WT/DS384/R 
 WT/DS386/R 
 Page E-1 
 
 
  ANNEX E 
 
WORKING PROCEDURES FOR THE PANEL 
 
CONTENTS PAGE 
E-1 Working procedures for the Panel as revised on 21 September 2010 
 E-2 
E-2 Additional procedures for the protection of business confidential information 
("BCI procedures") E-6 
 WT/DS384/R 
WT/DS386/R Page E-2 
 
 
  UNITED STATES – CERTAIN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN  
LABELLING (COOL) REQUIREMENTS 
(DS384 and DS386) 
 
WORKING PROCEDURES FOR THE PANEL 
AS REVISED ON 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 
 
 
1. The Panel will provide the parties to the dispute (hereinafter "parties") and third parties to the 
dispute (hereinafter "third parties") with a timet able for panel proceedings and shall follow the 
relevant provisions of the Dispute Settlement U nderstanding (DSU).  In addition, the following 
working procedures shall apply. 
2. The Panel shall conduct its internal deliberations in closed session.  The parties, and the third 
parties, shall be present at the meetings only when in vited by the Panel to appear before it.  The Panel 
may open its meetings with the parties to the public , subject to appropriate procedures to be adopted 
by the Panel after consulting the parties. 
3. The deliberations of the Panel and the documents  submitted to it shall be kept confidential.  
Nothing in the DSU or in these wo rking procedures shall preclude a pa rty or third party to a dispute 
from disclosing statements of its own positions to the public.  Members shall treat as confidential information submitted by another Member to the Panel which the submitting Member has designated 
as confidential.  Where a party submits a confidentia l version of its written submissions to the Panel, 
it shall also, upon request of a Member, provide  a non-confidential summary of the information 
contained in its submissions that could be disclosed to the public. 
4. Before the first substantive meeting of the Panel with the parties and third parties, the parties 
shall transmit to the Panel written submissions in which they present the facts of the case and their 
arguments.  The third parties may also transmit to  the Panel written submissions in accordance with 
the timetable established by the Panel. 
5. At its first substantive meeting with the parti es, the Panel shall ask Canada and Mexico then 
the United States to present their cases.  All third pa rties may be present during the entirety of the first 
substantive meeting with the parties. 
6. All third parties shall be invited to present thei r views during a session of the first substantive 
meeting of the Panel set aside for that purpose.  All third parties may be present during the entirety of 
this session with third parties.  During this meeting, third parties may ask questions to the parties or to 
the other third parties.  The parties and the other third parties, however, have no obligation to respond 
to these questions. 
7. Formal rebuttals shall be made at the second s ubstantive meeting of the Panel.  At this 
meeting, the United States shall have the right to take the floor first to be followed by Canada and 
Mexico.  The parties shall submit, prior to that m eeting, written rebuttals to the Panel in accordance 
with the timetable.  All third parties may be present during the entirety of the second substantive 
meeting with the parties. 
8. The Panel may at any time put questions to th e parties and third parties and ask them for 
explanations either during the course of a meeting w ith the parties and third parties or in writing.  
Written replies to questions shall be su bmitted in accordance with the timetable.  WT/DS384/R 
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  9. All third parties shall be invited to present a brief statement during a session of the second 
substantive meeting of the Panel set aside for that purpose.  All third parties may be present during the 
entirety of this session with third parties.  During th is meeting, third parties may ask questions to the 
parties or to the other third parties.  The parti es and third parties, however, have no obligation to 
respond to these questions. 
10. The parties and third parties shall make availabl e to the Panel a written version of their oral 
statements by 5:30 pm (Geneva time) on the first wo rking day after the meeting.  Each party shall 
make available a copy of the written version to th e other parties, and each third party shall make 
available a copy of the written version to the partie s and the other third parties, at the same time it 
makes available the written version to the Panel.  The parties and third parties are encouraged to 
provide a provisional written version of their oral  statements at the time the oral statement is 
presented. 
11. The presentations, rebuttals and statements referred to in paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 shall be 
made in the presence of the parties.  Moreover, each party's written submissions, written answers to 
questions and comments thereon, co mments on the descriptive part of  the report, and written request 
for review of precise aspects of the interim repor t and comments on another party's request shall be 
made available to the other parties.  Each party' s written submissions and written answers to questions 
after the first substantive meeting with the Panel sh all also be made available to all third parties. 
12. Any request for a preliminary ruling (including rulings on jurisdictional issues) shall be 
submitted at the earliest possible moment, and in any event no later than in a party's first written 
submission.  If a party requests such a preliminary ruling, the other parties shall submit their 
respective response to such request within a time li mit specified by the Panel.  Exceptions to this 
procedure will be granted u pon a showing of good cause. 
13. The parties shall submit all factual evidence to  the Panel no later than during the first 
substantive meeting, except with respect to factual evidence necessary for purposes of rebuttals, 
answers to questions or comments on answers provided  by each other.  Exceptions to this procedure 
will be granted upon a showing of good cause.  In such cases, the other parties shall be accorded a 
period of time for comment, as appropriate. 
14. To facilitate the maintenance of the record of th e dispute, and for ease of reference to exhibits 
submitted by the parties, the parties are requested to  number their exhibits sequentially throughout the 
stages of the dispute.  For example, exhibits s ubmitted by Canada could be numbered CAN-1, CAN-
2, etc, exhibits submitted by Mexico could be nu mbered MEX-1, MEX-2, etc. and exhibits submitted 
by the United States could be numbered US-1, US-2 , etc.  If, for example, the last exhibit in 
connection with the first submission was numbered C AN-5, the first exhibit of its next submission 
thus would be numbered CAN-6.  The parties and third parties may submit exhibits as electronic files 
saved on CD-ROMs.  However, 2 paper copies of the exhibits contained on a CD-ROM shall be 
provided to the Panel.  Moreover, where a party re quests a paper copy of an exhibit submitted as an 
electronic file, the party or third party having submitted the exhibit shall provide, within three 
business days, one paper copy to the other parties to  the dispute and, where an electronic exhibit was 
served on the third parties, on the third parties. 
15. The parties and third parties shall submit ex ecutive summaries of their written submissions 
(excluding any separate requests for a preliminary ruling and responses thereto) and oral statements 
within twenty days of the original submission or  statement concerned.  Each executive summary of 
the written submissions to be provided by each pa rty shall not exceed 10 pages in length and each 
executive summary of the oral statements shall not  exceed 5 pages in length.  The summary to be WT/DS384/R 
WT/DS386/R Page E-4 
 
 
  provided by each third party shall not exceed 5 pag es.  The Panel may revise these page limits upon 
request of a party.  Paragraph 21 shall apply to the service of executive summaries. 
16. The executive summaries shall not in any way serve  as a substitute for the submissions of the 
parties and third parties in the Panel's examination of  the case.  The Panel intends to use them solely 
for the purpose of preparing the descriptive part of its report, subject to any modifications deemed 
appropriate by the Panel.  The replies of the par ties and third parties to questions and the parties' 
comments on each other's replies to questions will not be attached to the Pane l report as annexes.  
They will be reflected in the findings sec tion of the Panel report where relevant. 
17. The parties and third parties to these proceedings have the right to determine the composition 
of their own delegations.  The parties and third pa rties shall have responsibility for all members of 
their delegations and shall ensure that all member s of their delegations act in accordance with the 
rules of the DSU and the Working Procedures of this  Panel.  The parties and the third parties shall 
provide a list of the participants of their dele gation before each meeting with the Panel to the 
Secretary of the Panel, Mrs. Tessa Bri dgman (e-mail: tessa.bridgman@wto.org). 
18. To allow the Panel to prepare its report in an efficient manner, any party wishing to request a 
separate panel report pursuant to Article 9.2 of the DS U shall make such a request no later than at the 
second substantive meeting of the Panel. 
19. Following issuance of the interim report, the pa rties 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 the time the written 
request for review is submitted.  Following receipt  of any written requests for review, in cases where 
no further meeting with the Panel is requested, the parties shall have the opportunity within one week 
to submit written comments on the other parties' writt en request(s) for review .  Such comments shall 
be strictly limited to responding to the other parties' written request(s) for review.  The parties are also 
reminded that the interim report shall be kept st rictly confidential and sh all not be disclosed.  
The Panel reserves the right to earmark its communi cations to enable the identification of possible 
breaches of confidentiality, especially the Panel's inte rim report and its final re port before the latter's 
circulation to all Members. 
20. The Panel will do its utmost to provide the partie s with electronic versions of the descriptive 
part of its report, its interim report and its final re port.  Paper copies will be provided to the parties in 
any event.  In case of inconsistency between the electronic and paper copy version of these 
documents, the hard copy version shall prevail. 
21. The following procedures regarding service of documents apply: 
 (a) Each party and third party shall serve any document submitted to the Panel directly 
on the other parties.  Each party shall, in addition, serve its written submissions and written answers to the Panel's questions afte r the first substantive meeting on all third 
parties.  Each third party shall serve any document submitted to the Panel on the 
parties and all other third parties.  Each pa rty and third party shall confirm, in writing, 
that copies have been served as required at the time it provides each document to the Panel. 
(b) Each party and third party should provide the Panel and the other parties with their 
submissions, written answers to questions and comments invited by the Panel by 
7:00 p.m. (Geneva time) of the date referred to in the timetable, unless a different 
time is set by the Panel.  Each party shall, in  addition, provide all third parties with its  WT/DS384/R 
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  written answers to the Panel's questions after the first substantive meeting by 
7:00 p.m. (Geneva time) of the date indicated by the Panel.   
(c) Each party and third party shall provide the Panel with 9 paper copies of all 
documents submitted to the Panel.  Where a party or third party submits exhibits as 
electronic files pursuant to paragraph 14,  it shall provide the Panel with four 
CD-ROMs containing such files and 2 pape r copies of the files contained on the 
CD-ROMs.  All these copies shall be filed with the Dispute Settlement Registrar, 
Mr. Ferdinand Ferranco (office 3178). 
(d) At the time it provides a hard copy of it s submissions, each party and third party shall 
also provide the Panel with electronic copi es of all its submissions on a CD-ROM or 
DVD or as an e-mail attachment in a format compatible with the Secretariat's text-editing software.  E-mail attachments shall be  sent to the Dispute Settlement Registry 
(DSRegistry@wto.org) with a copy  to Ms. Aegyoung Jung (e-mail: 
aegyoung.jung@wto.org), Mr. János Volkai (janos.volkai@wto.org) and Mrs. Tessa 
Bridgman (e-mail: tessa.bridgman@wto.org ).  If a CD-ROM or DVD is provided, 
it should be delivered to Mr. Ferd inand Ferranco in four copies. 
22. The Panel reserves the right to modify these pr ocedures at any time following consultations 
with the parties. 
 
_______________  WT/DS384/R 
WT/DS386/R Page E-6 
 
 
  UNITED STATES - CERTAIN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 
LABELLING (COOL) REQUIREMENTS 
(DS384 and DS386) 
 
Procedures of the Panel Concerning Business Confidential Information
1 
 
1. These procedures apply to any business confidentia l information (BCI) that a party wishes to 
submit to the Panel. 
2. For the purposes of these procedures, BCI is defined as any information that has been 
designated as such by the Party submitting the informa tion, that is not available in the public domain, 
and the release of which would seriously prejudice an  essential interest of the person or entity that 
supplied the business information to the Party. 
3. No person may have access to BCI except a member of the Secretariat or the Panel, a party's 
or third party's employee participating in the dispute,  and a party's or third party's outside advisor for 
purposes of this dispute.  However, an outside adviso r is not permitted access to BCI if that advisor is 
an officer or employee of an enterprise engaged in  the production, export, or import of cattle, swine, 
beef, or pork.  When a party or third party provid es BCI to an outside advisor who is an employee or 
officer of an industry association of such enterpri ses, that party or third party shall obtain written 
assurances from such advisor that he or she has read and understands th ese Working Procedures and 
will not disclose any BCI in contravention of the Working Procedures. 
4. A party or third party obtaining access to BCI as  a result of the BCI being submitted in this 
dispute shall treat it as confidential, i.e. shall not di sclose that information other than to those persons 
authorized to receive it pursuant to these proced ures.  Each party and third party shall have 
responsibility in this regard for its employees as well  as any outside advisors for the purposes of this 
dispute.  BCI obtained under these procedures ma y be used only for the purpose of providing 
information and argumentation in this dispute. 
5. A party or third party submitting or referring to  BCI in a document shall mark the cover and 
each page of the document to indicate the presence of  BCI in the document as follows:  BCI shall be 
placed between double brackets (for example, [[xx,xxx.xx ]]).  The cover and the top of each page of 
the document shall contain the notice "Contains Busin ess Confidential Information".  Any BCI that is 
submitted in electronic form shall be clearly marked with the phrase "Contains BCI" on a label on the 
storage medium, and clearly marked with the phrase "Contains BCI" in the electronic file name. 
6. In the case of an oral statement containing BCI  to be delivered in the session not open to 
public observation as foreseen in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the "Procedures for open hearings, first and 
second substantive meetings of the Panel," the Pane l should ensure that only persons authorized to 
have access to BCI pursuant to these procedur es are permitted to hear the statement. 
7. The parties, third parties, and the Panel shall store all documents containing BCI so as to 
prevent unauthorized access to such information. 
8. The Panel shall not disclose BCI, in its report or in any other way, to persons not authorized 
under these procedures to have access to BCI.  The Panel may, however, make statements of 
conclusion drawn from such information.  Before th e Panel makes its final report publicly available, 
                                                      
1 These procedures are adopted according to, and are an integral part of, the Panel's Working 
Procedures of 18 June 2010.  WT/DS384/R 
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  the Panel shall give each party an opportunity to ensure that the report does not contain any 
information that it has designated as BCI.  
9. Submissions containing BCI will be included in the record forw arded to the Appellate Body 
in the event of an appeal of the Panel's Report.