(NOTE TIME CHANGE: 16:30-18:00)

WTO dispute settlement is in crisis. At the end of 2019, the Appellate Body (AB) at the World Trade Organization ceased to exist as we know it, and it will remain inoperative until the appointment of new AB members is made, the timing of which is unclear. The WTO will not deal with new appeals until the deadlock maintained by the US on the appointment of AB members is broken.

As a result, dispute settlement stopping at the panel level is now the norm, resembling how dispute settlement used to work during the GATT era. Dispute settlement under plurilateral agreements, dozens of which are being put in place, remains an alternative to WTO dispute settlement. However, after such a functional and predictable system, dispute settlement under plurilateral agreements hardly seems to be the most logical succession to the previous approach.

What can smaller countries do to protect themselves in a situation that increasingly resembles “gunboat diplomacy”?

Introduction:

• Prof. Joost Pauwelyn, Co-Director, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration

Moderator:

• Fernando Pierola, Senior Lawyer, ACWL, WTO

Panelists:

• Amb. Santiago Wills, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the WTO
• Amb. Manuel Tehankee, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the WTO
• Katherine Connolly, Associate, Sidley Austin LLP

Closing Remarks:

• Prof. Ugo Panizza, Editor-in-Chief, International Development Policy