In an unusual move, China has been granted its request for a compliance panel at the World Trade Organization for the dispute between it and the U.S. over how China administers its wheat, rice and corn tariff rate quotas (see 2107160054 and 1904180020).

The World Trade Organization circulated the agenda for the Aug. 30 meeting of the dispute settlement body, which includes a briefing on the implementation status of the dispute resolutions for the U.S.'s antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel goods from Japan; Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act; the antidumping and countervailing duties on large residential washers from South Korea; and certain methdologies and their application to antidumping investigations concerning China. The DSB will also hear about the U.S.'s Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, and will receive a statement from the U.S. about the European Union's measures affecting trade in large civil aircraft.

Saudi Arabia requested dispute consultations at the World Trade Organization for the first time since joining the multilateral body, over the European Union's antidumping duties on mono-ethylene glycol imports from the kingdom, the WTO said Aug. 19. Saudi Arabia said the duties, imposed June 10, are inconsistent with the WTO's Antidumping Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. “Mono-ethylene glycol is a liquid used in the production of polyester fibres and film, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins and engine coolants,” the WTO said.

Japan requested a dispute resolution panel at the World Trade Organization regarding China's antidumping duties on stainless steel products from Japan, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Aug. 19. China imposed the duties in July 2019 on stainless steel goods from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the European Union on the grounds that the Chinese domestic industry was being injured by foreign exports. In particular, Japan is challenging the duties on stainless steel slabs, hot-rolled stainless steel sheets (cut sheets and plates) and hot-rolled stainless steel coils. The value of stainless steel exports from Japan to China is worth around $630 million, METI said.

The World Trade Organization reached an agreement with the European Law Students Association, the trade body announced on Aug. 6, to expand cooperation on the annual John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO Law. WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang and ELSA Vice President Louis Bremond penned a Memorandum of Understanding on July 23. The competition simulates a dispute settlement proceeding with written entries and hearings and has been around since 2002. The WTO acts as a technical sponsor for the event, sending legal experts to act as panelists and advise ELSA on the academic components to running the competition. A final oral round is conducted in Geneva.

A piece of a new report from the World Trade Organization laid out trends in technical barriers to trade (TBT) for the last year, finding Tanzania and China as the two countries to give notice of the most new technical barriers. Primarily citing concerns for human health or safety, the world issued 1,372 new TBT notifications to the WTO over the last year. The report also highlighted specific trade concerns from WTO members, publishing all the registered trade issues on issues ranging from market access, import licensing regimes, antidumping practices, safeguards and subsidies. The 169-page report also pegged unequal vaccine access as a major barrier to the full recovery of international trade from the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Trade Organization members reached a consensus July 28 on the 14 new heads of the subsidiary bodies that report to the Council for Trade in Goods. The General Council chair, Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, added that he will host consultations on how to "improve the overall process for the appointment of officers of all WTO bodies," according to an accompanying press release. The chairpersons are as follows:

Costa Rica requested dispute consultations with the Dominican Republic over antidumping duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, a July 27 World Trade Organization notice said. Costa Rica said the DR's antidumping measures are incompatible with obligations under the Anti-Dumping Agreement and the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

A European Union request for dispute consultations with Russia in the World Trade Organization over an alleged Russian import substitution program was circulated to members July 26. The substitution program includes three measures to favor Russian state-owned enterprises and businesses over imported goods: price preferencing favoring Russian-origin products in government procurement practices, requirements to obtain prior authorization for the purchase of certain engineering products, and minimum quotas for Russian-origin products in the procurement policies of SOEs. “The EU claims the measures relating to the activities of certain state-related entities, and laws and regulations regulating these activities, are inconsistent with various provisions under the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, and Russia's Protocol of Accession to the WTO,” a notice on the dispute consultations said.

The U.S. blocked China's request for a further dispute settlement panel to resolve claims that China has not brought its tariff-rate quota regime on wheat, rice and corn in line with World Trade Organization commitments, at the July 26 meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, according to a Geneva-based trade official. After finding that China's compliance efforts lacked in transparency, the U.S. declared its intention to continue pursuing recourse over the non-compliance as opposed to following through with China's request for another panel review.