further sections: Part II, setting out in a comparative perspective the essential structure, modalities and principles governing the legislative and judicial decision-making in the EU and the WTO; Part III, devoted to the key substantive principles shaping trade liberalization in both systems; and Part IV, concerning a series of specific topics analyzed from the perspectives of “general” harmonization needs between the EU and the WTO, where “general” means that harmonization is not here intended as the adoption of common disciplines, but in the sense of the research of a coordination and a shared approach of the two systems towards particular problems.