Consultation takes time – the perm severs out of immediacy
Bacchus 19 James Bacchus was a founding judge and was twice the chairman of the Appellate Body of the WTO. He is a former Member of the Congress of the United States and a former international trade negotiator for the United States “Trade Justice Delayed Is Trade Justice Denied: How to Make WTO Dispute Settlement Faster and More Effective” CATO Institute. 11-20-2019 https://www.cato.org/free-trade-bulletin/trade-justice-delayed-trade-justice-denied-how-make-wto-dispute-settlement
A WTO dispute begins with a formal request for consultations. A complainant can only move to the next stage, which involves a request for the establishment of a panel, after 60 days have elapsed from the consultations request.1 When a party does request a panel, it must place its request on the agenda of a Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting, which requires 10 days’ notice. The responding party is allowed to block the request at the first DSB meeting where it is on the agenda, but at the second meeting the panel will be established.2 Once the panel has been established, panelists must be appointed. The parties may be able to agree on panelists, but if they cannot do so after 20 days, either party may request that the WTO director-general compose the panel. Panel composition must take place 10 days after this request.3 After the panel has been composed, the litigation begins. As part of this process, there will generally be two rounds of written submissions, two panel meetings, and written questions from the panels to the parties.