SAUDI ARABIA – MEASURES CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS COMMUNICATION FROM QATAR
Document: Report of the Panel
Date: 5 October 2020
Document codes: WT/DS567/8; WT/DS567/7
Complainant: Qatar
Respondent: Saudi Arabia
Third parties: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE, U.S., Yemen
Dispute stage: Panel
Agreements cited: Art. VI:1, VI:2(a), VI:3  GATT 1994Art. 3.1, 4, 9, 14.3, 16.1, 41.1, 42, 61  Intellectual Property (TRIPS)Art. 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 12.2.2  Anti-dumping

SAUDI ARABIA – MEASURES CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS
COMMUNICATION FROM QATAR
The following communication, dated 30 September 2020, was received from the delegation of Qatar
with the request that it be circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

Subject: Proposal for an appeal -arbitration arrangement under Article 25 of the DSU in
Saudi Arabia – Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (WT/DS567)

On 28 July 2020, Saudi Arabia n otified the Dispute Settlement Body ( "DSB") of the ("WTO") of its decision to appeal the Report of the Panel in the aforementioned dispute
(see document , "Saudi Arabia's Notice of Appeal").

Qatar has consistently conducted itself with a view to securing the prompt settlement of this dispute.
Continuing in that effort, Qatar now proposes that the appeal in this dispute be submitted to
resolution through arbitration under Article 25 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures
Governing the Settlement of Disputes ("DSU").

As you are well aware, the App ellate Body of the WTO is currently unavailable to resolve appeals.
Under these circumstances, arbitration under Article 25 of the DSU offers an alternative avenue to
the resolution of appeals, which avoids frustration of a litigant's right to prompt settl ement of
disputes.

I request that you bring this proposal to the attention of Saudi Arabia and that this communication
be circulated in the WT/DS567 document series. Qatar stands ready to make available
representatives for the purpose of discussing the precise content of an agreement to refer the matter
to Article 25 arbitration.

Qatar reserves its rights to take action consistent with international law to safeguard its interests,
in the event this proposal does not result in an agreement to submit the appeal in this dispute to
resolution through arbitration under Article 25.

Recognizing that, absent an agreement to refer the matter to Article 25 arbitration, it may be some
time before Members become aware of Qatar's response to the matte rs raised in Saudi Arabia's
Notice of Appeal, Qatar has made the Executive Summary of its Appellee's Submission in this dispute
available at the following link:

https://geneva.mission.qa/en/media/news/detail/1442/02/12/executive-summary-of-qatar-s-
appellee-s-submission-(wt-ds567)

This document serves to highlight the key issues that would be promptly evaluated through
Article 25 arbitration.1

Qatar's Appellee's Submission, Section V. The Panel made findings on the application of the exception despite
the fact that Saudi Arabia did not invoke Article 73(b)(iii) in defence of any of the measures found by the Panel
to violate the substantive provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. See Saudi Arabia Notice of Appeal, WT/DS567/7,
para. 15 ("Saudi Arabia's appeal of this issue relating to the invocation of Security Exceptions under the
WTO Agreements is of particular systemic importance in the context of this and other pending disputes.
WTO panels have no basis to ignore Members' definition of the scope of invocation of WTO Security
Exceptions.")