ARGENTINA – MEASURES RELATING TO TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES COMMUNICATION FROM THE APPELLATE BODY
Document: Panel Report
Date: 4 January 2016
Document codes: WT/DS453/9
Complainant: Panama
Respondent: Argentina
Third parties: Australia, China, Ecuador, EU, Guatemala, Honduras, India, U.S., Brazil, Singapore, Oman, Saudi Arabia
Dispute stage: Appellate Body
Agreements cited: Art. II:1, XVI, XVII, I:1  Services (GATS)Art. I:1, III:4, XI:1  GATT 1994Art. XVII, XVI:1, XVI:2(a), XVI:2(e)  Services (GATS)

ARGENTINA – MEASURES RELATING TO TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES
COMMUNICATION FROM THE APPELLATE BODY
The following communication, dated 22 December 2015, from the Chair the Appellate Body to the
Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body, is being circulated to Members.

I am writing to you pursuant to Article 17.5 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing
the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), which stipulates that, as a general rule, the Appellate Body will
circulate its report no later than 60 days after the appellant has formally notified the Dispute
Settlement Body (DSB) of its decision to appeal. Article 17.5 states, furthermore, that, when the
Appellate Body considers that it cannot provide its report within 60 days, it shall inform the DSB in
writing of the reasons for the delay together with an estimate of the period within which it will submit
its report.

Panama notified the DSB on 27 October 2015 of its decision to appeal certain issues of law covered
in the Panel Report and legal interpretations developed by the Panel in this case, with the result that
day 60 in this proceeding falls on Saturday, 26 December 2015. For the reasons expressed below,
the Appellate Body will not be able to circulate its report by this date, or within the 90-day timeframe
provided for in the last sentence of Article 17.5 of the DSU.

The Appellate Body and its Secretariat have face d a substantial workload in 2015, with several
appeals proceeding in parallel. Divisions hear ing these appeals often overlapped in their
composition. On the date this appeal was filed, four ongoing proceedings were already being
serviced by the Appellate Body Secretariat: appeal s in two disputes, as well as two arbitrations to
determine the reasonable period of time for implementation pursuant to Article 21.3(c) of the DSU.
Secretariat staff working on the arbitrations had to be assigned to work on this appeal at the same
time. In addition to this appeal, one of the arbitrations, as well as a projected upcoming appeal, all
require Spanish-speaking staff of which the Appellate Body Secretariat has only a limited number.
Furthermore, the workload of the Appellate Body is projected to remain high in 2016.

Due to the scheduling difficulties arising from th ese circumstances, the number and complexity of
the issues raised in this and concurrent proceedings, the demands that this places on the
WTO Secretariat's translation services, the shortage of staff in the Appellate Body Secretariat, as well
as the intervening holiday period, the Appellate Body will not be able to circulate its report in this
dispute within the 90-day timeframe provided for in Article 17.5 of the DSU.

The circulation date of the Appellate Body report in this appeal will be communicated to the
participants and third participants shortly after th e oral hearing, in the light of the scheduling of
parallel appeals and the availability of translation services.