Appellate Body chair Thomas Graham delivered a special lecture on 22 November to report on the state of the Appellate Body. He warned of a surge in new cases next year which will create a backlog that will continue beyond 2017.
At an event at the WTO co-hosted by the World Trade Institute, the University of Geneva Law School and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Mr Graham said that the Appellate Body “will do what we can, with the staff and resources that we have” but that the priority of quality over speed means that “almost certainly there will be delays and queues”.
He urged WTO members to work with the Appellate Body to “maintain, nurture, and preserve the trust and credibility that has been built up over the years in this dispute settlement system, which is uniquely effective, but fragile, and which cannot be taken for granted”.