Legitimising the Illegitimate: Extending Interpretation beyond Reality. The Shrimp Fairytale and its Implications

We live in an ever globalizing world. With greater integration as a result of globalisation it is vital that the international trading system provides a platform that sufficiently supports the ability of all players to benefit from globalisation.1 This platform is referred to as the multilateral trading system which, through the World Trade Organisation provides a series of agreements that seek to regulate international trading activity. The current agreements were negotiated over a period spanning more than a decade, and therefore has to be appreciated within the context of which compromise and agreement were arrived upon. This is especially true as the previous platform, the GATT 1947 is said to have become obsolete as it failed to accommodate developments within the international trading system. Therefore, there are a number of matters that must be weighed when seeking to appreciate the context upon which the foundations that this regulatory system was built upon.