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The European Commission’s proposal comes as the World Trade Organisation’s appellate body will stop functioning as of Tuesday, because of inability to appoint new members.
Since 2017, the US has been blocking the replacement of any of the seven members of the appellate body, and has rejected numerous proposals to launch the selection process to fill the remaining vacancies.
The mandates of two of the three remaining members will expire on Tuesday, and the body will no longer be able to hear any new appeals, as three members are needed for it. [...]
As the dispute settlement process will be seriously hampered, the EU fears that countries will deliberately appeal the WTO dispute panel’s decisions, in order leave the remedies in limbo.
In order to avoid these situations, the Commission will propose in the coming days an amendment to the EU’s enforcement regulation.
This upgrading will allow the EU to sanction countries that are violating WTO rules and, at the same time, blocking the renewal of the appellate body.
This proposal was already included in the mission letter for Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan.
“I will make sure that we strengthen further Europe’s ability to protect itself from unfair trade practices and that the EU disposes of the right tools to assertively defend its rights,” Hogan said in his written replies to the European Parliament before taking over as trade commissioner. [...]