MJIEL Vol 14 Issue 3 2017 - Editorial
Communication Flows in International Economic Law: December 2017
 
There has been much ado about the possible fate of the WTO Appellate Body (AB) of late. The recent and somewhat now protracted US blocking of the recruitment process for Appellate Body (AB) judges in the WTO has to be understood in the context of further reforms in the decision-making processes in the WTO; and not simply in terms of the reform of the Appellate Body system specifically. However, be that as it may, that the US block simply cannot continue is almost universally accepted. At the political level, in this ‘member obsessed’ WTO, there is much discourse on the resolution of this impasse. However, this political chatter has been woefully ineffective lacking in force vigour and effectivity. Outside the WTO there has also been much focus including the suggestion for minimising the continued negative consequences of this impasse through some revision of the WTO Appellate Body Working Procedures; majority voting in the DSB; a WTO dispute system without the US; agreement amongst the parties not to appeal; and finally, further arbitration as a proxy to the AB.1
Asif H Qureshi
Editor-in-Chief

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