My interest in the problems of interpreting the WTO Agreements is a long-standing one. My first monograph on the WTO focused on the implementation of the WTO Agreements, and interpretation is very much a part of implementation. When that book was published, however, interpretation was not that big an issue. Some of the inspiration for this work also comes from my earlier research on IMF conditionality. Anyone working on the legal aspects of IMF conditionality at that time had to engage with the works of Joseph Gold – in particular his work on interpretation. Judge Rosalyn Higgins's work on problems and processes no doubt provided the idea for a problems-based approach to the subject, although it is a matter of judgement whether my work is in any way process oriented. Another inspiration for the writing of the current book is irritation (which can also be a motivating factor for research) stemming from the preoccupation in the existing literature on the interpretation of the WTO Agreements with the interaction of international environmental and human rights norms with the WTO Agreements. Diverse perspectives even on a seemingly technical subject can have significance in the development of international law.

This monograph was researched and written while I was visiting Fudan Law School, Shanghai, China; the Law School, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and the Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Osaka, Japan. Of course, a substantial part was also completed at my base in the Law School, University of Manchester. I am particularly grateful to Professor Lu Zhian, Professor Khaw Lake Tee and Professor Mari Nagata for their very kind hospitality during my sojourns in China, Malaysia and Japan, respectively.