The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Appellate Body has essentially stop functioning on December 11, as it is no longer able to take on any new appeals.

The United States has been blocking the processes to appoint new judges to the Appellate Body, and with judges' mandates expiring after a set period the Body has now run short of judges and is effectively paralyzed.

The U.S. has criticised a series of aspects of how the Appellate Body functions but has refused offers for discussions to resolve the problem from several WTO members.

This could become a major disturbance to the international rules-based trade system which, for the past 24 years, has relied on the WTO's dispute settlement and Appellate Body.

Canada, the European Union and other countries have reached temporary agreements to replace the Appellate body in situations involving trade disputes between themselves but this will be of limited use and only concerns trade between the involved parties.

The WTO's Director-General, Roberto Azevdo, launched intensive, high-level consultations on how to resolve the impasse.

 

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