Jakarta. Indonesia is calling for the revival of the World Trade Organization or WTO’s court as the non-functioning body of judges has set roadblocks to the country’s dispute processes.

The WTO’s appellate body is in charge of hearing any appeals regarding the dispute settlement decisions. The US has been blocking appointments of new judges to the seven-membered appellate body. Washington has accused the trade court of “persistent overreaching” its authority and failing to comply with the WTO rules. And now the judges, whose four-year terms have expired, have not been replaced. The appellate body crisis has put many appeals on queue, including one filed by Indonesia against the European Union (EU) regarding a nickel dispute.

“Many WTO members, including Indonesia, believe that we really should reactivate the appellate body. The way things are now, there are too many uncertainties in the dispute settlement process,” Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, the director-general for international trade agreements at the Trade Ministry, told a virtual presser on Tuesday.

The WTO recently held a ministerial conference at the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi. The conference ended with a ministerial decision on dispute reform, which stated that the countries remain committed to having a “fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024”.

“Perhaps this [Abu Dhabi] conference failed to achieve a well-functioning dispute settlement system, but we still have months until the year ends to try all sorts of methods to revive the appellate body. Indonesia will be at the forefront to monitor the [WTO’s appellate body’s] revival,” Djatmiko said.

According to Djatmiko, out of the approximately 600 dispute settlements at the WTO, Indonesia is taking part in around 80 cases, be it as a compliant, respondent, or third party. 

This includes the nickel dispute that the EU had launched after Indonesia stopped exporting unprocessed ores of the silvery-white metal. The EU fears that the ban could disrupt the bloc’s stainless steel production. The WTO, however, backed the EU in the nickel dispute, prompting Indonesia to lodge an appeal. 

WTO’s director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the US has become more engaged in the dispute settlement reform. Commenting at the Abu Dhabi summit as seen in the AP Archives broadcast, Okonjo-Iweala said: “We have seen them [the US] engaging on the issue of dispute settlement reform, which for a number of years, they did not engage in.”

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters that the dispute settlement negotiations at the Abu Dhabi ministerial conference had a positive mood. However, Tai admitted that the appeals reform issue remained difficult. 

“There is another set of issues that are going to be harder and take longer to address including what to do with this appeals mechanism and how to have a mechanism for review that doesn't repeat the problems of the appellate body that came before it,” Tai was quoted as saying by Reuters.

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