Consultations and Third Parties
The conventional wisdom in the GATT days was that complainants requested consultations under Article XXII when they wanted to attract third parties and negotiate, but under Article XXIII:1 when they did not want third parties intervening and didn't especially want to negotiate. These days, it appears that things are a bit more complicated. Under the WTO, about half of all requests for consultations are filed under Article XXIII:1, and half of these attract third parties. On the other hand, many politically charged cases that are clearly destined for a panel start out under Article XXII, some with no third parties (though, statistically speaking, Article XXII cases do draw more third parties). Thus the question: is the conventional wisdom from the GATT days no longer true?