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Decisions of the Appellate Body of the World
Trade Organization
Brazil--Measures Affecting Desiccated Coconut
Joel P. Trachtman**
WTO Appellate Body Report, Brazil--Measures Affecting Desiccated Coconut, AB-1996-4, WT/DS22/AB/R (97-0695), adopted by Dispute Settlement Body, 20 March 1997, Philippines, Appellant/Appellee; Brazil, Appellant/Appellee; United States and European Communities, Third Participants. Division: El-Naggar, Ehlermann and Lacarte-Muró, Major Topics Addressed by Appellate Body: Interpretation of Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures; Relation of Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures to GATT 1994.
1. Abstract
This decision addresses the question of when obligations arose under the
Uruguay Round Agreements, including GATT 1994, the Agreement on Agriculture
("Agriculture Agreement") and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing
Measures ("SCM").1 The Panel and Appellate
Body held that these treaties do not constitute applicable law, ratione
temporis, for purposes of this dispute. The Philippines argued that Brazil
was not permitted, under articles I, II and VI of GATT 1994, after the date of
entry into force of GATT 1994, to apply duties in excess of the bound duty or
the MFN duty, based on Brazil's countervailing duty law. The Panel and
Appellate Body determined that the SCM specifically excludes the discipline of
countervailing duties applied based on applications and investigations that
commence prior to the entry into force of that agreement. They further
determined that this exclusion extends to the other relevant provisions of GATT
1994, which provisions might otherwise constrain Brazil's application of these
countervailing duties.
The Appellate Body's expression of the nature of the WTO, its
distinction from the prior GATT 1947-based legal system and its vision of the
integrated nature of WTO obligations will be important in future interpretation
of WTO obligations.
* provided by
worldtradelaw.net
** Professor of International Law,
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford,
Massachusetts 02155, USA.
1 Each of these agreements appears
in 1 Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Legal Instruments
Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations
Done at Marrakesh on April 15, 1994, 33 I.L.M. 1143 (1994).
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This file was last modified:
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 12:54PM