The Dispute Settlement Body and the Coverage of the DSU: Articles 1 to 3

In one line

The Dispute Settlement Body is the whole membership sitting to administer one procedure that covers every WTO agreement, and it has exactly four powers.

In exam wording: Articles 1 to 3 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes establish its coverage and application, its administration by the Dispute Settlement Body, and the general provisions governing the system.

Article 1: coverage and application

Article 1.1: the rules and procedures of the Understanding apply to disputes brought pursuant to the consultation and dispute settlement provisions of the agreements listed in Appendix 1, called the covered agreements, and to disputes concerning members' rights and obligations under the Marrakesh Agreement and the DSU itself, taken in isolation or in combination with any other covered agreement.

Appendix 1 lists them: the Marrakesh Agreement; the Multilateral Trade Agreements in Annex 1A on goods, Annex 1B the GATS and Annex 1C TRIPS; the DSU itself; and the Plurilateral Trade Agreements in Annex 4, which are covered only for the members that have accepted them and subject to any decision of their parties.

One system for everything is the innovation. Under GATT each Tokyo Round code had its own procedure; now a single procedure covers goods, services and intellectual property, which is what makes cross-retaliation possible.

Article 1.2 preserves the special or additional rules in Appendix 2, which prevail over the DSU to the extent of a difference. Those include the accelerated timetable for prohibited subsidies in Article 4 of the SCM Agreement, the standard of review in Article 17.6 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement, the expert group provisions in the SPS and TBT Agreements, and the double taxation arbitration in Article XXII:3 of the GATS.

Article 2: administration

Article 2.1 establishes the Dispute Settlement Body to administer the rules and procedures and, except as otherwise provided in a covered agreement, the consultation and dispute settlement provisions of the covered agreements.

And it confers exactly four powers: authority to establish panels, to adopt panel and Appellate Body reports, to maintain surveillance of implementation of rulings and recommendations, and to authorise suspension of concessions and other obligations under the covered agreements.

Learn those four, because a question about the DSB's structure is answered badly without them.

Article 2.2 requires the DSB to inform the relevant Councils and Committees of developments in disputes related to their agreements.

Article 2.3 requires it to meet as often as necessary to carry out its functions within the time frames provided.

Article 2.4 is the decision rule: where the rules and procedures provide for the DSB to take a decision, it shall do so by consensus, and a footnote defines consensus as no member present at the meeting formally objecting.