A panel has been requested to examine a dispute about an alleged violation of Article 3 of the SCM Agreement. All three panel members believe it is not obvious that the challenged measure violates Article 3, however, the question of the existence or absence of a violation depends on the correct interpretation of Article 3. What should the panel do?Select one:a.The panel is not permitted to interpret Article 3 and must dismiss the complaint, as the exclusive authority to adopt interpretations of the WTO Agreement rests with the Ministerial Conference and the General Council (Article IX:2 of the WTO Agreement).b.The panel may proceed to an interpretation of Article 3, but it must consult the chairperson of the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.c.The panel may proceed to an interpretation of Article 3 and, in that process, it must always give decisive weight to the negotiating history of Article 3.d.The panel is entitled and obliged to clarify the meaning of Article 3 by interpreting that provision in accordance with the customary rules of interpretation of public international law.

In a WTO dispute, the complainant has claimed 15 different violations (in its request for the establishment of the panel and further in its submissions and oral statements) of the same covered agreement. The panel would like to know whether it has to address all of these claims.Select one:a.The request for the establishment of the panel determines the terms of reference for a panel. The panel’s mandate, therefore, is to address each single claim of violation raised by the complainant.b.The panel is free to choose among the different claims, but it must at least deal with one of the claims, irrespective of whether this results in a finding of a violation or not.c.The panel must stop its examination as soon as it has found one violation of the covered agreement in order to respect the principle of judicial economy.d.The panel only needs to address the claims that are necessary to fully resolve the matter at issue and may exercise judicial economy as regards the other claims.

WTO Member A has lost the case it brought against Member B because the panel and the Appellate Body have not accepted A’s legal interpretation of the agreement concerned and have concluded that B’s measure did not violate the WTO Agreement. A insists on its reading and recalls that panels and the Appellate Body must not diminish the rights of WTO Members. May A now impose unilateral sanctions against B despite the adoption of the reports?Select one:a.Panel and Appellate Body reports change the rights and obligations of Members under the WTO Agreement. If the reports have concluded that no violation has occurred, then this is the law from now on, and unilateral sanctions are illegal.b.Panel and Appellate Body reports are not able to add to or diminish rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement. Therefore, if A’s legal interpretation is correct, it may suspend obligations vis-à-vis B. If B objects it can have a different panel and the Appellate Body clarify the correct interpretation of the provisions at issue.c.Panel and Appellate Body reports must not add to or diminish the Members’ rights and obligations. However, the extent of the rights and obligations is to be clarified in the dispute settlement system. Therefore, A may not make any unilateral determination that a violation has occurred. It also may not suspend obligations unilaterally.d.A must not apply unilateral sanctions, but it has a second chance: it can request a compliance panel to examine, pursuant to Article 21.5 of the DSU, whether B’s measure truly complies with WTO law.

A WTO panel is required to interpret an article of a covered agreement that has been interpreted in a previous panel report under GATT 1947. The contracting parties to GATT 1947 had not adopted that panel report. Can the panel borrow from the reasoning of the previous GATT 1947 panel report and interpret the legal provision in the same manner?Select one:a.The non-adoption of that panel report means that the GATT contracting parties have rejected that panel’s reasoning. The WTO panel is, therefore, under an obligation to adopt a different line of reasoning.b.An unadopted GATT panel report has no formal legal status as such in the WTO dispute settlement system, but if the WTO panel is convinced by the reasoning of the GATT panel, it can adopt this reasoning as its own.c.The GATT panel report is completely irrelevant because it has not been adopted. The WTO panel should ignore it entirely.d.It makes no difference whether a report has been adopted or not. Panel reports of previous disputes are never relevant in any sense whatsoever.

The panels of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body are not empowered to make any new rules; they may simply apply the existing rules to a given set of facts.Group of answer choicesTrueFalse

Once the WTO Appellate Body has issued a decision in a dispute, the disputing governments must immediately conform to the decision with no further discussions on settlement.Group of answer choicesTrueFalse