In order to safeguard the multilateral trading system and protect and improve the dispute settlement mechanism, on November 22, the WTO members including the EU, China, Canada, India, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, Iceland, Singapore, Mexico， etc submitted a joint proposal on the reform of the dispute settlement procedure to the WTO. They plan to issue a joint statement on this at the WTO General Council meeting on December 12. The joint proposal of China, the EU and other WTO members aims to respond to and resolve the members’ concerns about the appeal process, maintain and strengthen the independence and impartiality of the Appellate Body, and promote the selection process for the members of the Appellate Body as soon as possible. The proposal is a detailed one put forward by China to promote the WTO reform and prioritize the key issues that threaten the survival of the WTO. It is also a positive result of the China-EU joint working group on the WTO reform.
The dispute settlement mechanism is the core pillar of the WTO and plays an important role in maintaining the reliability and predictability of the multilateral trading system, quickly resolving trade disputes between members, and ensuring the effective functioning of the WTO. The Appellate Body is the permanent body of the WTO, specializing in hearing appellate cases and is an important part of the dispute settlement mechanism. At present, some WTO members obstruct the selection of members of the Appellate Body, and this has seriously threatened the normal functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism and has brought institutional risks to the normal running of the multilateral trading system. The selection of members of the Appellate Body has become an imminent crisis facing the WTO and needs to be resolved as soon as possible.
China paid high attention to the selection crisis of the Appellate Body, and would like to discuss the issue with the WTO members in order to initiate the selection process as soon as possible through which we will jointly safeguard the normal running of the dispute settlement mechanism and firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system.