As I discussed recently, the U.S. has raised the issue of the length of time it has been taking the Appellate Body to circulate its reports. But what about the length of time panels have been taking? DSU Articles 12.8 and 12.9 say this:
8. In order to make the procedures more efficient, the period in which the panel shall conduct its examination, from the date that the composition and terms of reference of the panel have been agreed upon until the date the final report is issued to the parties to the dispute, shall, as a general rule, not exceed six months. In cases of urgency, including those relating to perishable goods, the panel shall aim to issue its report to the parties to the dispute within three months.
9. When the panel considers that it cannot issue its report within six months, or within three months in cases of urgency, it shall inform the DSB in writing of the reasons for the delay together with an estimate of the period within which it will issue its report. In no case should the period from the establishment of the panel to the circulation of the report to the Members exceed nine months.
Let's look at the period of time taken by the first 10 WTO panels (for the early panels, some of the dates were not made public):
| Decision | Panel Established |
Panel Composed |
Days between Composition and Final Report to Parties |
Final Report Issued to Parties |
Days between Composition and Final Report Circulated |
Final Report Circulated |
Days between Establishment and Final Report Circulated |
| EC - Bananas (Panel)(U.S.) | May 08, 1996 | Jun 07, 1996 | 326 | Apr 29, 1997 | 349 | May 22, 1997 | 379 |
| EC - Bananas (Panel)(Mexico) | May 08, 1996 | Jun 07, 1996 | 326 | Apr 29, 1997 | 349 | May 22, 1997 | 379 |
| EC - Bananas (Panel)(Guatemala/Honduras) | May 08, 1996 | Jun 07, 1996 | 326 | Apr 29, 1997 | 349 | May 22, 1997 | 379 |
| EC - Bananas (Panel)(Ecuador) | May 08, 1996 | Jun 07, 1996 | 326 | Apr 29, 1997 | 349 | May 22, 1997 | 379 |
| Canada - Periodicals (Panel) | Jun 19, 1996 | Jul 25, 1996 | 211 | Feb 21, 1997 | 232 | Mar 14, 1997 | 268 |
| U.S. - Shirts and Blouses (Panel) | Apr 17, 1996 | Jun 27, 1996 | 193 | Jan 06, 1997 | 264 | ||
| U.S. - Underwear (Panel) | Mar 05, 1996 | Apr 19, 1996 | 189 | Oct 25, 1996 | 203 | Nov 08, 1996 | 248 |
| Brazil - Coconut (Panel) | Mar 05, 1996 | Apr 16, 1996 | 184 | Oct 17, 1996 | 226 | ||
| Japan - Alcohol (Panel) | Sep 27, 1995 | Oct 30, 1995 | 255 | Jul 11, 1996 | 288 | ||
| U.S. - Gasoline (Panel) | Apr 10, 1995 | Apr 28, 1995 | 264 | Jan 17, 1996 | 276 | Jan 29, 1996 | 294 |
Now let's look at the last 10 panels:
| Decision | Panel Established |
Panel Composed |
Days between Composition and Final Report to Parties |
Final Report Issued to Parties |
Days between Composition and Final Report Circulated |
Final Report Circulated |
Days between Establishment and Final Report Circulated |
| U.S. - Supercalendered Paper (Panel) | Jul 21, 2016 | Aug 31, 2016 | 471 | Dec 15, 2017 | 673 | Jul 05, 2018 | 714 |
| Australia - Plain Packaging (Panel) | Sep 25, 2013 | May 05, 2014 | 1,239 | Sep 25, 2017 | 1,515 | Jun 28, 2018 | 1,737 |
| Korea - Pneumatic Valves (Panel) | Jul 04, 2016 | Aug 29, 2016 | 451 | Nov 23, 2017 | 591 | Apr 12, 2018 | 647 |
| Korea - Radionuclides (Panel) | Sep 28, 2015 | Feb 08, 2016 | 616 | Oct 16, 2017 | 745 | Feb 22, 2018 | 878 |
| EU - Biodiesel (Indonesia) (Panel) | Aug 31, 2015 | Nov 04, 2015 | 722 | Oct 26, 2017 | 813 | Jan 25, 2018 | 878 |
| U.S. - Coated Paper (Indonesia) (Panel) | Sep 28, 2015 | Feb 04, 2016 | 610 | Oct 06, 2017 | 672 | Dec 07, 2017 | 801 |
| U.S. - OCTG (Korea) (Panel) | Mar 25, 2015 | Jul 13, 2015 | 667 | May 10, 2017 | 855 | Nov 14, 2017 | 965 |
| Indonesia - Chicken (Panel) | Dec 03, 2015 | Mar 03, 2016 | 433 | May 10, 2017 | 593 | Oct 17, 2017 | 684 |
| Brazil - Taxation (Panel) | Dec 17, 2014 | Mar 26, 2015 | 635 | Dec 20, 2016 | 888 | Aug 30, 2017 | 987 |
| Indonesia - Iron or Steel Products (Panel) | Sep 28, 2015 | Dec 09, 2015 | 526 | May 18, 2017 | 618 | Aug 18, 2017 | 690 |
With regard to speeding up WTO dispute settlement and adhering to the DSU deadlines, where should the focus be and what improvements are possible? As I said in relation to the appellate process, perhaps the original deadlines are no longer realistic for panels. Maybe we need to extend those time-frames a bit, but then somehow force/encourage panels to comply with them.
