UK statement to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body on Appellate Body Appointments

Thank you, Chair.

The United Kingdom continues its support for this proposal to launch the selection process and we refer to our previous statements on this agenda item. We also support the statement made by Mexico on behalf of all co-sponsors.

We continue to be concerned that the WTO Membership has not been able to launch the selection processes for new Appellate Body members and we are now seeing the increasingly frequent impairment of rights arising from this situation. This cannot be in the interests of any Member, or the system more broadly.

We have listened carefully to the concerns raised and understand the many challenges in agreeing reform. However, we continue to view two-stage dispute settlement with the support of all Members as a central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and call on all Members to engage in a solutions-based discussion on reform.

Thank-you.