PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/364
7 November 2003
(03-5951)
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
WTO appoints new Appellate Body  Member and reappoints three
existing Members
The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) appointed today (7 November 2003) Ms Merit E. Janow
of the United States to the seven-member Appellate Body for a four-year term. Ms Janow will
replace Mr James Bacchus of the United States, who is currently finishing his second and final termas a member of the Appellate Body. At the same  time, the DSB reappointed Messrs Georges Michel
Abi-Saab of Egypt, Arumugamangalam Venkatachalam Ganesan of India and Yasuhei Taniguchi of
Japan, each of whom will serve a second four-year term.
Ms Janow will commence her term on 11 December 2003 and Mr Taniguchi will start his second
term on the same day. Messrs Abi-Saab and Ganesan will commence their second terms on 1 June2004, immediately following the expiry of their respective terms on 31 May 2004.
The appointments were made according to the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) which
stipulates that the Appellate Body shall “comprise persons of recognized authority, with
demonstrated expertise in law, international tr ade and the subject matter of the WTO agreements
generally.” The DSU also requires that the Appe llate Body membership be broadly representative
of the WTO membership. These appointments were made following consultations with WTO
Members and on the basis of a proposal by a Selection Committee comprising the Director-
General, and the Chairpersons of the General Council, the DSB, the Council for Trade in Goods, theCouncil for Trade in Services and the TRIPS Council.
Notes to editors
1. A biographical note on Ms Janow is attached. Biographical notes on the three reappointed
members — Messrs Abi-Saab, Ganesan and Taniguchi — are contained in Press/179, dated 25 May
2000. A biographical note on the outgoing member, Mr Bacchus, is contained in Press/32, dated29 November 1995. Biographical da ta on all of the Appellate Body members and former members
may be found on the WTO web site at www.wto.org.
2. The Appellate Body hears appeals from dispute settlement panel reports on issues of law
covered in the panel report and legal interpreta tions developed by the panel. Three members of
the Appellate Body hear and determine any one appeal. The Appellate Body can uphold, modify orreverse the legal findings and conclusions of a pa nel. Appellate Body reports are adopted by the
Dispute Settlement Body, and unconditionally accepted by the parties to the dispute, unless therePRESS/364
Page 2 of 2
is a consensus against adoption. Since its establishment in November 1995, the Appellate Body
has issued 56 reports and every report has been adopted.
Biographical note — Merit E. Janow
Born in the United States on 13 May 1958, Ms Merit E. Janow has been since 1994 Professor in the
Practice of International Economic Law and International Affairs at the School of International and
Public Affairs of Columbia University. She teaches advanced law courses in international trade andcomparative antitrust law along with courses on international trade policy.
Before joining Columbia’s faculty in 1994, Ms Janow was Deputy Assistant US Trade
Representative for Japan and China (1990-93), and worked as a corporate lawyer specializing in
mergers and acquisitions with the law firm Ska dden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York
(1988-90).
Ms Janow is the author of several books and has contributed chapters to more than a dozen books.
She grew up in Tokyo, Japan, and speaks Japanese. Ms Janow served as a WTO panellist fromSeptember 2001 to May 2002 in the dispute European Communities — Trade Description of
Sardines  (WT/DS231).
END