Article: The WTO Panel Report in United States - Safeguard on Washers (Part I)

This first part of the commentary on the panel decision in United States - Safeguard on Large Residential Washing Machines provides a summary and views on three issues addressed by the panel: the treatment of unforeseen developments (and the effect of obligations incurred under the GATT), the definition of the domestic industry, and the assessment of increased imports. The panel addressed these issues by relying extensively on the standard of review envisaged for the assessment of safeguard-related claims: the review of the existence of reasoned and adequate explanations. The panel also favoured consistency between the categories defined for the different instances of investigation. unforeseen developments, domestic industry, increased imports, reasoned and adequate explanation, safeguard on washers