WT/DS315/R 
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ANNEX E 
  
PANEL'S WORKING PROCEDURES  
 
            
6 July 2005 
 
CONFIDENTIAL 
  
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – SELECTED CUSTOMS MATTERS   
(WT/DS315)  
 
WORKING PROCEDURES 
 
1. The Panel will provide the parties with a tim etable for panel proceedings and will work 
according to the normal working procedures as set out  in the DSU and its Appendix 3 plus certain 
additional procedures, as follows: 
2. The Panel shall meet in closed session.  The par ties to the dispute, and the third parties, shall 
be present at the meetings only when invi ted by the Panel to appear before it. 
3. The deliberations of the Panel and the documents  submitted to it shall be kept confidential.  
Nothing in the DSU shall preclude a party to a dis pute from disclosing statements of its own positions 
to the public.  Members shall treat as confidentia l information submitted by another Member to the 
Panel which that Member has designated as confidentia l.  As provided in Article 18.2 of the DSU, 
where a party to a dispute submits a confidential ve rsion 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 Pane l with the parties, the parties to the dispute 
shall transmit to the Panel written submissions in which they present the facts of the case and their 
arguments. 
5. At its first substantive meeting with the par ties, the Panel shall ask the party which has 
brought the complaint to present its case.  Subseque ntly, at the same meeting, the party against which 
the complaint has been brought shall be  asked to present its points of view. 
6. The third parties shall be invited in writing to  present their 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. 
7. Formal rebuttals shall be made at a second s ubstantive meeting of the Panel.  The party 
complained against shall have the right to take the fl oor first to be followed by the complaining party.  
The parties shall submit, prior to that meeting, written rebuttals to the Panel. 
8. The Panel may at any time put questions to the pa rties and ask them for explanations either in 
the course of a meeting with the parties or in writi ng.  Written replies to questions shall be submitted 
by the dates indicated in the Panel's timetable. WT/DS315/R 
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  9. The parties and the third parties shall make av ailable to the Panel and the other parties a 
provisional written version of their statements at hear ings.  Final written versions of oral statements 
must be submitted on the dates provided for in paragraph 18 (c) of these Working Procedures. 
10. In the interest of full transparency, the presenta tions, rebuttals and statements referred to in 
paragraphs 5 to 9 shall be made in the presence of the parties.  Moreover, each party's written 
submissions, including responses to questions pu t by the Panel, comments on those responses, 
executive summaries, comments on th e descriptive part of the report, and comments on the interim 
report, shall be made available to the other party. 
11. Any request for a preliminary ruling (including rulings on jurisdictional issues) to be made by 
the Panel shall be submitted no later than in a pa rty's first written submission.  If the complaining 
party requests any such ruling, the respondent shall submit its response to such a request in its first 
written submission.  If the respondent requests any su ch ruling, the complaining party shall submit its 
response to such a request prior to the first substa ntive meeting of the Panel.  The complaining party 
shall submit this response at a time to be determined  by the Panel after receipt and in light of the 
respondent's request.  Exceptions to this proce dure will be granted upon a showing of good cause. 
12. Parties shall submit all factual evidence to the Panel no later than during the first substantive 
meeting, except with respect to  evidence necessary for purposes of re buttals, answers to questions or 
comments made for purposes of rebutting answers provi ded by others.  Exceptions to this procedure 
will be granted upon a showing of good cause.  In such cases, the other party shall be accorded a 
period of time for comment, as appropriate. 
13. To facilitate the maintenance of the record of th e dispute, and for ease of reference to exhibits 
submitted by the parties, parties are requested to number their exhibits sequentially throughout the 
stages of the dispute.  
14. The parties and the third parties should subm it executive summaries in accordance with the 
Panel's timetable. Each summary provided by th e parties should not exceed 10 pages.  The summary 
to be provided by each third party should not ex ceed 5 pages.  The executive summaries shall not 
serve in any way as a substitute for the submissions of the parties or third parties.  However, the Panel 
will reproduce the executive summaries provided by th e parties and third parties in the descriptive 
part of its report, subject to any modifi cations deemed appropriate by the Panel. 
15. The parties and third parties to this proceeding have the right to determine the composition of 
their own delegations.  Delegations may include, as  representatives of the government concerned, 
private counsel and advisers.  The parties and third parties 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 Pa nel, particularly in regard to confidentiality of 
the proceedings.  Parties shall provide a list of the participants of their delegation before the beginning 
of the meeting with the Panel. 
16. Following issuance of the interim report, the par ties shall have no less than 2 weeks to submit 
written requests to review precise aspects of the inte rim 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 no less than 7 days to submit 
written comments on the other parties' written requests for review.  Such comments shall be strictly limited to commenting the other parties' written requests for review. 
17.
 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.  Hard copies will be provided to the parties in  WT/DS315/R 
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  any event.  In case of inconsistency between the el ectronic and hard copy version of these documents, 
the hard copy version shall prevail. 
18. The following procedures regarding service of documents apply: 
 (a) Each party and third party shall serve  its submissions, including its executive 
summaries mentioned in paragraph 14 above, di rectly on all other parties, including 
where appropriate the third parties, and conf irm that it has done so at the time it 
provides its submission to the Panel. 
(b) The parties and the third parties should provide their written submissions and written 
answers to questions by 5:30 p.m. on the deadlines established by the Panel, unless a 
different time is set by the Panel. 
(c) Parties and third parties shall provide the Secretariat with copies of the final written 
versions of their oral statements by 5:30 p.m. on the first working day following the last day of the substantive meetings. 
(d) The parties and third parties shall provi de the Panel with 10 copies of all their 
submissions, including the written versions of oral statements and answers to 
questions.  All these copies shall be filed with the Dispute Settlement Registrar, Mr. 
XXXXX (office number xxxx). 
(e) At the time they provide a hard copy of their submissions, the parties and third parties 
shall also provide the Panel with an electronic copy of all their submissions on a diskette or as an e-mail attachment in a format compatible with the Secretariat's 
software.  E-mail attachments shall be sent to the Dispute Settlement Registry 
(DSRegistry@wto.org) with a copy to  XXXXX (e-mail: XXXXX @wto.org) and to 
XXXXX (email: XXXXX@wto.org). 
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