Geneva: India has notified the World Trade Organisation’s Dispute Settlement Body of its decision to appeal the panel reports in the cases brought by Brazil, Australia and Guatemala in “India — Measures Concerning Sugar and Sugarcane”.
Given the ongoing lack of agreement among WTO members regarding the filling of Appellate Body vacancies, there is no Appellate Body Division available at the current time to deal with the appeal, the WTO stated today.
India stated that in these exceptional circumstances, and in the interests of fairness and orderly procedure in the conduct of the appeal, in accordance with Rule 16(1) and (2) of the Working Procedures for Appellate Review, India will await further instructions from the division, when it may eventually be composed, or the Appellate Body, regarding any further steps to be taken by India in this appeal.
The panel reports were circulated to WTO members on December 14, 2021. The appeal was circulated to WTO members on January 11, 2022.
India’s appeal focused on certain errors of law committed by the panel. It sought review by the Appellate Body of the Panel’s finding that the “Scheme for providing assistance to sugar mills for expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on the export of sugar” for the 2019–20 sugar season (“MAEQ Scheme”) was within its terms of reference.
– global bihari bureau
