Dispute settlement
Key Issues in WTO Dispute Settlement
This book examines aspects of the operation of the WTO dispute settlement system during the first ten years of the WTO. It covers a representative cross-section of the issues and situations WTO Members have dealt with under the Dispute Settlement Understanding. The book is unique in that it includes contributions from virtually the entire gamut of actors involved in the day-to-day operation of the WTO dispute settlement system: Member government representatives private lawyers who litigate on behalf of Member governments in the system Appellate Body members Appellate Body Secretariat staff and WTO Secretariat staff. It also includes contributions from several academics who closely follow and carefully scrutinize all that goes on within the system. It therefore provides fascinating insights into how the system has operated in practice and how the lessons of the first decade can be applied to make the system even more successful in the years to come.
Foreword
This Handbook explains the rules and procedures of the WTO dispute settlement system explores the practices that have arisen in its operation since its entry into force on 1 January 1995 and provides a comprehensive account of the existing jurisprudence concerning dispute settlement procedures. It also includes useful information on the operation of the WTO dispute settlement system to date including tips about notification procedures templates of working procedures and timetables timelines of actual disputes statistical data etc. The primary purpose of this Handbook is to explain the WTO dispute settlement system to an interested person who may not necessarily have a legal background. With its detailed content and practice-oriented focus it may also serve as a useful reference tool to experienced practitioners of WTO law including not only prospective panelists and private counsel but also government officials from WTO members.
The making of the ‘World Trade Court’: The origins and development of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization
The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) heard and decided its first appeals case in 1996. By 1 January 2005 the Appellate Body had heard and decided 64 appeals from WTO panel reports. The body of case law generated by the Appellate Body over the past nine years is both in quantitative and qualitative terms impressive. The Appellate Body’s case law is highly authoritative and has made a significant contribution to the development of international trade law. The decisions of the Appellate Body in for example US – Shrimp and EC – Asbestos have effectively put an end to complex and sensitive disputes between WTO Members. Both panels and parties in WTO disputes have shown and continue to show much deference to the case law of the Appellate Body. The Appellate Body is undisputedly the most important organ of WTO dispute settlement. The Appellate Body is all but in name the ‘World Trade Court’. The key question addressed in this article is: what explains the prominent status which the Appellate Body and its case law have achieved since 1996? Was the ‘success’ of the Appellate Body and its emergence as the World Trade Court ‘predetermined’ by its constituent instruments or is it primarily the result of other factors that have affected the Appellate Body and its case law in the past nine years?
WTO Bodies Involved in the Dispute Settlement Process
The operation of the WTO dispute settlement process involves the parties and third parties to a case the DSB panels the Appellate Body the WTO Secretariat arbitrators independent experts and several specialized institutions. This chapter gives an introduction to the WTO bodies involved in the dispute settlement system. The involvement of the parties and third parties the primary participants in a dispute settlement proceeding has already been outlined above. The precise tasks and roles of each of the actors involved in the dispute settlement process will become clear in the later chapter on the stages of the dispute settlement process.
Foreword
This updated edition of WTO Dispute Settlement: One-Page Case Summaries has been prepared by the Legal Affairs Division of the WTO with assistance from the Rules Division and the Appellate Body Secretariat. This new edition covers all panel and Appellate Body reports adopted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body as of 31 December 2016.
Introduction to the WTO Dispute Settlement System
The WTO Agreement is a treaty negotiated by dozens of countries over the seven-year span of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. It comprises agreements setting out a delicate and carefully achieved balance of rights and obligations for WTO members in respect of a vast array of measures affecting trade such as tariffs internal taxes subsidies sanitary and phytosanitary measures intellectual property rights and services to name but a few. Some of these agreements were negotiated and concluded in successive rounds throughout the lifespan of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) the predecessor to the WTO. Others build on and further elaborate previously negotiated agreements. Except for the plurilateral agreements the WTO Agreement was adopted by the WTO members as a “single undertaking”. This means that in agreeing to be bound by the WTO Agreement WTO members must accept the entirety of the WTO Agreement and may not pick and choose among the constituent trade agreements. In so agreeing WTO members consider the balance of negotiated rights and obligations across the entirety of the WTO Agreement.
Avant-propos
Cette édition mise à jour de l’ouvrage intitulé « Le règlement des différends dans le cadre de l’OMC : une affaire une page » a été établie par la Division des affaires juridiques de l’OMC avec l’aide de la Division des règles et du secrétariat de l’Organe d’appel. Elle porte sur tous les rapports des groupes spéciaux et de l’Organe d’appel adoptés par l’Organe de règlement des différends de l’OMC au 31 décembre 2014.
The reasonable period of time for compliance with rulings and recommendations adopted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body
The need for a reasonable period of time for the implementation of rulings and recommendations adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) arises in two situations: first when the responding party in a dispute settlement proceeding has been found to have violated WTO rules or otherwise nullified or impaired benefits accruing to the complaining party; and second when the incriminated measure is still in existence at the time when the responding party that has ‘lost’ the case has to inform the DSB of its intentions in respect of implementation. For this purpose a DSB meeting has to be held within 30 days after the adoption of the panel report and if applicable the Appellate Body report.
The Process – Stages in a Typical WTO Dispute Settlement Case
This chapter explains all the various stages through which a dispute can pass in the WTO dispute settlement system. There are two main ways to settle a dispute once a complaint has been filed in the WTO: (i) the parties find a mutually agreed solution particularly during the phase of bilateral consultations; and (ii) through adjudication including the subsequent implementation of the panel and Appellate Body reports which are binding upon the parties once adopted by the DSB. There are three main stages to the WTO dispute settlement process: (i) consultations between the parties; (ii) adjudication by panels and if applicable by the Appellate Body; and (iii) the implementation of the ruling which includes the possibility of countermeasures in the event of failure by the losing party to implement the ruling.
The power of the WTO dispute settlement system
The dispute settlement system of the WTO is one of the most important elements of a rules-based multilateral trading system. By way of introduction to the very instructive chapters that follow I would like to make several observations about the nature of dispute settlement in a trading system based on national sovereignty followed by some comments on how the system is designed to ensure integrity and fairness in the WTO’s adjudicative process.
Prefacio
Esta edición actualizada de Solución de diferencias en la OMC: Resúmenes de una página por caso ha sido preparada por la División de Asuntos Jurídicos de la OMC con ayuda especial de la División de Normas y la Secretaría del Órgano de Apelación. Esta nueva edición incluye todos los informes de Grupos Especiales y del Órgano de Apelación adoptados por el Órgano de Solución de Diferencias de la OMC hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2020. La publicación también contiene una sección independiente en la que se recogen resúmenes de informes de grupos especiales distribuidos a los Miembros de la OMC y disponibles en el sitio web d esta pero que aún no han sido adoptados por el OSD por ser objeto de procedimientos de apelación pendientes. Debido a las vacantes sin cubrir en el Órgano de Apelación las circunstancias actuales no permiten hacer avanzar ni concluir esos procedimientos de apelación.
Nota
La Unión Europea sucedió a la Comunidad Europea para los fines de la OMC el 1º de Diciembre de 2009.
Note
L’Union européenne a succédé à la Communauté européenne aux fins de l’OMC au 1er décembre 2009.
Avant-propos
Cette édition mise à jour de l’ouvrage intitulé « Le règlement des différends dans le cadre de l’OMC: une affaire une page » a été établie par la Division des affaires juridiques de l’OMC avec l’aide de la Division des règles et du secrétariat de l’Organe d’appel. Elle porte sur tous les rapports des groupes spéciaux et de l’Organe d’appel adoptés par l’Organe de règlement des différends de l’OMC au 31 décembre 2020. Elle contient également une section distincte comportant des résumés de rapports de groupes spéciaux qui ont été distribués aux Membres de l’OMC et mis à disposition sur le site Web de l’OMC mais n’ont pas encore été adoptés par l’ORD car ils font l’objet d’appels en cours. Étant donné les postes vacants non pourvus au sein de l’Organe d’appel ces appels ne peuvent pas être traités et leur examen ne peut pas être achevé dans les circonstances actuelles.
Nota
La Unión Europea sucedió a la Comunidad Europea para los fines de la OMC el 1º de Diciembre de 2009.
Prefacio
Esta edición actualizada de Solución de diferencias en la OMC: Resúmenes de una página por caso ha sido preparada por la División de Asuntos Jurídicos de la OMC con ayuda especial de la División de Normas y la Secretaría del Órgano de Apelación. Esta nueva edición incluye todos los informes de Grupos Especiales y del Órgano de Apelación adoptados por el Órgano de Solución de Diferencias de la OMC hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2020. La publicación también contiene una sección independiente en la que se recogen resúmenes de informes de grupos especiales distribuidos a los Miembros de la OMC y disponibles en el sitio web d esta pero que aún no han sido adoptados por el OSD por ser objeto de procedimientos de apelación pendientes. Debido a las vacantes sin cubrir en el Órgano de Apelación las circunstancias actuales no permiten hacer avanzar ni concluir esos procedimientos de apelación.