WTO Disputes

Sidley is distinguished in having not just one or two, but dozens of professionals who have been directly involved “from the inside” in the development of WTO law and jurisprudence – in the private sector, as government litigators, and as members of the WTO secretariat assisting panels and the Appellate Body in resolving disputes.

The quality of our practice has been recognized by our clients and peers alike. We hold the Chambers Global Award for “Global WTO Law Firm of the Year”, and our team has been named by Who’s Who Legal as the “Global Trade and Customs Law Firm of the Year” every year since the award’s inception in 2005. Chambers’ research reveals that clients praise Sidley as “the most renowned team in Geneva, where its name is synonymous with WTO instructions and expertise”, that “Sidley’s WTO expertise as a group is unrivalled” and that Sidley is “on everybody’s shortlist for WTO representation”. Many members of our team have also been identified as top WTO practitioners by Chambers and other rating organizations.

For example, our professionals have served recently as counsel to:

• The Government of China in support of its WTO challenge concerning the United States’ use of targeted dumping and non-market economy methodologies in anti-dumping proceedings, United States – Anti-Dumping Methodologies (China).
• Airbus S.A.S., commercial stakeholders standing behind the European Union, in the subsidies disputes, European Communities – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft and United States – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft;
• The U.S. biotechnology industry in a WTO dispute with the European Union and its member states on their ongoing failure to process applications for approval of new agricultural biotech products, European Communities – Measures Affecting the Marketing and Approval of Biotech Products;
• The Government of Norway in support of a comprehensive challenge to an EC anti-dumping determination regarding farmed salmon from Norway, European Communities – Anti-Dumping Measure on Farmed Salmon from Norway;
• AT&T in support of the United States’ challenge to Mexican market access and anti-competitive restrictions on international long distance telecommunications services, Mexico – Measures Affecting Telecommunications Services;
• The Government of Brazil:
  • in support of a WTO challenge against U.S. domestic support and export subsidies for upland cotton and a host of other agricultural products, United States – Subsidies for Upland Cotton; and
  • in defense of a challenge by the European Union to import measures regarding retreaded tyres, Brazil - Measures Affecting the Import of Retreaded Tyres;
• Anheuser-Busch in support of a challenge by the United States to the European Union’s regulation on the protection of geographical indications, European Communities – Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs; and
• A WTO Member in several WTO proceedings concerning the United States’ use of the “zeroing” policy in anti-dumping proceedings.

For a more extensive, representative list of WTO cases in which Sidley lawyers have been involved, see below. For a list of WTO publications, click here.