Sample Solution

An oral hearing is held for each appeal. At the oral hearing, appellants, other appellants, appellees and third participants are given an opportunity to present oral arguments and to respond to questions put to them by the Appellate Body Division hearing the appeal. The hearing generally takes place within 30 to 45 days of the filing of the Notice of Appeal. Proceedings before the Appellate Body are confidential. Only the members of the World Trade Organization who are appellants, other appellants, appellees or third participants are entitled to attend oral hearings. The oral hearings are opened to the public by the Appellate Body, at the request of the parties.

After the oral hearing and before finalizing the Appellate Body report, the Appellate Body division hearing the appeal exchanges views with the other four Appellate Body members. The Appellate Body report is circulated to the members of World Trade Organization in the three official languages of the WTO within 90 days of the date when the Notice of Appeal was filed, and it becomes public immediately upon circulation to Members. Within 30 days of the circulation of an Appellate Body report, the report, together with the panel report, as upheld, modified or reversed, will be put on the agenda of the Dispute Settlement Body for adoption. The Dispute Settlement Body will adopt the reports, unless the DSB decides by consensus not to adopt them. It is notable to state that DSB has accepted all the appellate body report and there is no instance where the appellate report has not be adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body. An adopted Appellate Body report, together with the adopted panel report, must be unconditionally accepted by the parties to the dispute.

INDIA AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SYSTEM OF THE WTO
When the World Trade Organization came into operation, India was just emerging from a largely closed and protectionist economy. Before the establishment of the Dispute Settlement System, India could hardly be called a major player in international trade disputes. Prior to the 1980s, India rarely used the GATT dispute settlement mechanism. Indian Government officials could have taken a backseat in the emerging WTO dispute settlement system fearing that India might become a target for disputes against its protectionist regime were it so bold as to initiate disputes as a complaining p