Featured Articles Series I
Featured Articles Series I
WTO Appellate Body Crisis Causes and Possible Remedies
By Md. Al-Imran Khan, South Asian University
and
Mr. Amirul Islam, Teach for Bangladesh
Abstract
WTO appellate body (AB) which is considered to be one of the central pillars of International Trading System has
been working as one of the most successful dispute settlement body since it is inception in 1995 under Article 17 of
the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). However, in recent years,
AB is facing a severe crisis as there are not enough judges in the forum and United States of America vetoing the
appointment of new judges alleging AB is overreaching through procedural discretion and interpreting the texts of the
treaties and thus exercising power that was not given to it under the WTO agreement. Since WTO regulates world
trade, a paralyzed dispute settlement body is a threat to the existence of the whole organization.
Very likely, it will cause a severe disruption in global trade. As the global pandemic is already upsetting the global
trade, if the AB crisis is not fixed urgently, we might see the end of WTO as we know. Appeals are piling up, and
no one knows when they are going to get the decisions. This article shows the overall crisis of the AB with its severe
deadlock on the dispute settlement task due to the vacant posts. Again, an endeavor shall also be made to show the
real causes of such deadlock, including the political and economic factors. Finally, this article focuses on the possible
way out as to how the issues can be solved to make the WTO be a true and effective mechanism of world trade dispute
settlement.
Recommended Citations :
OSCOLA
Md. Al Imran Khan and Amirul Islam, ‘WTO Appellate Body Crises: Causes and Possible Remedies’, [2021] FA1 IJBLS, https://intbusinesslaw.com/wto-appellate-body-crises-causes-and-possible-remedies/
Bluebook 19th Ed.
Md. Al Imran Khan and Amirul Islam, WTO Appellate Body Crises: Causes and Possible Remedies, FA1 IJBLS 1, 1-14(2021).