Reappointment of two Appellate Body members

The reappointment of Mr Ujal Singh Bathia and Mr Thomas Graham will be their second and last term as members of the Appellate Body. The reappointments follow a period of informal consultations with WTO members conducted by the chair of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), Ambassador Harald Neple (Norway), since April 2015 and an informal meeting on 12 November with the two Appellate Body members, at which delegations were invited to ask them questions.

The chair also informed the DSB that of the seven members of the Appellate Body, the second term of office of Ms Yuejiao Zhang, of China, will expire on 31 May 2016 and she will not be eligible for reappointment. The chair asked delegations to start thinking about possible candidates for the selection process to replace Ms Zhang. He proposed 15 March 2016 as the deadline for the nomination of candidates.

Also, the first four-year term of Mr Seung Wa Chang, of Korea, will expire on 31 May 2016. He is eligible for reappointment to a second and final term of office and, since he is willing to serve a second term as Appellate Body member, the chair will start consultations with delegations regarding this reappointment, which according to the rules of the Dispute Settlement Understanding is not automatic.

 

Panel request rejected

DS484: Indonesia — Measures Concerning the Importation of Chicken Meat and Chicken Products

Brazil recalled that it had made its first request for the establishment of a panel for this dispute at the October 2015 DSB meeting. In Brazil's view, there was no justification for the import ban and other restrictive measures imposed by Indonesia on Brazilian exports.

Indonesia said that it had held constructive consultations with Brazil and believed that its responses had fully addressed Brazil's concerns. Indonesia noted that Brazil had misidentified the relevant regulation in this dispute and had submitted a corrigendum to its panel request. Thus, in Indonesia's view, Brazil's request for the establishment of a panel at this meeting was the first request. In that regard, Indonesia could not agree to the establishment of a panel at this meeting.

Brazil responded that the corrigendum in its panel request only corrected a small typographical error and did not see any reason not to establish the requested panel. However, given Indonesia's objection, Brazil did not want to engage in a procedural discussion but would rather request the establishment of a panel at the next special DSB meeting. The DSB deferred the establishment of a panel in this dispute.

 

Implementation

Six status reports were presented and statements were made regarding three implementation matters.

  

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Other business 

Speaking under “Other business”, in keeping with the Director-General's undertaking at the October DSB meeting to provide more information to members, the chair provided information on the Appellate Body's workload, on the number of disputes in the panel queue and at the panel composition stage, and on page on dispute settlement. The chair indicated that he would continue to provide such information at each regular monthly DSB meeting.

  

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Next meeting 

The next special meeting of the DSB is scheduled for 3 December 2015. The next regular meeting of the DSB is scheduled for 25 January 2016.