The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO) makes decisions on trade disputes between governments that are adjudicated by the Organization. Its decisions generally match those of the

Dispute Panel Dispute may refer to: * an act of physical violence; combat * Controversy ** Lawsuit ** Dispute resolution * Dispute (credit card) * ''La Dispute'', a 1744 prose comedy by Pierre de Marivaux * La Dispute (band) La Dispute is an American p ...

Institutional structure

The DSB is, in effect, a session of the

General Council of the WTO A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

: that is, all of the representatives of the WTO member governments, usually at ambassadorial level, meeting together. It decides the outcome of a trade dispute on the recommendation of a

and (possibly) on a report from the Appellate Body of WTO, which may have amended the Panel recommendation if a party chose to appeal. Only the DSB can make these decisions: Panels and the Appellate Body are limited to making recommendations. The DSB uses a special decision procedure known as 'reverse consensus' or 'consensus against' that makes it almost certain that the Panel recommendations in a dispute will be accepted. The process requires that the recommendations of the Panel (as amended by the Appellate Body) should be adopted "unless" there is a consensus of the members against adoption. This has never happened, and because the nation 'winning' under the Panel's ruling would have to join this reverse consensus, it is difficult to conceive of how it ever could. Once it has decided on the case, i.e., whether the complaint had been shown to be right or wrong, the DSB may direct the 'losing' Member to take action to bring its laws, regulations or policies into conformity with the WTO Agreements. This is the only direction that emerges from a WTO dispute. There is no concept of "punishment" or even restitution. The DSB will give the losing party a "reasonable period of time" in which to restore the conformity of its laws etc. If the losing party fails to restore the conformity of its laws within the "reasonable period of time", the DSB may—on an exceptional basis—authorise a successful complainant to take retaliatory measures to induce action on the part of the losing party. This is very rare. Almost all WTO members "voluntarily" implement DSB decisions in time. Of course, when a losing country brings its laws etc. into conformity it may choose how to do so; indeed, it may not necessarily make the changes that the winning party would prefer.

List of chairs of the DSB

David Walker (diplomat) David Walker is a New Zealand diplomat. He is a chartered accountant, and has served since 2017 as the New Zealand ambassador and permanent representative to the WTO. He was nominated to hold the chair of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body The Di ...

2019 *

Junichi Ihara was in 2019 the Chair of the General Council of the World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the Uni ...

2017

Prominent cases

* US requirements for

Turtle excluder device A turtle excluder device (TED) is a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net. In particular, sea turtles can be caught when bottom trawling is used by the commercial shrimp fishing indu ...

s ( Shrimp-Turtle Case) * The

2002 United States steel tariff On March 5, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush placed tariffs on imported steel. The tariffs took effect March 20 and were lifted by Bush on December 4, 2003. Research shows that the tariffs were a net positive, reviving many previously shuttered ...

s * US exceptions to

secondary broadcasting right Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding ...

s * European Union (EC) restrictions on

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

* EC regulation of asbestos

External links

WTO dispute settlement website.

{{World Trade Organization World Trade Organization Dispute resolution

Institutional structure

List of chairs of the DSB

Prominent cases

See also

External links