Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Communication from Qatar
The following communication, dated 30 September 2020, was received from the
delegation of Qatar with
the request that it be circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).
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Subject: Proposal for an
appeal-arbitration arrangement under Article 25 of the DSU in
Saudi Arabia – Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (WT/DS567)
On 28 July 2020, Saudi Arabia
notified the Dispute Settlement Body ("DSB") of the World Trade
Organization ("WTO") of its decision to appeal the Report of the
Panel in the aforementioned dispute (see document WT/DS567/7, "Saudi
Arabia's Notice of Appeal").
Qatar has consistently conducted
itself with a view to securing the prompt settlement of this dispute.
Continuing in that effort, Qatar now proposes that the appeal in this dispute
be submitted to resolution through arbitration under Article 25 of the
Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes ("DSU").
As you are well aware, the
Appellate Body of the WTO is currently unavailable to resolve appeals. Under
these circumstances, arbitration under Article 25 of the DSU offers an
alternative avenue to the resolution of appeals, which avoids frustration of a
litigant's right to prompt settlement of disputes.
I request that you bring this
proposal to the attention of Saudi Arabia and that this communication be
circulated in the WT/DS567 document series. Qatar stands ready to make
available representatives for the purpose of discussing the precise content of
an agreement to refer the matter to Article 25 arbitration.
Qatar reserves its rights to
take action consistent with international law to safeguard its interests, in
the event this proposal does not result in an agreement to submit the appeal in
this dispute to resolution through arbitration under Article 25.
Recognizing that, absent an
agreement to refer the matter to Article 25 arbitration, it may be some time
before Members become aware of Qatar's response to the matters raised in Saudi
Arabia's Notice of Appeal, Qatar has made the Executive Summary of its Appellee's
Submission in this dispute available at the following link:
https://geneva.mission.qa/en/media/news/detail/1442/02/12/executive-summary-of-qatar-s-appellee-s-submission-(wt-ds567)
This document serves to
highlight the key issues that would be promptly evaluated through
Article 25 arbitration.[1]
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[1] Of particular importance, the Article 25 arbitration would evaluate
whether to declare moot and of no legal effect all of the Panel's findings
concerning application of the security exception in Article 73(b)(iii) to the
measures at issue, including findings with respect to the existence of an
"emergency" and the scope of the measures that Saudi Arabia
"considers necessary" in the sense of the exception. See Executive
Summary of Qatar's Appellee's Submission, Section V. The Panel made findings on
the application of the exception despite the fact that Saudi Arabia did not
invoke Article 73(b)(iii) in defence of any of the measures found by the Panel
to violate the substantive provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. See Saudi Arabia
Notice of Appeal, WT/DS567/7, para. 15 ("Saudi Arabia's appeal of this
issue relating to the invocation of Security Exceptions under the WTO Agreements
is of particular systemic importance in the context of this and other pending
disputes. WTO panels have no basis to ignore Members' definition of the
scope of invocation of WTO Security Exceptions.")