The Crisis And Reform Of WTO Appellate Body

The world trade organization is an international economic organization based on rules and an important force to maintain the multilateral trade system.As the most creative Appellate Body in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,it creates a precedent for the final adjudication of the second instance of the international dispute settlement mechanism,improves the efficiency and fairness of the dispute settlement mechanism,and provides important support for the security and predictability of the multilateral trade system We need to protect it.At present,because the United States obstructs the selection of appellate body members,the appellate body has fallen into a crisis of survival,which deeply reflects the dilemma of the multilateral trade system,the power structure of the international economic pattern and the lack of WTO function under the current international situation.The appellate body needs to be reformed.Many WTO members have put forward design plans for the reform,but the specific reform has not been put on the agenda.In order to maintain the operation of the appellate body,China,EU and other Member States actively promote the conclusion of the multi party interim arbitration arrangement(MPIA).Although the reform of the appellate body is imperative,the urgent task is to restore the functions of the appellate body as soon as possible.The reform of WTO Appellate Body should follow the overall plan of WTO reform.On the one hand,it is necessary to make good use of the interim appeal arbitration settlement mechanism and the latest practice of other dispute settlement to settle disputes;on the other hand,it is necessary to make detailed arrangements for specific matters of reform according to the plans submitted by each member party,so as to start the reform as soon as possible after the appellate body returns to operation.This paper is mainly divided into three chapters.The first chapter gives a brief overview of the origin of appellate body,system design and the significance of appellate procedure setting,and probes deeply into the root cause of the shutdown crisis of appellate body in WTO dispute settlement mechanism,and summarizes the processing practice of post-shutdown dispute settlement.The second chapter analyzes the legal issues involved in the crisis of the appellate body,synthesizes the proposals of the members,and puts forward its own solutions to these problems,especially the procedural problems.The third chapter discusses the path of restarting the appellate body from the three schemes of voting selection,the creation of a new appellate mechanism and the appellate arbitration procedure which has entered into practice.At the end of the chapter,it discusses how China’s dispute settlement in WTO should be handled properly under the background of the current appellate arbitration procedure.As the procedure design of WTO dispute settlement mechanism,the reform of appellate body affects the whole body,which is related to the overall arrangement of WTO reform.Since China’s accession to WTO,the development of its rule of law and economy is closely related to the development of WTO.China should firmly grasp the direction of the reform and development of the WTO Appellate Body,deeply participate in the reform of the WTO Appellate Body and its related fields,strive for the right to speak in the formulation of WTO rules,and better cope with the current complex economic and trade governance system.