People may have noticed a lull in WTO dispute decisions recently. Since the Cotton Subsidies arbitration decisions last August, we have had a grand total of 3 decisions. And two of those were fairly minor: An Article 21.3(c) arbitration and a decision on zeroing where the U.S. basically conceded the issue. Not to worry, though, things are about to pick up.
First, here are the ongoing cases for which the panel has announced a projected date for issuing the report (note that most of these dates are NOT the public circulation dates; circulation does not occur until the reports have been translated into all the official WTO languages, which can take a couple months or so):
| Dispute Name | Agreements at Issue | Status |
| EC - Aircraft (DS316) Complainant: U.S. |
GATT, SCM | Final report issued to parties on March 23, 2010; news reports indicate that circulation to the public will be in June. |
| U.S. - Aircraft (DS353) Complainant: EC |
GATT, SCM | Panel "expects to issue its interim report to the parties in June 2010" (WT/DS353/6) |
| Australia - Apples (DS367) Complainant: New Zealand |
SPS | News reports indicate that the interim report was issued at the end of March 2010; Panel "estimates that it will issue its final report to the Parties by May 2010" (WT/DS367/10) |
| EC - IT Products (DS375,376,377) Complainants: Chinese Taipei, Japan, U.S. |
GATT | Panel "expects to issue its final report to the parties by early July 2010" (WT/DS375/12, WT/DS376/12, WT/DS377/10) |
| Thailand - Customs and Fiscal Measures on Cigarettes (DS371) Complainant: Philippines |
Customs, GATT | Panel "expects to issue its final report to the parties in the course of June 2010" (WT/DS371/6) |
| U.S. - AD/CVD on Certain Products (DS379) Complainant: China |
AD, GATT, China's Protocol of Accession, SCM | Panel "expects to complete its work by June 2010" (WT/DS379/5) |
| U.S. - Poultry Imports from China (DS392) Complainant: China |
Agriculture, GATT, SPS | Panel "estimates that it will issue its final report to the parties by July 2010" (WT/DS392/4) |
| EC - AD Measures on Fasteners (DS397) Complainant: China |
AD, GATT, China's Protocol of Accession, WTO | Panel "expects to complete its work in September 2010" (WT/DS397/5) |
And here are some where no date has been announced yet:
| Dispute Name | Panel Composed | Agreements at Issue |
| Korea - Bovine Meat and Meat Products (DS391) Complainant: Canada |
November 13, 2009 | GATT, SPS |
| U.S. - Tuna (DS381) Complainant: Mexico |
December 14, 2009 | GATT, TBT |
| U.S. - Measures Affecting Tyres (DS399) Complainant: China |
March 12, 2010 | GATT, Safeguards, China's Protocol of Accession |
| China - Exportation of Raw Materials: Panel Request by U.S. Panel Request by EU Panel Request by Mexico (DS394,395,398) |
March 29, 2010 | GATT, China's Protocol of Accession |
U.S. - Country of Origin Labeling: Panel Request by Canada Panel Request by Mexico (DS384,386) |
May 10, 2010 | GATT, Origin, SPS, TBT |
| U.S. - AD Measures on Orange Juice (DS382) Complainant: Brazil |
May 10, 2010 | AD, GATT, WTO |
And then there are some cases where the panel was established recently, but has not yet been composed:
| Dispute Name | Panel Established | Agreements at Issue |
| EC - Poultry Meat (DS389) Complainant: U.S. |
November 19, 2009 | Agriculture, GATT, SPS, TBT |
| Philippines - Taxes on Distilled Spirits Panel Request by EC Panel Request by U.S. (DS396, 403) |
January 19, 2010: EC panel
April 20, 2010: |
GATT |
| EU - AD Measures on Footwear from China (DS405) Complainant: China |
May 18, 2010 | AD, GATT, WTO, China's Protocol of Accession, Working Party Report on Accession |
| U.S. - AD Measures on Shrimp (Viet Nam) (DS404) Complainant: Viet Nam |
May 18, 2010 | AD, GATT, WTO, Viet Nam's Protocol of Accession, Working Party Report on Accession |
| U.S. - Zeroing on Products from Korea (DS402) Complainant: Korea |
May 18, 2010 | AD |
And finally, there are two DSU Article 22.6 arbitrations related to zeroing:
| U.S. - Zeroing (EC) (DS294) |
EC | February 12, 2010: Referred to Arbitration March 9, 2010: Arbitrator Constituted |
| U.S. - Zeroing (Japan) I U.S. - Zeroing (Japan) II (DS322) |
Japan | January 21, 2008: Referred to Arbitration May 28, 2008: Arbitrator Constituted June 9, 2008: Arbitration Suspended April 23, 2010: Japan Requests that Arbitration be Resumed |
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Aside from DS382 and DS402, which may be carried out as abbreviated zeroing disputes, many of these decisions are likely to be long and interesting. The Aircraft decisions will be so long that they should really count as 4-5 decisions!
So, this should keep everyone busy for a while.
