Remarks by Cherise Valles

The dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) had long been viewed as the “crown jewel” of the multilateral trading system. In just over twenty-five years, in various proceedings under the dispute settlement understanding (DSU), the WTO dispute settlement system was prolific and thorough. There have been nearly four hundred adopted panel and Appellate Body reports (including compliance panel proceeding under DSU Article 21.5), twenty-five decisions notified under arbitrations on determining the amount of retaliation under DSU Article 22.6, thirty-eight awards to determine the implementation period under DSU Article 21.3(c), and one stand-alone arbitral award under DSU Article 25. This output has attracted attention in other international tribunals, notably the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In the 2007 Pulp Mills case before the ICJ, the WTO was commended as having contributed the most to the development of “best practices” in the evaluation of evidence submitted during the course of dispute settlement proceedings.