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38 Tex. Int'l L.J. 469 (2003)
Experiences from the WTO Appellate Body

handle is hein.journals/tilj38 and id is 479 raw text is: Experiences from the WTO Appellate Body
CLAUS-DIETER EHLERMANNt
SUMMARY
I.    IN TRO D U CTIO N  .......................................................................................................... 469
II.   DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AND JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN THE WTO .......................... 470
A .  The  D ispute  Settlem ent Body  ............................................................................. 470
B .  P a n els  ................................................................................................................ 4 7 1
C .  App ellate  B ody  .................................................................................................. 474
III.  M ETHOD   OF  INTERPRETATION  ................................................................................... 480
IV.   TENSIONS BETWEEN THE QUASI-JUDICIAL DISPUTE SETTLEMENT PROCESS
AND THE POLITICAL DECISION MAKING PROCESS OF THE WTO ............................... 483
A .  The  Situation  D e  Lege  Lata ............................................................................... 486
B.   The  Situation  D e  Lege  Ferenda ......................................................................... 487
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the best experts of World Trade Organization (WTO) law, Professor Thomas
Cottier, has observed recently:
The WTO is the most advanced laboratory of contemporary international law. It
combines two unique features.        First, a rule-making process based upon
successive negotiating rounds and thus of evolution by periodical intervals.
Second, a dispute settlement mechanism which offers not only two stages of
review, first instance and appellate, but also monitoring and multilateral
enforcement and implementation, all interlocking judicial and political modes of
decision making. It is not astonishing that this unique combination raises issues
which go beyond what is normally discussed in international law properly
speaking: the balance of powers between global and national, or regional, law.
These are fascinating issues, and the way they evolve is of paramount
importance for global governance, way beyond the field of international trade
regulation.'
t  Professor Dr., Senior Counsel, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, Brussels; Former Member (1995-2001) and
Chairman (2001) of the Appellate Body of the WTO. This paper was presented at the Symposium on
Judicialization and Judicial Globalization in International Law sponsored by the Texas International Law Journal
on September 5-6, 2002. Insofar as the Appellate Body is concerned, the following pages are largely based on a
paper entitled Some Personal Experiences as Member of the Appellate Body of the WTO, published as a Policy
Paper of the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute on February 9, 2002. The same paper
has been published under the title Six Years on the Bench of the World Trade Court-Some Personal Experiences
as Member of the Appellate Body of the WTO, 36 J. WORLD TRADE 605-39 (2002).
1. Thomas Cottier, WTO Dispute Settlement and Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Is There a Need for Inter-
Round Negotiations?, Paper Presented at the 2002 World Trade Forum: Dispute Settlement and Decision-Making

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