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Although there is broad consensus that the current
(WTO) dispute settlement system has worked reasonably well, there also is a
widely shared view that improvements are desirable. Since the new WTO dispute
settlement system was substantially different from the old system, the ministers
of the WTO
Members called for a full review of the DSU within
four years after the entry into force of the WTO
Agreement when they concluded the Uruguay
Round.1 This
review started in 1997 but did not result in any agreed outcomes.
Building “on the work done thus far”, the Doha Ministerial
Declaration contained a mandate for “negotiations on improvements and clarifications” of
the DSU.2 Despite
intensive negotiations over the past year and a half3 and
significant progress in many areas, Members were unable to conclude negotiations
by the end of the deadline stipulated in the Doha Ministerial Declaration (end
of May 2003). A proposal to extend the deadline until May 2004 was agreed
by the
General Council at its meeting in July 2003.4
Notes:
1. Marrakesh Ministerial
Decision on the Application and Review of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures
Governing the Settlement of Disputes of 14 April 1994.
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2. World Trade Organization,
Ministerial Declaration, Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1,
9-14 November 2001, para. 30.
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3. The Members’ reform
proposals tabled to date are accessible at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm.
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4. WT/GC/M/81.
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