The Appellate Body Crisis: Dispute Settlement at the WTO

At this year’s WTO Public Forum, GED is organising an event on the crisis of the Appellate Body. If you are in Geneva at the time, feel free to join us on October 8, at 2:15pm in Room W of the Centre William Rappard (WTO).

In this session will present and discuss a survey of WTO member delegations and practitioners on the role and importance of the Appellate Body; what respondents regard as critical features of an updated conflict resolution system that is fit for purpose in the 21st century; and possible paths forward in updating the DSU. The session will address the following questions:

• How strong is the support for an Appellate Body?
• Is the AB dispute distracting attention from consideration of alternative ways to manage trade conflicts in the trading system?
• What do countries that do not participate in disputes think is in their interest?

The main goal of the session is to discuss whether we need to re-think the dispute settlement system instead of assuming that tinkering will be enough.

1.    Moderator: Mia Horn (CEO, SNS Centre for Business and Policy Studies, Stockholm; former Ambassador to the WTO of Sweden)
2.    Petros Mavroidis (Professor, Columbia Law School, New York)
3.    Merit Janow (Dean, School for International Public Affairs, Columbia University; former Appellate Body member)
4.    Claudia Orozco (Principal, Trade Law Advice, Brussels; former trade official for Colombia)
5.    Ernesto Zedillo (Yale University; former President of Mexico)