As I've mentioned a couple times already (sorry, but this intrigues me!), the U.S. filed a notification of appeal in relation to the DS436 Article 21.5 panel report. The U.S. notification said this:
the United States hereby notifies the Dispute Settlement Body of its decision to appeal issues of law covered in the report of the Panel in United States – Countervailing Duty Measures on Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from India: Recourse to Article 21.5 of the DSU by India (WT/DS436/RW & WT/DS436/RW/Add.1) and legal interpretations developed by the Panel.
However, in its notification, the U.S. did not identify any "alleged errors in the issues of law covered in the panel report and legal interpretations developed by the panel."
Now I see that the U.S. and India have posted a joint communication for this dispute, which states in part:
... On December 18, 2019, the United States notified the Dispute Settlement Body of its decision to appeal the report by the compliance panel. The United States did not file a notice of appeal or an appellant submission because at this time no Division of the Appellate Body can be established to hear this appeal.
The parties understand that the United States will submit a notice of appeal and an appellant submission once a Division can be established and that India may file its own appeal on alleged errors in issues of law covered in the panel report and legal interpretations developed by the panel at that point of time. ...
So the U.S. "notified the Dispute Settlement Body of its decision to appeal," but it "did not file a notice of appeal"? How does a notification of a decision to appeal differ from a notice of appeal? What is the basis for this distinction?
UPDATE:
Rule 20(1) of the Working Procedures for Appellate Review says:
An appeal shall be commenced by notification in writing to the DSB in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 16 of the DSU and simultaneous filing of a Notice of Appeal with the Secretariat.
So I guess the U.S. is saying that it notified the DSB of the appeal, but it has not filed a notice of appeal. I always thought of those two notices as identical, and that you didn't separate the two. But I see now that the description in the U.S. notice in this case differs from those in past cases. It says:
NOTIFICATION OF AN APPEAL BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER ARTICLE 16 OF THE UNDERSTANDING ON RULES AND PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES ("DSU")
Compare that to a past appeal:
NOTIFICATION OF AN APPEAL BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER ARTICLE 16.4 AND ARTICLE 17 OF THE UNDERSTANDING ON RULES AND PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES (DSU), AND UNDER RULE 20(1) OF THE WORKING PROCEDURES FOR APPELLATE REVIEW
