World Trade Organization cites dispute system problems

At the end of June, the World Trade Organization (WTO) released a trio of reports and announcements regarding the state of global trade and efforts to improve it. On June 22, Ujal Singh Bhatia, the chair of the WTO’s Appellate Body, presented the Appellate Body’s annual report. He said that the branch had an “extraordinarily strenuous year” in 2017, due in part to an increase in the number and complexity of appeals filed. He said the group now faces “unprecedented challenges” as this dynamic has continued in earnest. “On the one hand, the dispute settlement system, which has for over two decades established its credentials as an efficient and impartial mechanism, faces the burgeoning pressure of increasingly complex disputes at various stages. On the other, some recent critiques have raised fundamental questions about the way the [dispute settlement system] should be used to resolve disputes,” Bhatia reported. He additionally called the system “increasingly overloaded” and suggested that the system needs to be changed. “The global trading system has changed enormously since the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism was designed and operationalized [sic]. The dynamics of global trading relationships have also evolved significantly. The rules and procedures of the system have clearly not kept pace with these developments.” — WLJ