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Raith, Raimund --- "Consolidation of WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings before Panels and the Appellate Body" [2011] ELECD 780; in Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco (eds), "Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond

Editor(s): Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935663

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Consolidation of WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings before Panels and the Appellate Body

Author(s): Raith, Raimund

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

12. Consolidation of WTO dispute
settlement proceedings before
panels and the Appellate Body
Raimund Raith*

12.1 INTRODUCTION

The issue of consolidation of WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings rose to
a certain degree of prominence when the Appellate Body launched the
process for amendments of the Working Procedures for Appellate Review
(AB Working Procedures) in December 2009.1 The appellate procedure is
laid out in Articles 17­18 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures
governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). Given the more general
character of these provisions in the DSU, the Appellate Body has been
obliged, pursuant to Article 17(9) of the DSU, to draw up working proce-
dures. The process for drawing up its working procedures is a bit peculiar
from a procedural point of view. While working procedures for panel
procedures are set up on an ad hoc basis by each panel, AB Working
Procedures apply to all appellate procedures in the same way. Therefore AB
Working Procedures follow a more formal path. The Appellate Body con-
sults the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) chair on the intended modifica-
tions of the AB Working Procedures and the DSB chair in turn consults the
membership in the DSB and conveys members' views and comments back to
the Appellate Body chair.2 The Appellate Body is not bound by members'


*
The views expressed are those of the author and cannot be attributed to the
European Commission.
1
Letter from the Appellate Body chairman to the chairman of the Dispute
...