United States – Continued Suspension of Obligations in the EC – Hormones (International Decisions)

Abstract

The Appellate Body’s extensive rejection of the panel’s findings in U.S. - Continued Suspension appears to be an ostensible effort to broaden a regulating member’s policy space as to risk factors and scientific evidence. The Appellate Body condemned the panel’s alleged oversubscription to mainstream science, symbolized by the panel’s use of relevant international standards, the Codex standards. The Appellate Body attempted to restore a broadened notion of science or scientific justification, in the form of risk assessment, as defined in EC - Hormones, which took into account certain nonscientific policy considerations, such as the acceptable level of protection. Yet, the Appellate Body’s deferentialism tends to come at the expense of science itself. It tends to encroach upon the rigor of risk assessment obligation under Article 5.1.

Keywords: WTO, hormones