WTO Case Review 2020
49 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2022
Date Written: June 27, 2022
Abstract
This WTO Case Review is the 21st in our annual series on substantive international trade adjudications issued by the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization. Each Review explains and comments on Appellate Body Reports adopted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) during the preceding calendar year (1 January through 31 December), excluding decisions on compliance with recommendations contained in previously adopted reports.
In the WTO Case Review 2018, we covered one Appellate Body Report, Brazil - Certain Measures Concerning Taxation and Charges, which was issued in 2018 and normally might have been adopted at the 18 December 2018 DSB meeting, following its issuance on 13 December. Possibly, because of conflict over WTO dispute settlement reform, the DSB did not adopt it until 11 January 2019. For multiple reasons, the future of the multilateral dispute settlement system was in doubt at the time we prepared the 2018 Case Review. Thus, we thought it best to include the Brazil Taxes decision in that Review in the event there were no more adopted decisions to cover, and thus no more Case Reviews.
As the 2019 Case Review attested, there were subsequently adopted Appellate Body Reports. The Appellate Body itself ceased to function as of 10 December 2019. The U.S. led the charge against the Appellate Body.
As of this writing, uncertainty persists as to what, if any, future decisions may exist for us to analyze, because whether the WTO will reach a consensus to resurrect the Appellate Body is uncertain. There are approximately 14 Panel Reports that have been appealed, but with no functioning Appellate Body, they are in limbo, perhaps forever. Accordingly, we anticipate the present WTO Case Review 2020 is our final one.
Keywords: international trade, WTO, World Trade Organization, appellate body, dispute settlement
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