US Continues Block on WTO Appellate Body Member Selection Process
The U.S. delegation to the World Trade Organization during a Sept. 29 WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting continued to block the launch of a selection process to fill three expected vacancies on the Appellate Body (AB), according to a Geneva trade official. After raising issue with the fact that an AB judge whose term officially expired on June 30 was still working on three appeals as of Aug. 31 (see 1708310008), the U.S. during the meeting reiterated its argument that a selection process shouldn’t be launched until the matter of the judge's term is resolved, the trade official said. The AB currently has two vacancies on its seven-member panel, and could incur a third when Peter Van den Bossche’s term expires Dec. 11. The EU during the meeting said new judges should be found by the end of November, while Mexico -- speaking for itself and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Peru -- “set a February 2018 deadline for completing the process,” the Geneva trade official said.
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After urging the U.S. during an informal Sept. 15 DSB meeting to de-link the appointment of new AB members from its concerns related to the issuance of rulings by members whose terms had expired, many countries’ delegations said U.S. concerns and the AB selection process should be put on different tracks. These countries included Canada, Singapore -- speaking for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- the Dominican Republic, Australia, Norway, China, Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Turkey, Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Russia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, Honduras and El Salvador. Several members including the Dominican Republic and Ecuador said DSB Chairman Junichi Ihara should decide to start the process despite the U.S. hold. Ihara said he would “continue to make himself available for consultations” but encourage delegations to “have more conversations among themselves so that members can come up with more concrete ideas moving forward,” the Geneva trade official said.