Crisis at the Appellate Body: Towards More or Less Consent in WTO Adjudication?

The WTO is facing difficult times as the renewal of the members of its Appellate Body seems to be in a deadlock. The opposition of some Members of the Organization to the process means the number of adjudicators is slowly dwindling. In this paper, we put this problem in context, by linking it to the greater concerns about consent in international adjudication. Consent amounts to the effective transfer of adjudicative power to a given tribunal. It is therefore argued that the non-renewal of AB members amounts to a withdrawal of consent by the parties concerned, be it legal or not. Should the problem persist, the WTO's dispute settlement system could be profoundly impacted, transforming it into a mere conciliatory body.