Arbitrators Selected in DSU Article 25 Arbitration Appeal
The WTO has announced that the Arbitrator in the DS583 arbitration appeal under DSU Article 25 was composed on April 28. 2022 "through a random selection from a list of candidates prepared and agreed upon by the parties." Here are the arbitrators in the case (with an indication of the basis for their inclusion in the selection process):
- Mr Seung Wha Chang (former Appellate Body Member)
- Mr Mateo Diego-Fernandez Andrade (MPIA list)
- Mr Guohua Yang (MPIA list)
Not that I think this will tell us much about how the arbitration appeal will be handled, but here's a little WTO adjudication history for each one.
Seung Wha Chang is a Korean academic who was on the Appellate Body for one term, from June 1, 2012 - May 31, 2016 (the U.S. objected to his reappointment to a second term). Copying and pasting from our WorldTradeLaw.net tables, here are the appeals he worked on (the dates are circulation and adoption):
| India - Solar Cells (AB) | Sep 16, 2016 | Oct 14, 2016 | GATT | Van den Bossche, Chang, Graham |
| Argentina - Financial Services (AB) | Apr 14, 2016 | May 09, 2016 | GATS | Chang, Bhatia, Zhang |
| India - Agricultural Products (AB) | Jun 04, 2015 | Jun 19, 2015 | DSU, SPS | Zhang, Chang, Servansing |
| U.S. - COOL, Article 21.5 (AB) | May 18, 2015 | May 29, 2015 | GATT, TBT | Ramírez-Hernández, Chang, Van den Bossche |
| Argentina - Import Measures (AB) | Jan 15, 2015 | Jan 26, 2015 | DSU, GATT | Chang, Bhatia, Ramírez-Hernández |
| U.S. - Countervailing Measures (China) (AB) | Dec 18, 2014 | Jan 16, 2015 | DSU, SCM | Van den Bossche, Bhatia, Chang |
| China - Rare Earths (AB) | Aug 07, 2014 | Aug 29, 2014 | DSU, GATT, Accession | Chang, Ramírez-Hernández, Zhang |
| U.S. - Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Measures (China) (AB) | Jul 07, 2014 | Jul 22, 2014 | DSU, GATT | Bhatia, Chang, Zhang |
| EC - Seal Products (AB) | May 22, 2014 | Jun 18, 2014 | DSU, GATT, TBT | Graham, Chang, Zhang |
Prior to his appointment to the Appellate Body, he served on the following WTO panels:
| U.S. - FSC, Article 21.5 II (Panel) | 108 | European Communities | Sep 30, 2005 | Mar 14, 2006 | Agriculture, DSU, GATT, SCM | Denis, Chambovey, Seung Wha Chang |
| EC - Trademarks / GIs (Panel)(Australia) | 290 | Australia | Mar 15, 2005 | Apr 20, 2005 | GATT, TBT, TRIPS | Mendoza, Seung Wha Chang, Cheung |
| EC - Trademarks / GIs (Panel)(U.S.) | 174 | United States | Mar 15, 2005 | Apr 20, 2005 | GATT, TRIPS | Mendoza, Seung Wha Chang, Cheung |
| Canada - Aircraft II (Panel) | 222 | Brazil | Jan 28, 2002 | Feb 19, 2002 | SCM | Davey, Seung Wha Chang, Dwarka-Canabady |
| U.S. - FSC, Article 21.5 (Panel) | 108 | European Communities | Aug 20, 2001 | Jan 29, 2002 | Agriculture, GATT, SCM | C. Falconer, Chambovey, Seung Wha Chang |
| U.S. - FSC (Panel) | 108 | European Communities | Oct 08, 1999 | Mar 20, 2000 | Agriculture, SCM | C. Falconer, Chambovey, Seung Wha Chang |
Mateo Diego-Fernandez Andrade is a Mexican government official who has served on the following WTO panels:
| China - TRQs (Panel) | 517 | United States | Apr 18, 2019 | May 28, 2019 | Accession, GATT | Diego-Fernández, Jóhannesson, Conejos |
| Korea - Pneumatic Valves (Panel) | 504 | Japan | Apr 12, 2018 | Sep 30, 2019 | AD | Diego-Fernández, Blumberg, Francis |
| EU - Fatty Alcohols (Indonesia) (Panel) | 442 | Indonesia | Dec 16, 2016 | Sep 29, 2017 | AD | O'Connor, Tereposky, Diego-Fernandez |
| India - Additional Duties (Panel) | 360 | United States | Jun 09, 2008 | Nov 17, 2008 | GATT | Wasescha, Diego-Fernandez, B. McRae |
| EC - Customs Matters (Panel) | 315 | United States | Jun 16, 2006 | Dec 11, 2006 | GATT | Benjelloun-Touimi, Diego-Fernandez, Tschaeni |
| Argentina - Peach Safeguards (Panel) | 238 | Chile | Feb 14, 2003 | Apr 15, 2003 | GATT, Safeguards | Feldman, Castro Bernieri, Diego-Fernandez |
Finally, according to his bio at the 2017 WTO public forum, Guohua Yang "is a professor at China Tsinghua University Law School. Prof. Yang participated in the negotiations on China WTO accession and drafting the Accession Protocol and Working Party Report; he led a group of experts checking Chinese laws and regulations against the WTO rules and China commitments; he was the first Director and later Deputy Director General for WTO Legal Affairs within the Ministry responsible for WTO cases related to China. Prof. Yang strongly advocated for the multilateral trading system represented by the WTO. He also has a rich background on trade policy making and international cooperation. He is Executive Vice Chairman, WTO Law Research Society of China Law Society; Member, Indicative List for dispute settlement panels, the WTO Secretariat; Associate Editor, Journal of World Trade. He was also IP attaché at Chinese Embassy in the United States, Washington, DC (2006.1-2008.9) and WTO Appellate Body member candidate (2016)." You can read his piece entitled "China in the WTO Dispute Settlement: A Memoir" here.