Here's a brief rundown of what's going on in the China - Rare Earths dispute, which involves three separate complaints -- DS431 (US); DS432 (EU); and DS433 (Japan) -- that were merged into one panel proceeding, and resulted in three panel reports circulated in a single document.
As we discussed a short time ago, the U.S. got the appeal process rolling in DS431 with a conditional appeal filed on April 8. It appealed a couple very minor issues, and said that if China did not appeal, then nevermind.
On April 17, China submitted its own "other" appeal on more substantive issues in DS431. At the time, it surprised me that this appeal only related to DS431. What about DS432 and DS433?
Well, now I have an answer of sorts. On April 25, China filed a notice of appeal in DS432 and DS433. As far as I can tell, its DS432/433 notice of appeal is basically identical to its "other" appeal in DS431.
Now, I hope these various appeals are consolidated into one proceeding, with one AB report, rather than having two processes run simultaneously. Having two of everything in this case wouldn't make much sense.
But what timelines will be followed, with two notices of appeal filed 17 days apart? When is the oral hearing going to be? And will the AB report be issued 90 days from April 8 or from April 25?
If anyone out there has answers, or explanations as to what was going on behind the scenes, I'd love to hear them.
