WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/DSB/24
27 April 2001
(01-2132)
PROCEDURES FOR THE APPOINTMENT
OF APPELLATE BODY MEMBERS
The following conclusions by the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body on Procedures
for the Appointment of Appellate Body Members were agreed at the DSB meeting on 5 April and
supersede document WT/DSB/23.
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On 10 December 2001 the contracts of three of the present members of the Appellate Body
will expire.  The three members who will conclude their terms are:  Claus-Dieter Ehlermann;
Florentino Feliciano and Julio Lacarté-Muro.
As you will recall procedures for the selection of Appellate Body members are set out in the
decision of the Dispute Settlement Body of 10 February 1995.  The appointments are made by theDSB.  A joint proposal is put to the DSB, after appropriate consultations, by a selection committee
comprising the Director-General, the Chair of the DSB, the Chairs of the General, Goods, Services
and TRIPs Councils.
With the termination of the three Appellate Body members' terms on 10 December it was
necessary to decide on a time-frame for the commencement and conclusion of the selection process.
Factors to be taken into account in this connection included the northern summer break in August, andalso the fact that the WTO Ministerial in Qatar is to be held in November.
At the 12 March DSB meeting, I made an initial statement on this matter which was
circulated in document WT/DSB/23 dated 13 March 2001.
I wish to inform you that at the 5 April 2001 regular meeting of the DSB the following
time-frame was agreed:
- Nominations for the Appellate Body should be submitted to the Director-General
from 17 April 2001, with the deadline for nominations closing on 29 June 2001.
- The Selection Committee's work is expected to would commence from 2 July 2001.- The decision by the DSB on the appointees would ideally be made soon after the
northern summer break.
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