Trade ministers of G20 nations on Wednesday deliberated on ways to bolster the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The seven-member appellate body of the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism has remained non-functional. It used to hear appeals against orders made by the WTO’s dispute resolution panel. The term of the last sitting appellate body member expired in November 2020 and the US has blocked the appointment of judges to it.
On Wednesday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai convened the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Ministerial Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
In a tweet, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said, “Participated in a discussion on WTO Dispute Settlement Reform convened by @AmbassadorTai…Exchanged views on ways to strengthen the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to make it more accessible and efficient.”
Also Read: Kharif rice output to drop by 6%, says agri ministry
The meeting comes months after trade ministers of member nations had agreed to discuss the issue at the last WTO ministerial in June in a bid to have a well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024.
The appellate body virtually stopped functioning from December 2019, as the number of judges dropped below 3–the minimum quorum required for hearing the appeal.
Since then, as many as 24 appeals have been filed with the appellate body, which continues to exist but without the strength to hear the appeals. Four out of these cases were filed by India, which included the US case against India’s export subsidies and Brazil, Australia and Guatemala’s cases against India on sugar subsidies.
Developing countries are of the strong view that a two-tier system is fundamental for the smooth functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism.