Talking Disputes | AB Report on the US – Tuna II (Mexico) (Art. 21.5) Dispute
The tuna-dolphin saga (DS381) at the
WTO has been going on for almost eight years
. In the latest compliance proceedings, the revised US dolphin-safe labelling regime for tuna products was ultimately found by the
Appellate Body to be discriminatory and thus, WTO-inconsistent. The Appellate Body ruled that because of lack of sufficient factual findings by the panel on the overall relative risks, it is not able to assess if the
US measure could be justified in light of the relative risks associated with different fishing methods to dolphins in different areas of the ocean. The Appellate Body however considered, among others, that a “gap” in the design of the US measure, which does not appear to address other scenarios in which there maybe heightened risks of harm to dolphins associated with p
...