Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding dispute settlement proceedings in the World Trade Organization.

Declares the sense of Congress that the President should ensure that: (1) in any proceeding under the World Trade Organization (WTO) involving U.S. unfair trade and trade remedy laws, the members of the WTO dispute settlement panel in that proceeding have expertise in the provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreement as well as in administering the unfair trade and trade remedy law at issue, and are currently administrators, or retired administrators, of unfair trade or trade remedy laws in a WTO member country; and (2) two or more members of the WTO Appellate Body panel hearing a case have expertise in administering such laws.

Declares the sense of Congress that the President should ensure that the members of such dispute settlement panels and the WTO Appellate Body: (1) understand commonly applied and commonly accepted principles of administrative law; (2) expressly understand and accept the central importance of Article 17.6 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Antidumping Agreement) to the successful completion of the Antidumping Agreement, the Uruguay Round negotiations as a whole, and to the proper and successful interpretation and application of the Antidumping Agreement; (3) apply the principles embodied in such Article to the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures in order to effectuate "the consistent resolution of disputes arising from anti-dumping and countervailing duty measures", in particular in compliance with the WTO Declaration on Dispute Settlement Pursuant to the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 or Part V of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures; and (4) apply the principles embodied in Article 17.6 of the Antidumping Agreement to the Agreement on Safeguards in order to effectuate the consistent resolution of disputes arising from trade remedy measures.

Declares the sense of Congress that the President should reaffirm, in ongoing negotiations under WTO auspices, the importance: (1) of the correct application of Article 17.6 of the Antidumping Agreement and the need for dispute settlement panels and the WTO Appellate Body to follow that provision strictly in both antidumping and countervailing duty cases; and (2) of allowing private parties who have an interest in, and are supportive of, the U.S. position in international disputes, to observe, have access to, and participate in WTO proceedings, to the maximum extent permissible under current WTO rules and practices.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov