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Abstract
The World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body—the keystone of the organization’s two-tier dispute settlement mechanism—has been immobilized since December 2019, when the United States repeatedly withheld consent for the appointment of new judges, thereby breaking the quorum required to hear appeals. This paralysis has triggered cascading operational, legal, and political consequences. Drawing on doctrinal analysis of WTO agreements and a focused case study of recent unresolved disputes, this article charts three interlinked effects of the gridlock. First, it has produced an expanding backlog of appeals and encouraged so-called “appeals into the void,” leaving panel reports in limbo and eroding legal certainty for traders and governments alike. Second, the impasse has incentivized members to experiment with ad hoc alternatives—most notably the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement—risking fragmentation of jurisprudence and unequal access to justice across the membership. Third, the stalemate has weakened trust in the WTO’s ability to enforce multilateral rules at a moment of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, undermining incentives for future rule-making on issues such as digital trade and climate-related measures. This study argues that narrowly framed procedural fixes are insufficient; instead, a holistic reform package is required. Recommended measures include a time-bound and automatic judge-appointment process insulated from single-member vetoes, streamlined appellate procedures to curb excessive litigation delays, and a renewed political compact—possibly codified in a ministerial declaration—reaffirming shared commitments to an independent and binding dispute settlement system. Restoring a credible and predictable appellate function is indispensable for preserving the WTO’s centrality in global trade governance and for sustaining confidence in a rules-based international trading order
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Copyright (c) 2025 Meeran Hameed, Nandang Sutrisno, Frances Annmarie Duffy
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References
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Charnovitz, Steve. “Opening the WTO to Nongovernmental Interests.” Fordham International Law Journal 24, no. 1 (2000): 173–216.
Chow, Daniel C.K. “United States Unilateralism and the World Trade Organization.” Boston University International Law Journal 37, no. 1 (2019): 1–33.
Early, Bryan R, and Menevis Cilizoglu. “Economic Sanctions in Flux: Enduring Challenges, New Policies, and Defining the Future Research Agenda.” International Studies Perspectives 21, no. 4 (October 27, 2020): 438–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekaa002.
Elsig, Manfred, Joost Pauwelyn, and Thomas Bernauer. “The Oxford Handbook on The World Trade Organization.” In Dispute Settlement Mechanism—Analysis And Problems, edited by Martin Daunton, Amrita Narlikar, and Robert M. Stern, 485–506. Oxford University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199586103.013.0023.
Gao, Henry. “Finding a Rule-Based Solution to the Appellate Body Crisis: Looking Beyond the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement.” Journal of International Economic Law 24, no. 3 (October 22, 2021): 534–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgab031.
Hillman, Jennifer. “Three Approaches to Fixing the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” IIEL Issue Briefs. Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown University Law Center, December 2018. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/iiel/research/iielissuebriefs/.
Hoekman, Bernard M, and Michel M Kostecki. The Political Economy of the World Trading System: The WTO and Beyond. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University PressOxford, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199553761.001.0001.
Hoekman, Bernard, and Petros C. Mavroidis. “Burning Down the House? The Appellate Body in the Centre of the WTO Crisis.” RSCAS Working Paper. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 2019. https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2347/.
Howse, Robert. “Appointment with Destiny: Selecting WTO Judges in the Future.” Global Policy 12, no. Supplement 3 (April 2021): 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12933.
Jones, Kent. “Green Room Politics and the WTO’s Crisis of Representation.” Progress in Development Studies 9, no. 4 (October 2009): 349–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/146499340900900408.
Juszczyk, Georgie. “Legitimacy Crisis at the World Trade Organisation Appellate Body: Other Ways Than the MPIA?” In European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2021, edited by Jelena Bäumler, Christina Binder, Marc Bungenberg, Markus Krajewski, Giesela Rühl, Christian J. Tams, Jörg Philipp Terhechte, and Andreas R. Ziegler, 12:87–119. European Yearbook of International Economic Law. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/8165_2021_75.
Kortukova, Tamara, and Liliia Nevara. “Features of the Principle of Non-Discrimination in International Trade and Economic Law.” Legal Horizons 17, no. 2 (October 6, 2023): 040–050. https://doi.org/10.54477/LH.25192353.2023.2.pp.040-050.
Lo, Chang-fa, Junji Nakagawa, and Tsai-fang Chen, eds. The Appellate Body of the WTO and Its Reform. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0255-2.
Mignolli, Alessandra. “The European Union Faces the Crisis of the WTO Dispute Settlement System: Tensions between Multilateralism and Unilateralism in International Trade Law.” Ordine Internazionale e Diritti Umani 3 (2020): 485–505.
Narlikar, Amrita. “From a Legitimacy Deficit to an Existential Crisis: The Unfortunate Case of the World Trade Organization.” In The Crises of Legitimacy in Global Governance, by Gonca Oguz Gok and Hakan Mehmetcik, 107–21, 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003128595-6.
———. “How Not to Negotiate: The Case of Trade Multilateralism.” International Affairs 98, no. 5 (September 6, 2022): 1553–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac063.
Nyahoho, Emmanuel. “The Limited Effectiveness of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) in WTO.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 29, no. 1 (2004): 87–114.
Palmeter, David, Petros C. Mavroidis, and Niall Meagher. Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization: Practice and Procedure. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108908009.
Patunru, Arianto A. “Trade Policy in Indonesia: Between Ambivalence, Pragmatism and Nationalism.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 59, no. 3 (September 2, 2023): 311–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2023.2282821.
Peach, Melissa. “Eye of the Tiger: Examining Tension in Indonesia’s Trade Regime.” Currents: International Trade Law Journal 22, no. 1 (2013): 38–47.
Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. “The Transformation of the World Trading System through the 1994 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization.” European Journal of International Law 6, no. 2 (1995): 161–221. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/6.2.161.
Pogoretskyy, Vitaliy, Boris Ohanyan, and Laura M. Fernández. “Is the WTO Losing Its Crown Jewel to FTAs and Why Should This Concern Economically Disadvantaged WTO Members?” Trade, Law and Development 14, no. 1 (2022): 105–28.
Pollack, Mark A. “International Court Curbing in Geneva: Lessons from the Paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body.” Governance 36, no. 1 (January 2023): 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12686.
Sacerdoti, Giorgio. “Evolution of WTO Dispute Settlement System and Its Current Crisis.” The IUP Journal of International Relations 17, no. 2 (2023): 7–24.
Sacerdoti, Giorgio, and Leonardo Borlini. “Systemic Changes in the Politicization of the International Trade Relations and the Decline of the Multilateral Trading System.” German Law Journal 24, no. 1 (February 2023): 17–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2023.10.
Srinivasan, T. N. “The Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO: A Brief History and an Evaluation from Economic, Contractarian and Legal Perspectives.” The World Economy 30, no. 7 (July 2007): 1033–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01011.x.
Steinberg, Richard H., John H. Barton, Judith L. Goldstein, and Timothy E. Josling. The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400837892.
Sutrisno, Nandang. “3 Langkah Penyelesaian Sengketa Nikel Indonesia Di WTO,” September 13, 2024. https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/a/3-langkah-penyelesaian-sengketa-nikel-indonesia-di-wto-lt66e322385af1e.
Syadullah, Makmun, and Adwiena Dwiyanti. “Position of Indonesia in WTO Reform.” International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues 10, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 42–51. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.8890.
Taylor Todd. “Who Rules the Rulings? Disputant Strength and Legal Preparedness in World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement.” Undergraduate Journal of Politics 18 (2019): 29–47.
Umenze, Nnamdi Stanislaus. “Is the WTO Appellate Body in Limbo? The Roots of the Crisis in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and the Available Routes Navigating the Quagmire.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal / Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 24, no. 1 (December 8, 2021): 1–46. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2021/v24i0a8580.
World Trade Organization. “World Trade Report 2024: Trade and Inclusiveness.” Geneva: World Trade Organization, 2024. https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/wtr24_e/wtr24_e.pdf.
Wüger, Daniel. “The Never Ending Story: The Implementation Phase in the Dispute between the EC and the United States on Hormone-Treated Beef.” Law and Policy in International Business 33 (2002): 777–814.
Yarbrough, Beth V., and Robert M. Yarbrough. Cooperation and Governance in International Trade: The Strategic Organizational Approach. Vol. 133. Princeton Legacy Library. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691602956.
Zangl, Bernhard. “Judicialization Matters! A Comparison of Dispute Settlement Under GATT and the WTO.” International Studies Quarterly 52, no. 4 (December 2008): 825–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2478.2008.00528.x.
Zelicovich, Julieta. “Are There Still Shared Values to Sustain Multilateralism? Discourse in World Trade Organization Reform Debates.” Third World Quarterly 43, no. 2 (February 1, 2022): 332–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.2008796.
References
Aisyah, Siti, I. Nengah Suarmanayasa, Efendi, Bayu Retno Widiastuti, and Iwan Harsono. “The Impact of Fiscal Policy on Economic Growth: A Case Study of Indonesia.” Management Studies and Entrepreneurship Journal (MSEJ) 5, no. 2 (2024): 3773–82. https://doi.org/10.37385/msej.v5i2.4619.
Baroncini, Elisa. “Saving the Right to Appeal at the WTO: The EU and the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement.” Federalismi.It 22 (2020): 1–33.
Charnovitz, Steve. “Opening the WTO to Nongovernmental Interests.” Fordham International Law Journal 24, no. 1 (2000): 173–216.
Chow, Daniel C.K. “United States Unilateralism and the World Trade Organization.” Boston University International Law Journal 37, no. 1 (2019): 1–33.
Early, Bryan R, and Menevis Cilizoglu. “Economic Sanctions in Flux: Enduring Challenges, New Policies, and Defining the Future Research Agenda.” International Studies Perspectives 21, no. 4 (October 27, 2020): 438–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/isp/ekaa002.
Elsig, Manfred, Joost Pauwelyn, and Thomas Bernauer. “The Oxford Handbook on The World Trade Organization.” In Dispute Settlement Mechanism—Analysis And Problems, edited by Martin Daunton, Amrita Narlikar, and Robert M. Stern, 485–506. Oxford University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199586103.013.0023.
Gao, Henry. “Finding a Rule-Based Solution to the Appellate Body Crisis: Looking Beyond the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement.” Journal of International Economic Law 24, no. 3 (October 22, 2021): 534–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiel/jgab031.
Hillman, Jennifer. “Three Approaches to Fixing the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” IIEL Issue Briefs. Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown University Law Center, December 2018. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/iiel/research/iielissuebriefs/.
Hoekman, Bernard M, and Michel M Kostecki. The Political Economy of the World Trading System: The WTO and Beyond. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University PressOxford, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199553761.001.0001.
Hoekman, Bernard, and Petros C. Mavroidis. “Burning Down the House? The Appellate Body in the Centre of the WTO Crisis.” RSCAS Working Paper. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 2019. https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2347/.
Howse, Robert. “Appointment with Destiny: Selecting WTO Judges in the Future.” Global Policy 12, no. Supplement 3 (April 2021): 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12933.
Jones, Kent. “Green Room Politics and the WTO’s Crisis of Representation.” Progress in Development Studies 9, no. 4 (October 2009): 349–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/146499340900900408.
Juszczyk, Georgie. “Legitimacy Crisis at the World Trade Organisation Appellate Body: Other Ways Than the MPIA?” In European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2021, edited by Jelena Bäumler, Christina Binder, Marc Bungenberg, Markus Krajewski, Giesela Rühl, Christian J. Tams, Jörg Philipp Terhechte, and Andreas R. Ziegler, 12:87–119. European Yearbook of International Economic Law. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/8165_2021_75.
Kortukova, Tamara, and Liliia Nevara. “Features of the Principle of Non-Discrimination in International Trade and Economic Law.” Legal Horizons 17, no. 2 (October 6, 2023): 040–050. https://doi.org/10.54477/LH.25192353.2023.2.pp.040-050.
Lo, Chang-fa, Junji Nakagawa, and Tsai-fang Chen, eds. The Appellate Body of the WTO and Its Reform. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0255-2.
Mignolli, Alessandra. “The European Union Faces the Crisis of the WTO Dispute Settlement System: Tensions between Multilateralism and Unilateralism in International Trade Law.” Ordine Internazionale e Diritti Umani 3 (2020): 485–505.
Narlikar, Amrita. “From a Legitimacy Deficit to an Existential Crisis: The Unfortunate Case of the World Trade Organization.” In The Crises of Legitimacy in Global Governance, by Gonca Oguz Gok and Hakan Mehmetcik, 107–21, 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003128595-6.
———. “How Not to Negotiate: The Case of Trade Multilateralism.” International Affairs 98, no. 5 (September 6, 2022): 1553–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac063.
Nyahoho, Emmanuel. “The Limited Effectiveness of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) in WTO.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 29, no. 1 (2004): 87–114.
Palmeter, David, Petros C. Mavroidis, and Niall Meagher. Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization: Practice and Procedure. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108908009.
Patunru, Arianto A. “Trade Policy in Indonesia: Between Ambivalence, Pragmatism and Nationalism.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 59, no. 3 (September 2, 2023): 311–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2023.2282821.
Peach, Melissa. “Eye of the Tiger: Examining Tension in Indonesia’s Trade Regime.” Currents: International Trade Law Journal 22, no. 1 (2013): 38–47.
Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. “The Transformation of the World Trading System through the 1994 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization.” European Journal of International Law 6, no. 2 (1995): 161–221. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/6.2.161.
Pogoretskyy, Vitaliy, Boris Ohanyan, and Laura M. Fernández. “Is the WTO Losing Its Crown Jewel to FTAs and Why Should This Concern Economically Disadvantaged WTO Members?” Trade, Law and Development 14, no. 1 (2022): 105–28.
Pollack, Mark A. “International Court Curbing in Geneva: Lessons from the Paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body.” Governance 36, no. 1 (January 2023): 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12686.
Sacerdoti, Giorgio. “Evolution of WTO Dispute Settlement System and Its Current Crisis.” The IUP Journal of International Relations 17, no. 2 (2023): 7–24.
Sacerdoti, Giorgio, and Leonardo Borlini. “Systemic Changes in the Politicization of the International Trade Relations and the Decline of the Multilateral Trading System.” German Law Journal 24, no. 1 (February 2023): 17–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2023.10.
Srinivasan, T. N. “The Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO: A Brief History and an Evaluation from Economic, Contractarian and Legal Perspectives.” The World Economy 30, no. 7 (July 2007): 1033–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01011.x.
Steinberg, Richard H., John H. Barton, Judith L. Goldstein, and Timothy E. Josling. The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400837892.
Sutrisno, Nandang. “3 Langkah Penyelesaian Sengketa Nikel Indonesia Di WTO,” September 13, 2024. https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/a/3-langkah-penyelesaian-sengketa-nikel-indonesia-di-wto-lt66e322385af1e.
Syadullah, Makmun, and Adwiena Dwiyanti. “Position of Indonesia in WTO Reform.” International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues 10, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 42–51. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.8890.
Taylor Todd. “Who Rules the Rulings? Disputant Strength and Legal Preparedness in World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement.” Undergraduate Journal of Politics 18 (2019): 29–47.
Umenze, Nnamdi Stanislaus. “Is the WTO Appellate Body in Limbo? The Roots of the Crisis in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and the Available Routes Navigating the Quagmire.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal / Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 24, no. 1 (December 8, 2021): 1–46. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2021/v24i0a8580.
World Trade Organization. “World Trade Report 2024: Trade and Inclusiveness.” Geneva: World Trade Organization, 2024. https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/wtr24_e/wtr24_e.pdf.
Wüger, Daniel. “The Never Ending Story: The Implementation Phase in the Dispute between the EC and the United States on Hormone-Treated Beef.” Law and Policy in International Business 33 (2002): 777–814.
Yarbrough, Beth V., and Robert M. Yarbrough. Cooperation and Governance in International Trade: The Strategic Organizational Approach. Vol. 133. Princeton Legacy Library. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691602956.
Zangl, Bernhard. “Judicialization Matters! A Comparison of Dispute Settlement Under GATT and the WTO.” International Studies Quarterly 52, no. 4 (December 2008): 825–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2478.2008.00528.x.
Zelicovich, Julieta. “Are There Still Shared Values to Sustain Multilateralism? Discourse in World Trade Organization Reform Debates.” Third World Quarterly 43, no. 2 (February 1, 2022): 332–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.2008796.