RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/DS/M/22 
26 May 2005 
 (05-2147) 
Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body 
18 January 2005  
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 18 January 2005  
 
Chairman:  Mr. David Spencer (Australia) 
 
 The Chairman  welcomed participants to the twenty-f ifth meeting of the Special Session and 
said that the airgram for the meeting had been circ ulated in WTO/AIR/2476 and that the draft agenda 
(TN/DS/W/72) contained three items: (i) discussion of  the contribution by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, 
India, New Zealand and Norway (Job (04)/52); (ii) future work programme of the Special Session and 
(iii) "Other Business".  He asked whether any par ticipant would like to raise any issue under "Other 
Business".  As there was no response from participan ts, he suggested the deletion of "Other Business" 
from the agenda of the meeting.  The Chairman 's suggestion was accepted and the agenda was 
adopted as amended.     1. Discussion of the contribution contained in Job(04)/52 
1. Before the discussion on the contribution by the group of six countries, the Chairman
 said that 
he would like to make a few general remarks.  He said that it was his hope that Members had used the 
holiday season to think about the DSU negotiations and the tasks that laid  ahead of the Special 
Session.  He said that looking back on 2004, not much  was achieved.  He urged a change of gears if 
significant progress was to be made this year.  If th e Doha Development Agenda  negotiations were to 
be completed in 2006, substantive decisions had to be taken before or at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.  He drew participants' attention to two reports which had just been circulated.  The first 
was the United Nations millennium project repor t entitled "Investing in Development", which 
contained some recommendations on trade.  The ot her was the report of the Consultative Group which 
was set up by the Director-General about a year and half ago.  The repor t touched on the dispute 
settlement system of the WTO and made some in teresting recommendations on some of the issues 
under discussion in the negotiations, including sequenc ing, remand and post-retaliation.  The report 
also covered issues such as procedures for establishi ng panels, transparency, parties' control over the 
dispute settlement process, compensation and retaliation.   He urged participants to read the report and 
reflect on the recommendations made by the group.  
2. The Chairman recalled the discussions that had taken place on the contribution of the group of 
six countries and said that it had been suggested fo llowing the questions and answers sessions that it 
would be better if the Special Session focussed on issues which required further clarification and 
elaboration by the proponents.  It was against th at background that he sent a fax to participants 
highlighting some issues which could be explored furt her at today's meeting.  He underlined that the 
list of issues in the fax was not meant to be exhaus tive nor did it signify that the issues were to be 
given priority in the negotiations.  The list's pur pose was to facilitate discussions and help build 
consensus around those issues.  He  suggested that in order to have a broad-ranging discussion on the 
issues, the meeting be switched to an informal mode.  The Chairman's suggestion was accepted and 
the meeting switched to an informal mode.  He info rmed delegations a room document to facilitate the 
discussions was being copied and would s oon be made available to participants. TN/DS/M/22 
Page 2  
 
 3. The representative of Norway
 said that the document being copied was an update of the 
earlier document which had been circulated.  It co ntained questions which had been received from 
participants since the last meeting of the Special  Session. The additions had been identified in the 
document to make for easier reading.   
4. The Chairman  said that the discussions on the three issues – sequencing, remand authority 
and post-retaliation – had been very constructive to th e extent that they had shed light on the main 
elements of the proponents' proposals and highli ghted the areas which might require further 
elaboration.  It was apparent from the discussions that positions on some issues were beginning to 
crystallize which reflected the commitment of partic ipants to achieve progress in the negotiations.  
The positions of Members on the issues had been infl uenced by their real life experiences with the 
DSU and their conviction that improvements coul d be made to the DSU.  The discussions on 
sequencing and post-retaliation had shown that there were still some issues which had to be further 
explored before an attempt could be made to develop texts.  On remand, it appeared from the 
discussions that there was more convergence on subs tance, although there were still some elements 
which needed to be further explored.  He encour aged participants who had difficulties with some 
elements of the proponents' proposals to consult with them with a view to achieving a consensus.  He 
commended the group of six countries for their efforts and commitment to move the negotiations 
forward.   
2. Future Work 
5. The Chairman  recalled his opening statement that a change of gears in the negotiations was 
imperative if substantive results were to be obtai ned at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  The 
level of engagement in the Special Session had to be stepped up even though there were a number of 
participants who were currently engaged in disputes before panels and the A ppellate Body.  Some of 
the disputes underway or to be initiated might im pinge on some of the issues under negotiation and 
could probably assist the process in terms of build ing consensus around those issues.  It could also, 
however, have the opposite effect as  delegations might de fer taking definitive positions on issues until 
the completion of the cases.  He urged participants to continue consulting with each other with a view 
to reaching common positions on issues under negotia tion.  He asked whether those delegations 
already engaged in consultations on certain issu es could give an indication of progress and the 
chances of an agreement being r eached before the next meeting of the Special Session on 28 
February.  If there was the prospect of an agreemen t being reached, this could be taken into account in 
the preparations for the meeting.  He said that it w as his intention to continue his consultations with 
participants in various formats a nd configurations in order to adva nce the negotiations.  The process 
might benefit from high-level meetings scheduled to take place in February and March.  A new 
momentum was needed to ensure substa ntive progress in the negotiations.   
6. The representative of the European Communities  said that the EC was working on some  
papers but was not sure when they would be ready for circulation to participants.  Work was advanced 
on one of them but it was not certain whether it would be ready before the next meeting of the Special 
Session.   
7. The representative of Canada  said that his authorities in Ottawa would be interested in 
knowing more about the work programme of the Special Session between now and the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Conference.  It was Canada's view th at the Special Session should agree on modalities for 
the negotiations by that time.  It would be helpful in  that regard if a list of objectives could be agreed 
upon and work begin earnestly on a limited number of issues around which consensus could be built. 
He said that Canada was prepared to work with  other participants under the leadership of the 
Chairman of the Special Session to ensure that substantive progress was made in the negotiations.  TN/DS/M/22 
 Page 3 
 
 
 8. The Chairman  said that the term modalities was freque ntly used in the context of the 
negotiations on agriculture and non-agricultural market  access.  In the area of rule-making, it was not 
clear which form modalities should take.  The situat ion was even more complicated considering the 
special status of the DSU negotiations.  He agreed w ith Canada that a change of gear was needed in 
the negotiations if substantive resu lts were to be achieved by the time of the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.   
9. The representative of Norway  said that the group of six countries was working on other issues 
but could not say definitively when the paper woul d be ready for circulation to participants.  He 
undertook to keep the Chairman inform ed of any relevant developments. 
10. The Chairman  reiterated his request to participants to consult more among themselves with a 
view to reaching common positions on the issues unde r negotiation.  He renewed his commitment to 
work with participants to advance the negotiations.  He reminded participants that the next meeting of 
the Special Session would take place on 28 February 2005. 
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