. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/DS/8
7 May 2003
(03-2458)
Dispute Settlement Body
Special Session
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BODY
Report by the Chairman, Ambassador Péter Balás,
to the Trade Negotiations Committee
I. STATUS OF WORK
1. Since the Chairman's last report to the TNC on 2 April 2003, the Special Session of the DSB
held one additional formal meeting on 10 and 11 April 2003.
2. At that meeting, the Chairman introduced the Framework Document which, as announced at
the previous meeting, he had issued under his ow n responsibility to provide a basis for further
discussion of proposed clarifications and improvements to the DSU and carry the negotiating processforward.  In this context, the Chairman presented some text under his own responsibility, wherever he
felt that a sufficient level of convergence could be achieved on the issue.  This document reflected
proposals in different forms, depending on the state of discussions at the time of its issuance.  The
document also highlighted some areas in which further work could be conducted.  On the basis of that
document, the Chairman conducted further discussions and informal consultations with delegations invarious groups and also met with a number of delegations bilaterally, over the month of April.
3. Following this further work, the Chairman presented a progress report to participants at an
informal meeting of the Special Session held on 5 May, and issued a revised version of the
Framework Document, reflecting the progress made in the course of these discussions (issued as
Job(03)/69/Rev.2).  This revised document also  contained a number of new proposals from the
Chairman.  At that meeting, the Chairman also indicated his intention to continue to engage
delegations in informal consultations in order to achieve further convergence of views.  The Chairmanalso noted that delegations with similar proposals had generally still not provided common text to
reflect these.  This meant that much more work was required even to reach a common understanding
on the proposals under consideration.  The Chairman thus urged again proponents of like-minded text
to put forward common proposed language as early as possible in order to facilitate further progress.
II. OUTSTANDING ISSUES
4. Some further progress has been made, since the Chairman's last report to the TNC, towards
clarifying the basis on which the text of clarifications and improvements to the DSU could be agreed.
Informal discussions on the basis of the Framework Document have allowed a continued
consideration of proposals, and in some areas, this further work has allowed the Chairman to propose
additional or revised draft text that could, in his view, form part of an agreed outcome by the end ofthis month in the revised version of the Framework Document.
5. However, on the basis of the level of convergence of views at this point, the Chairman has
only been able to suggest such text on a limited number of issues.  Some further progress has also
been made on other issues, but in light of the contin ued diversity of participants' interests, as well as
the complexity of some issues, further work remains to be done to enhance and clarify the scope forTN/DS/8
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possible consensus.  On a number of issues, the level of convergence of views at this stage remains
very limited, thus making it difficult to envisage that consensus could be achieved on these by the end
of May.
6. The ongoing consultation process is expected to continue until mid-May with a view to
fostering further convergence towards a text that  could command consensus.  At that point, the
Chairman expects to put forward, under his own responsib ility, a draft text of what could, in his view,
constitute the basis for an agreement by the end of this month.  This Chairman's text would be
presented before the next meeting of the Special Session, which is scheduled to take place on 20 May.
7. The continued active engagement of participants will of course remain critical in this final
phase of discussions, bearing in mind the objective set by Ministers to agree on clarifications and
improvements by this month.
III. FUTURE WORK
8. As described above, the Chairman will continue to conduct informal consultations with
interested delegations in various format and expect s to put forward, before the next meeting of the
Special Session, a proposed text under his responsibility, in order to facilitate the progress of further
work towards an agreed text by the end of the month.
9. Meetings of the Special Session have been scheduled for 20, 21, 23 and 28 May.
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