论建立世贸组织上诉机构发回重审制度的必要性

On the Necessity of Establishing A Remand System for the WTO Appellate Body

  • 摘要: 2020年11月30日,由于美国连续阻挠法官的遴选和连任程序,WTO上诉机构因所有法官任期均届满而终至“停摆”,争端解决机制改革迫在眉睫。DSU规定,上诉范围仅为专家组报告中的法律问题和专家组作出的法律解释。在争端解决实践中,由于专家组对司法经济原则的广泛适用,某些法律和事实问题悬而未决。到了上诉阶段,如上诉机构推翻了专家组的认定,转而需要审查这些问题时,就会因“完成专家组分析”引发越权质疑,或因案件事实不足而无法解决争端。应当建立发回重审制度,由原专家组审理其本应审理的未决事项,消解上诉机构面临的司法困境。增加发回重审制度,可以避免上诉机构越权行使专家组的职能,同时维护当事方的审级利益,从而最大程度确保世贸争端得到妥善解决。

     

    Abstract: On November 30, 2020, due to the continuous obstruction of the appointment and re-appointment procedures of judges by the United States, the WTO Appellate Body was “shut down” due to the expiration of all judges’ terms. The reform of the dispute settlement mechanism is imminent. DSU stipulates that appeals should be limited to the legal issues involved in the panel report and the legal interpretation made by the panel. In the dispute settlement practice, due to the extensive application of judicial economy principle by panels, certain legal and factual issues remain unresolved. At the appeal stage, if the Appellate Body overturns the panel’s ruling and needs to review these issues instead, it will cause ultra vires questioning due to “completing the analysis of the panel”, or the dispute cannot be resolved due to insufficient facts in the case. A system of remand should be established, and the original panel should hear the outstanding matters that should have been tried by it, so as to resolve the judicial dilemma faced by the Appellate Body. Adding a remand system can prevent the Appellate Body from exceeding its power to perform the functions of the panel, while maintaining the trial interests of the parties, thereby ensuring that WTO disputes are properly resolved to the greatest extent.

     

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