The WTO Dispute Settlement System in 2020: Facing the Appellate Body Paralysis

Abstract

The COVID-19 economic and trade crisis, which started in early 2020, hit the WTO at a moment in which the organization was certainly not in good health. The respect of its rules has reached a low level, due to recourse to unilateral restrictive measures of dubious legality (to say the least) and to bilateral agreements in disregard of multilateral obligations. The dispute settlement system has been, and remains half paralyzed due to the demise of the Appellate Body (AB) since the end of 2019. That said, the Appellate Body has finished its work on certain pending cases and adopted three reports. This contribution therefore covers the above-mentioned three appellate reports and two panel reports of special interest: the Saudi Arabia-Intellectual Property and the US-Tariff Measures on Chinese goods.

Keywords: WTO, COVID 19, Appelate Body, Unilateral Restriictive Measures, US-Tariff Measures