2 Sep 2024
Working Papers
Van den Bossche, Peter L.H.
The Uncertain Future of WTO Dispute Settlement: An Appraisal of the February 2024 Consolidated Text Resulting from the Molina Process on Dispute Settlement Reform
The paper focuses, in particular, on the proposed changes regarding alternative dispute resolution and arbitration, panel proceedings, compliance, guidelines for adjudicators, procedures to discuss legal interpretations, Secretariat support, transparency, accessibility, technical assistance, capacity building and legal advice, and the periodic review of the implementation of the reform agenda.
For more than two decades, the WTO dispute settlement system was the ‘jewel in the crown of the WTO’. Today, however, the system is in an existential crisis and a mere shadow of what it once was. This paper first deals with how the discussions on the reform of the WTO dispute settlement system were conducted in 2023 and early 2024 in the run-up of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in February/March 2024, and then critically assesses the proposed changes to the WTO dispute settlement system reflected in the Consolidated Text of a draft Ministerial Decision on Dispute Settlement, submitted to the General Council on 14 February 2024.