WTO Disputes

That was quick.  From Reuters: "We think it was improper for the WTO not to reject the U.S. request," the spokesman, Yao Jian, told a news conference in Beijing. "Based on the WTO schedule, we are preparing the documents necessary to lodge an appeal."Here&

Here are the 11 most recent WTO consultations requests: Dispute Name DS Number Complainant(s) Respondent Request Date European Communities - Definitive Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Iron or Steel Fasteners from China 397 China European Communities Jul 31, 2009 Philippines - Taxes on Distilled Spirits 396 European Communities Philippines Jul

I was recently talking to someone writing a paper about the costs of litigating WTO disputes, so I found the following quite interesting.  Commenting on the Seal Products dispute, a lawyer who would probably know these things suggests the following in relation to that case: A WTO challenge would likely

The 1/3 being Canada's complaint.  The complaints by Argentina and the United States remain unresolved. From the EC press release: EC regulatory procedures on genetically modified organisms are working normally, as evidenced by 21 authorisations since the date of establishment of the WTO panel. The European Commission

Under its Trade Barriers Regulation, the European Commission published a report today concluding that U.S. measures affecting foreign suppliers of Internet gambling services "constitute an obstacle to trade that is inconsistent with WTO rules."  The full report is here.  The legal analysis is on pages 53-77 and

In this week's issue, the Economist weighs in on the EU's decision to ban most seal products.  They make the point that if the EU wanted to promote animal welfare, they had other avenues, closer to home, to do so: ROUGHLY handled, and incompetently stunned, terrified

I had not expected sports to play such a big role in Seals dispute.  The other day I mentioned the role of former hockey player Peter Stastny.  Now there's this: Canadian MPs have pushed forward a motion urging Canada's 2010 Olympic team to add seal skin

A "provisional" agreement has been reached between the U.S. and EU (I'm not sure what Canada's views on all of this are).  Sounds like they still have some hard issues to deal with, though. From the USTR press release: The agreement in principle

Today's developments (so far) in the WTO seals dispute (DS369), with links: » Canada will challenge seal ban to WTO: Day OTTAWA — The federal government will take the European Union to the World Trade Organization to challenge a pending ban on seal products unless the EU exempts Canada because