WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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ANNEX M 
 
WORKING PROCEDURES AND TIMETABLE OF THE PANEL 
 
 
Contents Page 
Annex M-1 Working Procedures for the Panel M-2 
Annex M-2 Timetable M-5 
 WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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ANNEX M-1 
  
WORKING PROCEDURES  FOR THE PANEL 
 
 1. In its proceedings the Panel shall follow the relevant provisions of the Dispute Settlement 
Understanding (DSU).  In addition, the following working procedures shall apply. 
2. The Panel shall meet in closed session.  The parti es to the dispute, and interested third parties, 
shall be present at the meetings only when invited by the Panel to appear before it. 
3. The deliberations of the Panel and the documents  submitted to it shall be kept confidential. 
Nothing in the DSU shall preclude a party to a dis pute from disclosing statements of its own positions 
to the public.  Members shall treat as confidentia l information submitted by another Member to the 
Panel which that Member has designated as confid ential. Where a party to a dispute submits a 
confidential version of its written submissions to th e Panel, it shall also, upon request of a Member, 
provide a non-confidential summary of the informa tion contained in its subm issions that could be 
disclosed to the public.
1 
4. Before the first substantive meeting of the Pane l with the parties, the parties to the dispute 
shall transmit to the Panel written submissions in  which they present the facts of the case, their 
arguments and their counter-arguments, respectively.  Third parties may transmit to the Panel written 
submissions after the first written submissions  of the parties have been submitted.  
5. At its first substantive meeting with the parti es, the Panel shall ask Brazil to present its case. 
Subsequently, and at the same meeting, the United St ates will be asked to present its point of view.  
Third parties will be asked to present their views ther eafter at the separate session of the same meeting 
set aside for that purpose.  The parties will then be  allowed an opportunity for final statements, with 
Brazil presenting its statement first. 
6. All third parties which have notified their interest in the dispute to the Dispute Settlement Body 
shall be invited in writing to present their views duri ng a session of the substantive meeting of the Panel 
set aside for that purpose. All such third parties ma y be present during the entirety of this session. 
7. Formal rebuttals shall be made at a second substantive meeting of the Panel. The United 
States shall have the right to take the floor first, to be followed by Brazil.  The parties shall submit, 
prior to that meeting, written rebuttals to the Panel. 
8. The Panel may at any time put questions to the parties and to the third parties and ask them 
for explanations either in the course of the substa ntive meeting or in writing.  Answers to questions 
shall be submitted in writing by the date(s) specified by the Panel.  Answers to questions after the first 
meeting shall be submitted in writing at the sa me time as the written rebuttals, unless the Panel 
specifies a different deadline. 
9. The parties to the dispute and any third party i nvited to present its views shall make available 
to the Panel and the other party or parties a written ve rsion of their oral statements, preferably at the 
end of the meeting, and in any event not later than  the day following the meeting.  Parties and third 
parties are encouraged to provide the Panel and ot her participants in the meeting with a provisional 
written version of their oral statements at the time the oral statement is presented. 
                                                      
1 The Panel notes that parties have agreed between themselves as to applicable deadlines for the 
submission of non-confidential summaries: 14 days after the submission of the confidential version. WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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10. In the interest of full transparency, the presentati ons, rebuttals and statements shall be made in 
the presence of the parties.  Moreover, each party's written submissions, including responses to 
questions put by the Panel, shall be made available to the other party.  
11. The parties shall provide the Secretariat w ith an executive summary of the claims and 
arguments contained in their written submissions, or al presentations, and, if necessary, answers to 
questions.  These executive summaries will be used by  the Secretariat only for the purpose of assisting 
the Secretariat in drafting a concise arguments secti on of the Panel report so as to facilitate timely 
translation and circulation of the Panel report to th e Members.  They shall not serve in any way as a 
substitute for the submissions of the parties.  The summaries of the first written submission and 
rebuttal written submission shall be  limited to ten (10) pages each, and the summaries of the oral 
statements at the meetings will be limited to five  (5) pages each.  The Panel will determine the page 
limit for executive summaries of parties' respon ses to questions, if necessary and as appropriate.  
Third parties are requested to provide the Pa nel with executive su mmaries of their written 
submissions and oral presentations, of no more than  5 pages each.  The executive summaries shall be 
submitted to the Secretariat within  ten days of th e original submission, presentation or, if necessary, 
written replies, concerned.  Paragraph 17 sha ll apply to the service of executive summaries.  
12. A party shall submit any request for preliminar y ruling not later than its first submission to 
the Panel.  If the complaining party requests such a ruling, the respondent shall submit its response to 
the request in its first submission.   If the respondent requests such a  ruling, the complaining party 
shall submit its response to the request prior to the fi rst substantive meeting of the Panel, at a time to 
be determined by the Panel in light of the request .  Exceptions to this procedure will be granted upon 
a showing of good cause. 
13. Parties shall submit all factual evidence to th e Panel no later than during the first substantive 
meeting, except with respect to evidence necessary for purposes of rebu ttals or answers to questions.  
Exceptions to this procedure will be granted upon a showing of good cause.  The other party shall be 
accorded a period of time for comment, as appropriate, on any new factual evidence submitted after 
the first substantive meeting .  
14. The parties to the dispute have the right to determine the composition of their own 
delegations. The parties shall have the responsibilit y for all members of their delegations and shall 
ensure that all members of the delegation act in accordance with the rules of the DSU and the 
Working Procedures of this Panel, particularly in regard to confid entiality of the proceedings.  The 
parties as well as third parties shall provide a li st of their delegation before each meeting to 
Mr. Hiromi Yano (office 3036 ; e-mail  hiromi.yano@wto.org ).   
15. To facilitate the maintenance of the record of the dispute, and to maximize the clarity of 
submissions, in particular the refe rences to exhibits submitted by pa rties, parties shall sequentially 
number their exhibits throughout the course of the di spute.  For example, exhibits submitted by Brazil 
could be numbered BRA-1, BRA-2, etc.  If the last e xhibit in connection with the first submission was 
numbered BRA-5, the first exhibit of the ne xt submission thus would be numbered BRA-6. 
16. Following issuance of the interim report, the parties shall have two weeks to submit written 
requests to review precise aspects of the interim report and to request a further meeting with the 
Panel.  The right to request such a meeting must be  exercised no later than at that time.  Following 
receipt of any written requests for review, if no furthe r meeting with the Panel is requested, the parties 
shall have the opportunity, within a time-period specified by the Panel, to submit written comments 
on the other party's written requests for review.  Such  comments shall be strictly limited to responding 
to the other party's written request for review.   
17. The following procedures regarding service of documents shall apply: WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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(a) Each party and third party shall serve all of its written submissions, executive summaries and 
written versions of oral statements, directly on all other parties, and on third parties as 
appropriate, and confirm that it has done so at  the time it provides those submissions to the 
Secretariat. 
 
(b) The parties and third parties should provide their submissions to the Secretariat by 5:30 p.m. 
on the deadlines established by the Panel, unl ess a different time is set by the Panel. 
 (c) The parties and third parties shall provide the Secretariat with nine paper copies of each of 
their written submissions.  Seven of these copies  should be filed with Mr. Ferdinand Ferranco 
(Office 3154).  Two copies should be filed with th e Secretary to the Panel.  The final written 
versions of the parties' and third parties' oral  statements shall be provided not later than noon 
of the day following the date of the presentation. 
 (d) The parties and third parties shall provide electronic copies of all submissions to the 
Secretariat at the time they provide their submi ssions, if possible in a format compatible with 
that used by the Secretariat.  If the electroni c version is provided by e-mail, it should be 
addressed to DSRegistry@wto.org, and cc'd to susan.hainsworth@wto.org, 
matthew.kennedy@wto.org,  paul.shanahan@wto.org
, thomas.friedheim@wto.org and 
hiromi.yano@wto.org. If a diskette is provide d, it should be delivered to Mr. Ferdinand 
Ferranco.   
 
(e) The Panel will endeavour to provide the parti es with an electronic version of the descriptive 
part, the interim report and the final report, as well as of other documents as appropriate.  
When the Panel transmits to the parties or thir d parties both paper and electronic versions of a 
document, the paper version shall constitute the official versi on for the purposes of the record 
of the dispute.  WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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 ANNEX M-2 
 
 
TIMETABLE 
 
 
UNITED STATES – SUBSIDIES ON UPLAND COTTON   (WT/DS267) 
 
Timetable for Panel Proceedings1 
 
 
1. Establishment of the Panel:  18 March 2003 
2. Constitution of the Panel:  19 May 2003 
3. The following dates apply:   
(a) Organizational meeting:  28 May 2003 (b) Parties' comments on certain issues as indicated in 
the cover letter  5 June 2003 
(c) Third parties' comments on certain issues    10 June 2003 
(d) Parties' comments on each others' and third parties' 
comments submitted  13 June 2003 
(e) Issuance of Panel ruling on certain issues  20 June 2003 
(f) First submission of Brazil (com plaining party)  24 June 2003 
(g) First submission of the US (party complained 
against)  11 July 2003 
(h) Submissions from third parties:   15 July 2003 
(i) First substantive meeting with the parties 
2:  22, 23 July 2003 
24 July 2003 
                                                      
1  As was presented to parties and third parties on 28 May 2003. Subsequent changes are indicated in 
footnotes. Original footnote omitted.  
2  In a communication delivered on 20 June 2003 in accordance with item (e) of the timetable above, 
the Panel changed this meeting (including the third party session) to the " first session of the first substantive 
meeting " .  The same communication also established the following dates: (a) the Panel's view on certain 
issues  (i.e. issues relating to the "Peace Clause")  to be issued on 1 September 2003, (b) second session of the 
first substantive meeting  to be held on 7- 9 October 2003 (third party session held on 8 October), and (c) 
deadlines to submit further submissions for this second session: 4  September (from Brazil), 18 September (from the US) and 22 September (from the third parties). These dates were further changed by the Panel's 
communication dated 30 July to : (a) the Panel's view on "certain issues" on 5 September and (b) deadline to 
submit further submissions from Brazil by 9 September, from the US by 23 September (changed further to 
29 September by the Panel's communication dated 12 September and changed again to 30 September by the 
Panel's communication dated 24 September), and from third parties by 29 September (changed further to WT/DS267/R 
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 (j) Third party session: 
(k) Receipt of written rebuttals of the parties:   
29 August 2003 
3 
(l) Second substantive meeting with the parties:  17,18 September 2003 4 
(m) Issuance of descriptive part of the report to the 
parties:  1 October 2003 5 
(n) Receipt of comments by the parties on the 
descriptive part of the report:   15 October 2003  
(o) Issuance of the interim report, including the findings 
and conclusions, to the parties:  4 November 2003 6 
(p) Deadline for parties to request review of part(s) of 
report:  18 November 2003 
(q) Interim review meeting with the parties, if requested.  
If interim review meeting not requested, the deadline for comments on each others' comment.  24 November 2003 
                                                                                                                                                                    
 
3 October by the Panel's communication dated 12 September). The 12 September communication from the 
Panel established a deadline for parties to submit, before  the second session of the second substantive meeting, 
"further rebuttals " by 3 November 2003. This date was further changed to 18 November by the Panel's 
communication dated 18 September.     
3  Changed to 22 August 2003 by the Panel's communication dated 20 June.     
4  Changed to 7, 8 October 2003 by the Panel's communication dated 20 June. These dates were 
subsequently changed to 2, 3 D ecember by the Panel's communication dated 12 September. Apart from 
responses to Panel's questions, the Panel has established several deadlines after the second substantive meeting 
for parties to submit various documents. (See Panel's communications dated 14 November 2003, 
8 December 2003, 24 December 2003, 12  January 2004, 3 February 2004, 16 February 2004, 20 February 2004, 
24 February 2004 and 4 March 2004.)   
5  The dates for items (m) and (n) were delayed several times and were ultimately set to be 16 March 
and 30 March 2004, respectively, by the Panel's communication of 4 March 2004. 
6  The dates for items (o) - (r) were delayed severa l times and were ultimately set to be as follows, 
respectively, by the Panel's communication of 7 April, 2004:  26 April,  10 May,  3 June and 18 June 2004. 
  WT/DS267/R/Add.3 
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(r) Issuance of final report to the parties:  10 December 2003 
(s) Circulation of the final report to Members:  [after translation]