Public Hearings at the Wto Appellate Body

The WTO Appellate Body has so far authorized public appeal hearings as the exception, not the rule: it is limited to those instances in which the main parties request it. Such authorization constitutes a very positive development for the WTO dispute settlement system, for it enhances the transparency of the system at its highest stage. Indeed, the Appellate Body is becoming a leading actor in the formation of international law 1 owing to the fact that it is the most active international court of the world, the relevance of the issues it deals with and the fact that it is at the apex of a dispute settlement system with permanent and exclusive jurisdiction over 153 States. Nonetheless, it is not in tune with inter-state international adjudication where the trend concerning hearings is, for good reason, geared towards openness and transparency, not privacy, as the rule

Adjudication · Appeal · Authorization · Business · Jurisdiction · Law and economics · Openness to experience · Political science · Settlement (finance · Sociology · Transparency (behavior · International Arbitration and Investment Law · International Environmental Law and Policies · Law · World Trade Organization Law