WT/AB/23  
 
11 March 2015  
(15-1392)  Page: 1/3  
    
 
  
EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES OF WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS IN APPELLATE PROCEEDINGS 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE APPELLATE BODY 
The Working Procedures for Appellate Review1 (Working Procedures) identify the written 
submissions that WTO Members participating in appeals are to submit in appellate proceedings, as well as the deadlines and modalities for the subm ission of such documents. For many years, the 
Appellate Body has requested participants in appellate proceedings to submit executive summaries 
of their written submissions by the same deadline as for the written submissions themselves. These executive summaries were intended to a ssist the Appellate Body in summarizing the 
arguments of the participants in its report in each proceeding. The Appellate Body wishes to inform 
the WTO Membership that it is adopting new guidelines regarding executive summaries.  
The Appellate Body intends to continue the practice of asking participants in appeals to submit 
executive summaries of their written submissions. Th e deadlines for filing such summaries will also 
remain unchanged, namely, the same deadline as for the written submissions themselves. 
Nevertheless, the Appellate Body is introducing two new aspects to this practice. First, the Appellate Body will request not only the participants  but also each third participant that elects to 
file a written submission in an appeal to submit an executive summary of such written submission 
at the same time. Second, rather than using the executive summaries to assist in drafting its own description of the arguments of the participants, th e Appellate Body will instead annex to each of 
its reports the executive summaries submitted by the participants and third participants
2 in the 
relevant appellate proceedings. A similar practice has been followed with success by WTO dispute 
settlement panels for some time. This change will enable Members to ensure that their own positions and requests to the Appellate Body are accurately reflected, in their own words, in 
Appellate Body reports. It will also enable the Appellate Body to make optimal use of its limited 
resources, and to re-direct resources formerly used to summarize the arguments of the participants and third participants to other areas of appeal work.  
The Appellate Body intends to implement this approach on a trial basis, as from the next appeal. 
At present, two panel reports have been circulated and may be subject to appeal. The parties in these two disputes ( Peru – Agricultural Products  (WT/DS457) and China – HP-SSST (Japan) / 
China – HP-SSST (EU)  (WT/DS454 / WT/DS460)) have been informed of how the Appellate Body 
intends to treat their executive summaries in the event of an appeal. However, the Appellate Body 
also wishes to inform the WTO Membership as a whole of these developments. Accordingly, the remainder of this document sets out certain guidelines for executive summaries submitted in 
appellate proceedings. 
The guidelines seek to allow WTO Members to summarize their own positions and supporting 
arguments in their own words, while at the same time encouraging a degree of harmonization in 
the structure and length of such summaries. The Ap pellate Body will consider whether it would be  
                                               
1 WT/AB/WP/6, 16 August 2010.  
2 Pursuant to the Working Procedur es, third participants may elect, but are not required, to submit 
written submissions to the Appellate Body. WT/AB/23 
 
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  useful to incorporate some or all aspects of th ese guidelines into the Working Procedures once 
both the Appellate Body and Members have some experience with the guidelines now introduced on a trial basis. The Appellate Body notes that am endments to the Working Procedures will in any 
event be necessary in the near-term future on ce the Digital Dispute Settlement Registry is 
launched.
 With respect to these matters, the Appellate  Body will engage in consultations as 
required or appropriate.3 
                                               
3 With respect to amendments to the Working Procedures, Article 17.9 of the Understanding on Rules 
and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes prov ides for the Appellate Body to draw up its working 
procedures in consultation with the Chair of the Disp ute Settlement Body (DSB) and the Director-General, and 
Rule 32(2) of the Working Procedures specifies that the same procedures apply in the event of amendments to 
those working procedures. The DSB has also adopted pr ocedures for consultations between the Chair of the 
DSB and WTO Members with respect to amendments to the Working Procedures. This Decision is set out in document WT/DSB/31. 
 WT/AB/23 
 
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  GUIDELINES IN RESPECT OF EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES OF  
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS IN APPELLATE PROCEEDINGS 
Each participant filing an appellant's, other appellant's, or appellee's submission, and each third 
participant filing a written submission shall submit an executive summary of such written 
submission by the same deadline, using the same means (paper and electronic copies), 
word-processing program (preferably Microsoft Word ), and format (preferably Verdana font size 
10) as for that written submission. In their executive summaries, participants may wish to identify 
each claim of error or response to a claim of erro r and each request to reverse, modify, or uphold 
specific panel findings and conclusions, and summarize concisely the main arguments in support of such claims, responses, and requests, as presented in the relevant written submission. In their executive summaries, third participants may wish to  identify the legal issue(s) on appeal upon 
which they wish to express a view, and summarize concisely their position or view on such 
issue(s). The maximum length of each executive summary of a written submission shall be limited 
to the longer of 250 words or 10% of the total word count of the written submission itself. 
An executive summary may be submitted as a separate document, or as part of the written submission that it summarizes. When a Member elects to submit a single document containing both the executive summary and its written submissi on, the part of the document that constitutes 
the executive summary shall be clearly identified . Whether the executive summary is contained in 
a separate document or in the document containing the relevant written submission, the participant or third participant concerned shall in each case clearly indicate the total word count (including footnotes) of the executive summary, as well as the total word count (including 
footnotes) of its written submission (not including the text of the executive summary). 
Participants and third participants are advised that their executive summaries will be annexed as 
addenda to the Appellate Body report, and that th e content of such executive summaries will not 
be revised or edited by the Appellate Body.4 These executive summaries do not serve as a 
substitute for the submissions of the participants  and third participants in the Appellate Body's 
examination of the appeal. The Appellate Body will , in addressing and disposing of the issues on 
appeal, continue to draw upon and summarize the arguments of the participants and 
third participants as appropriate. 
 
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4 As with Notices of Appeal, the text may need to be formatted prior to circulation in order to adhere to 
WTO document style.