Dispute Settlement Body

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The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) is a dispute settlement body of the WTO , which is composed of representatives of all member states and is an important part of the WTO dispute settlement procedure (Dispute Settlement Understanding). If there is a dispute between member states about the interpretation of a trade agreement administered by the WTO, these parties can appeal to the Dispute Settlement Body. In cooperation with a dispute panel and the Standing Appellate Body , the committee draws up an arbitration award which the victorious party can enforce with coercive measures if necessary.

Procedure

Initiation of the procedure

Proceedings are initiated when a Member State requires another Member State to negotiate an alleged breach of contract.

Individuals or companies cannot initiate proceedings. Only Member States are entitled to do this. However, individual companies are free to complain to their respective government or to the government of another member state and to request the initiation of proceedings. In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2015/1843 applies to such cases, which regulates the cooperation between the Commission and industry when initiating proceedings.

Reaction of the other member state

The other Member State has ten days to react and thirty days to start serious negotiations with the aim of resolving the conflict amicably.

In the proceedings up to 2001, 28 percent of the proceedings were settled amicably at this stage.

Convening a panel

If the dispute is not settled through negotiations within sixty days, the complaining Member State can bring about the establishment of a panel by unilateral declaration. The establishment can be rejected by a unanimous decision of all member states, but since the complaining member is also allowed to cast one vote, in practice it is established.

In contrast, the situation was reversed in the GATT era. The establishment of a panel could be prevented by the veto of a single member state and could therefore not be enforced against the opponent of a procedure.

Members of a panel are professors who deal with international trade law or diplomats from member states who are familiar with the matter, but mostly they are current or former government representatives. To avoid conflicts of interest, the members are appointed from countries that are not involved in the conflict.

Legal interpretation by the panel

The panel has the task of interpreting the contracts and determining whether there has been a breach of contract. For this purpose it uses the standards of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties . Thereafter, the wording of the contracts is to be assumed; if this does not provide a clear result, it is possible to fall back on the preparatory work during the negotiations.

The principles ut res magis valeat quam pereat and in dubio mitius also apply . An interpretation that makes part of a contract pointless and superfluous should be avoided. And in case of doubt, it can be assumed that the member states have reserved rights and have not given them up.

Appeal

A Member State that does not agree with a decision of a panel can, however, appeal to the Appellate Body. This is called the most powerful dish in the world. It consists of seven members who are each appointed for four years.

Another procedure

If a breach of contract by a member state has been identified, it is obliged to remedy the breach in question. If this does not happen, this member state's rights under the treaties can be restricted. Loss of litigation before the WTO can therefore lead to the imposition of punitive tariffs.

However, such a judgment has no direct effect in the USA, Japan or the EU. For example, private individuals or companies cannot object to the validity of the rules of EU law; according to a panel decision, this is not compatible with WTO law.

Individual questions

Legal protection interest

An interest in legal protection is not required to initiate proceedings. A Member State can also complain about a breach of contract if it does not claim that it is in its own interests.

Representation by lawyers

Member States can be represented in the proceedings by lawyers and are not limited to having their own diplomats conduct the proceedings. This is particularly important for developing countries, which do not necessarily have enough of their own experts among their diplomats.

Submissions from third parties

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often have an interest in the outcome of proceedings. But they are not a party. You can therefore submit briefs addressed to a panel (so-called amcicus curiae briefs ), but it is left to the discretion of the panel whether it wants to take them into account.

Abstract norm control

An abstract control of norms is permissible in this procedure.

Publicity of the procedure

Until 2005, all negotiations in the proceedings were not open to the public. It was not until the proceedings on hormones in beef (file number DS 320, DS 321) that transmission by television signal to a separate room for listeners was implemented for the first time in 2005.

Overview of the previous procedures

As of April 2015, a total of 491 procedures were carried out or are still being processed. This is more than in half a century in the history of the GATT as a whole. The member states use this procedure much more frequently than before the WTO was founded. The USA in particular was involved in 60 percent of the proceedings during this period and initiated 80 proceedings, so that the proceedings before the Dispute Settlement Body are of considerable importance for US trade relations.

The focus of the proceedings is on the application of the GATT with over 30, followed by proceedings on anti-dumping and on subsidy law with over 25 each.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hilf / Oeter, p. 512.
  2. ↑ Hilf / Oeter, WTO Law , p. 517.
  3. ^ Sands, Lawless World , p. 99.
  4. ↑ Hilf / Oeter, p. 522 f.
  5. ↑ Hilf / Oeter, p. 523 f.
  6. ↑ Hilf / Oeter, p. 524 f.
  7. ^ WTO News, WTO opens panel proceeding to public for the first time .
  8. ↑ Panitchpakdi, The WTO after 10 years: the lessons learned and the challenges ahead, March 11, 2005
  9. ↑ See the overview on the WTO website

Web links

literature