65 nations ask WTO to fill judges’ posts

NEW DELHI: Keen to put the global dispute settlement mechanism back on track amid the US blocking judges’ appointments in World Trade Organization and imposing protectionist measures, at least 65 countries, including India, EU and China, have asked the apex trade body to begin the process of appointing new judges and fill up the vacancies.

In a submission to the WTO ahead of the mini-ministerial meet in Delhi next week, these countries have sought setting up of a selection committee which would recommend names of potential judges to the WTO’s Appellate Body.


The countries said in the submission that they had made the proposal “given the urgency and importance of filling the vacancies in the Appellate Body”.

“This paper indicates the seriousness of other countries on this matter. It talks about appointing new judges and giving a second term to those who are still there,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

The body has seven members who are appointed by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to serve for four-year terms. Three have retired in the seven-member appellate body. At present, there are only four members in the body and if the strength dips to two, the body cannot operate since each case requires at least three sitting members.

Citing disagreements with the procedures followed and some of the body’s rulings, the US has been preventing vacancies in the Appellate Body from being filled for almost two years, affecting its functioning even as disputes continue to pile up.

In May 2016, the US Trade Representative had said that the US would block the reappointment of South Korean member Seung Wha Chang for a second term as it objected to his role in a series of decisions with which the US disagreed. The US wants WTO members, not the Appellate Body, to approve the continued service of former members.

The Donald Trump administration last week announced hiking import duty on steel and aluminium to 25% and 10% respectively and imposing reciprocal taxes, triggering fears of a global trade war.

Putting together the dispute settlement mechanism is crucial in the aftermath of a broken ministerial conference in Buenos Aires and the importance given to the issue of protectionism in the World Economic Forum.

The group of countries has proposed that the selection committee carry out its work in order to make recommendations to the DSB within 60 days after the deadline for submitting nominations of candidates, so that the DSB can take a decision to appoint three new Appellate Body members as soon as possible.

“Sponsors of this paper should sit together in the mini ministerial and kick-start the process of getting appointments in the Appellate Body right,” said Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

It is about systemic issues in the WTO and not only Doha versus new issues, he said.

Confrontational Move
Experts have termed the submission confrontational since it lacks consensus as the US is not on board.

“WTO is different from all other international treaties because it has teeth which bite and that is why the US has been killing it,” Dhar said.

Another expert, who did not wish to be named, said, “These are unusual times and we don’t know if the membership will resort to voting to either appoint new judges or initiate the process of setting up the selection committee.”