WTO has one of the most active international dispute settlement mechanisms in the world. A dispute arises when a member government believes another member government is violating an agreement or a commitment that it has made in the WTO.

Settling disputes is the responsibility of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), which is also represented by the General Council. DSB has the sole authority to establish “panels” of experts to consider the case, and to accept or reject the panels’ findings or the results of an appeal. It monitors the implementation of the rulings and recommendations, and has the power to authorize retaliation when a country does not comply with a ruling.

Since 1995, 616 disputes have been brought to the WTO and over 350 rulings have been issued. List of dispute cases to-date can be found here.

Malaysia has registered interest as a third party in 25 dispute cases to-date, which include issues related to measures concerning palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels, intellectual property rights, anti-dumping of fish fillets, safeguards on imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic products and cases relating to steel and aluminium products.

On Malaysia’s dispute case against the European Union (EU) regarding the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II, the Panel proceedings were concluded in May 2022, pending the issuance of report from the Panel regarding the outcomes of the proceedings.