. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/DS/24 
22 March 2010 
 (10-1511) 
Dispute Settlement Body 
Special Session  
 
 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BODY 
 
Report by the Chairman, Ambassador Ronald Saborío Soto,  
to the Trade Negotiations Committee  
for the purpose of the TNC stocktaking exercise  
  1. In my last written report in December 2008
1, I had informed the TNC that Members had 
endorsed as basis for our future work the consolidated  draft legal text containe d in the document that I 
had issued under my own responsibility in July 2008.2  I had also reported, at that time, that 
delegations were also in support of  continuing our substantive consulta tions in a format comparable to 
our previous work, involving a combination of co nsultations in various formats and open-ended 
informal meetings for transparency. 
2. Since then, we have almost completed a first r ound of discussion of all issues contained in my 
text of July 2008.3  Between January 2009 and February 201 0, we met six times.  Each time, 
I conducted informal consultations with interested delegations over the course of a week, with an 
open-ended informal meeting of the Special Session at the end of the week to report on the work to 
the entire Membership.  I will be scheduling soon an other set of consultations in order to discuss in 
the same format the remaining issues contained in my text. 
3. Overall, my assessment is that it has been very u seful to discuss all the draft legal text in this 
systematic manner.  In my text of July 2008, I had noted that the issues before us had not yet all 
reached the same level of maturity.  I think in th is respect we have made some useful progress in 
clarifying the issues on some of the less mature issues.  At the same time, it is also clear that even on 
the issues which had already been extensively di scussed in previous phases of our work, and which 
are by now well understood, much work remains to be done in order to reach agreement.  Overall, we 
have achieved only limited concrete progress over the past year in reaching further convergence on 
the various issues under discussion.  Nonetheless, this  phase has consolidated th e basis for our work.  
This recent work has also provided input and reflecti ons that should allow us to move to another kind 
of process, in order to move forward towards a ra pid conclusion of the negotiations, as mandated by 
Ministers.4 
4. On that basis, I intend to start a more inte nsive process, in which it will be necessary for 
delegations to engage on the basis of the comments received in the previous phase.  Over the coming 
months, I propose to conduct the work around group m eetings in variable geometry depending on the 
subject to be discussed.  This would combine mee tings convened by the Chair and space for meetings 
                                                      
1 See TN/DS/23 of 5 December 2008. 
2 See JOB(08)/81 of 18 July 2008. 
3 The text of July 2008 covers the following issues:  third party rights; panel composition;  remand;  
mutually agreed solutions;  strictly confidential information;  sequencing;  post-retaliation;  transparency and 
amicus curiae  briefs;  timeframes;  developing country intere sts, including special a nd differential treatment;  
flexibility and Member control;  and effective compliance. 
4 See WT/MIN(05)/DEC, para. 34. TN/DS/24 
Page 2  
 
  among delegations.  It will be critical, in this ne w phase of work, for proponents and other interested 
Members to continue to engage actively with each other in order to come closer to a final agreement.   
5. In the meantime, I have encouraged all in terested delegations to continue working 
individually and among themselves in a constructive sp irit, to improve their proposals and bridge the 
remaining gaps in positions.  Re aching convergence will require significantly more flexibility in 
Members' positions. 
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