Appellate Body Crisis at the World Trade Organization: View from India

Abstract

There has been a crisis prevailing at the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since December 2019. The United States’ (US) refusal to allow the appointment of members to the WTO’s Appellate Body has disturbed the functioning of the entire WTO dispute settlement process. In order to mitigate the effects of this, the European Union (EU) has proposed a multi-party interim appeal arbitration agreement (MPIA) which has been joined by over twenty other WTO members. In the absence of rules-based dispute settlement, countries will most probably resort to bilateral negotiations. This will be prejudicial to the interests of developing countries that have consistently been disadvantaged during bilateral negotiations and fared better in proceedings with third-party adjudication. Though India has expressed concerns about the Appellate Body crisis, it has not joined the MPIA and has stated that it does not intend to do so either. This article explains why India would benefit from joining the MPIA especially given the disputes it has pending before WTO Panels. Joining the MPIA will help India avoid unilateral sanctions at the first instance and increase the likelihood of compliance by other WTO members that are a part of the MPIA. WTO, Appellate Body, India, dispute settlement, multilateralism, United States, European Union