Dispute Settlement

Since its creation in 1995, the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s dispute settlement mechanism was its “crown jewel”. Contrary to the single-tiered system under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) would settle disputes through first-instance panels whose reports could be reviewed on legal grounds by the Appellate Body. Moreover, the “reverse consensus” requirement, by which the DSB adopts reports unless WTO Members agreed by consensus not to, stopped the losing party from singlehandedly blocking adoption. WTO Members took to the dispute settlement mechanism. Appeals were meant to be rare, yet happened to two-thirds of the panel reports...