By Simon Lester in — 26 Jul 2012

Lots of WTO Disputes This Year

Here is a table showing WTO complaints (consultations requests) for 2004-2012:

Year	Number of Standard DSU Complaints, by year
2012	14
2011	8
2010	17
2009	14
2008	19
2007	13
2006	20
2005	12
2004	19

Here's a similar table for "matters", which is a subjective judgement we (i.e., WorldTradeLaw.net) made to group certain similar cases together:

Year	Number of Standard DSU Matters, by year
2012	10
2011	7
2010	12
2009	9
2008	13
2007	7
2006	17
2005	10
2004	18

What jumps out at me is that the figures for the first (approximately) 7 months of 2012 are equal to or greater than several prevous full years. We are on pace for about 24 complaints this year.

What's going on? Why the increase? I'm not sure, but let's look at the list of 2012 complaints to see what's in there:

Dispute Name	DS Number	Complainant(s)	Respondent	Request Date	Agreements
Australia - Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging	441	Dominican Republic	Australia	Jul 18, 2012	GATT, TBT, TRIPS
China - Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Automobiles from the United States	440	United States	China	Jul 05, 2012	AD, GATT, SCM
South Africa - Anti-Dumping Duties on Frozen Meat of Fowls from Brazil	439	Brazil	South Africa	Jun 21, 2012	AD
Argentina - Measures Affecting the Importation of Goods	438	European Union	Argentina	May 25, 2012	Agriculture, GATT, Licensing, Safeguards, TRIMs
United States - Countervailing Duty Measures on Certain Products from China	437	China	United States	May 25, 2012	GATT, Protocol, SCM
United States - Countervailing Measures on Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from India	436	India	United States	Apr 12, 2012	GATT, SCM
Australia - Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging	435	Honduras	Australia	Apr 04, 2012	GATT, TBT, TRIPS
Australia - Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging	434	Ukraine	Australia	Mar 13, 2012	GATT, TBT, TRIPS
China - Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum	433	Japan	China	Mar 13, 2012	GATT, Protocol of Accession
China - Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum	432	European Union	China	Mar 13, 2012	GATT, Protocol of Accession
China - Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum	431	United States	China	Mar 13, 2012	GATT, Protocol of Accession
India - Measures Concerning the Importation of Certain Agricultural Products	430	United States	India	Mar 06, 2012	GATT, SPS
United States - Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Shrimp from Viet Nam	429	Viet Nam	United States	Feb 22, 2012	AD, DSU, GATT, Protocol of Accession, WTO
Turkey - Safeguard Measures on Imports of Cotton Yarn (Other than Sewing Thread)	428	India	Turkey	Feb 13, 2012	GATT, Safeguards

Nothing in particular strikes me as significant here. Just the usual mix of cases, but more of them. So is this a trend? Or just an aberration?