Press/263
19 December 2001
Swearing-in ceremony for Appellate Body members

Messrs. Luiz Olavo Baptista (Brazil), John S. Lockhart (Australia) and Giorgio Sacerdoti (Italy) were sworn in today as Members of the Appellate Body at a ceremony at the WTO. Newly elected Chairman of the Appellate Body, Mr. James Bacchus, presided over the ceremony.

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Director-General Mike Moore congratulated the new Members of the Appellate Body and noted that their appointments were a testament to the ongoing success and vibrancy of the WTO dispute settlement system. The Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, Ambassador Roger Farrell of New Zealand, added his congratulations and best wishes, on behalf of all WTO Members, to those of the Director-General.

The four continuing members in the complement of seven are: Mr. James Bacchus (the United States), Mr. Georges Abi-Saab (Egypt), Mr. A. V. Ganesan (India), and Mr. Yasuhei Taniguchi (Japan). Persons serving on the Appellate Body are appointed by the Member Governments of the WTO.

The occasion also marked the departure of the three outgoing Members, Mr. Claus-Dieter Ehlermann (Federal Republic of Germany), Mr. Florentino P. Feliciano (the Philippines), and Mr. Julio Lacarte-Muró (Uruguay), who were praised for their enormous contribution to the WTO and to the development of international trade law. The Director-General noted that separately, and together, they had participated in 40 of the 47 appeals to date.

The Appellate Body was established in 1995 to hear appeals from dispute panel reports on issues of law covered in the panel report and legal interpretations developed by the panel. The Appellate Body can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and conclusions of the panel. Thirty days after it is issued, an Appellate Body report is adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body, and unconditionally accepted by the parties to the dispute, unless there is a consensus against its adoption. Since its establishment, the Appellate Body has issued 44 reports, all of which are available on the WTO Website: www.wto.org.

Biographical notes on the three new Members of the Appellate Body are contained in Press/246, dated 25 September 2001. Biographical notes on Messrs. Abi-Saab, Ganesan and Taniguchi are contained in Press/179, dated 25 May 2000. Biographical notes on Mr. Bacchus and the three outgoing Members are contained in Press/32, dated 29 November 1995.