DOMINICAN REPUBLIC � MEASURES AFFECTING
THE IMPORTATION AND INTERNAL SALE OF CIGARETTES (WT/DS302)

WORKING PROCEDURES FOR THE PANEL

1. In its proceedings the Panel shall follow the relevant provisions of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). In addition, the following working procedures shall apply.

2. The panel shall meet in closed session. The parties to the dispute, and interested third parties, shall be present at the meetings only when invited by the Panel to appear before it.

3. The deliberations of the Panel and the documents submitted to it shall be kept confidential. Nothing in the DSU shall preclude a party to a dispute from disclosing statements of its own positions to the public. Members shall treat as confidential information submitted by another Member to the Panel which that Member has designated as confidential. Where a party to a dispute submits confidential information to the Panel, it shall also, upon request of a Member, provide a non-confidential summary of the information contained in its submissions that could be disclosed to the public.

4. Before the first substantive meeting of the Panel with the parties, and in accordance with the timetable established for the process, the parties to the dispute shall transmit to the Panel written submissions in which they present the facts of the case and their arguments.

5. At its first substantive meeting with the parties, the Panel shall ask the party which has brought the complaint to present its case. Subsequently, at the same meeting, the party against which the complaint has been brought shall be asked to present its point of view.

6. All third parties which have notified their interest in the dispute to the Dispute Settlement Body shall be invited to present their views during a session of the first substantive meeting of the Panel set aside for that purpose. All such third parties may be present during the entirety of this session.

7. Formal rebuttals shall be made at a second substantive meeting of the Panel. The party complained against shall have the right to take the floor first, to be followed by the complaining party. The parties shall submit, prior to that meeting and in accordance with the timetable established for the process, written rebuttals to the Panel.

8. The Panel may at any time put questions to the parties and ask them for explanations either in the course of a meeting with the parties or in writing. Written replies to questions shall be submitted in accordance with the timetable established for the process or, if such were the case, at the date decided by the Panel.

9. The parties to the dispute and any third party invited to present its views shall make available to the Panel and the other party or parties a written version of their oral statements not later than the day after the conclusion of the meeting where the oral statement was presented.

10. In the interest of full transparency, the presentations, rebuttals and statements referred to in paragraphs 5 to 7 shall be made in the presence of the parties. Moreover, each party's written submissions, including responses to questions put by the Panel, comments on the descriptive part of the report and comments on the interim report, shall be made available to the other party or parties.

11. The parties' and third parties' replies to questions, and the parties' comments on each other's replies to questions will be attached to the Panel report as annexes.

12. The parties and third parties shall provide the Panel with an executive summary of the facts and arguments as presented to the Panel in their written submissions and oral presentations within 10 days following the delivery to the Panel of the written version of the relevant submission. The executive summaries of the written submissions to be provided by each party should not exceed 10 pages in length each and the executive summaries of the oral presentations should not exceed 5 pages in length each. The summary to be provided by each third party shall summarize their written submission and oral presentation, and should not exceed 5 pages in length. The executive summaries shall not in any way serve as a substitute for the submissions of the parties in the Panel's examination of the case. However, the Panel may incorporate the executive summaries provided by the parties and third parties in the arguments section of its report, subject to any modifications deemed appropriate by the Panel.

13. A party shall submit any request for a preliminary ruling not later than its first submission to the Panel. If the complaining party requests such a ruling, the respondent shall submit its response to the request in its first submission. If the respondent requests such a ruling, the complaining party shall submit its response to the request prior to the first substantive meeting of the Panel, at a time to be determined by the Panel in light of the request. Exceptions to this procedure may be granted by the Panel upon a showing of good cause.

14. Parties shall submit all factual evidence to the Panel no later than during the first substantive meeting, except with respect to evidence necessary for purposes of rebuttal submissions or answers to questions. Exceptions to this procedure may be granted by the Panel upon a showing of good cause. In such cases, the other party shall be accorded a period of time for comment, as appropriate.

15. To facilitate the maintenance of the record of the dispute, and to maximize the clarity of submissions, in particular the references to exhibits submitted by parties, it is suggested that parties sequentially number their exhibits throughout the course of the dispute. For example, exhibits submitted by the Dominican Republic could be numbered DOM-1, DOM-2, etc. If the last exhibit in connection with the first submission was numbered DOM-5, the first exhibit of the next submission thus would be numbered DOM-6.

16. The parties to the dispute have the right to determine the composition of their own delegations. The parties shall have the responsibility for all members of their delegations and shall ensure that all members of the delegation act in accordance with the rules of the DSU and the Working Procedures of this Panel, particularly in regard to confidentiality of the proceedings.

17. Following issuance of the interim report, the parties shall have the opportunity, in accordance with the timetable established for the process, to submit written requests to review precise aspects of the interim report and to request a further meeting with the Panel. Following receipt of any written requests for review, in cases where no further meeting with the Panel is requested, the parties shall have the opportunity, within a time-period to be specified by the Panel and in accordance with the timetable established for the process, to submit written comments on the other parties' written requests for review. Such comments shall be strictly limited to commenting the other parties' written requests for review.

18. The following procedures, regarding the service of documents, shall apply:

(a) Each party and third party shall serve its submissions directly on all other parties, including the third parties, and confirm that it has done so at the time it provides its submission to the Panel.

(b) The parties and the third parties shall deliver their written submissions by 5:30 p.m., local Geneva time, on the deadline dates established by the Panel, unless a different time is set by the Panel.

(c) The parties and third parties shall provide the Panel with 10 paper copies of all their submissions, including their replies to questions, written version of oral statements and their executive summaries. All these copies shall be filed with Mr. Ferdinand Ferranco at the WTO Secretariat (Office 3154, Telephone 022 739 5683).

(d) At the time they provide paper copies of their submissions, the parties and third parties shall also provide the Panel with an electronic copy of all their submissions on a diskette to be delivered to Mr. Ferdinand Ferranco or as an e-mail attachment in a format compatible with that used by the Panel to be sent to the Secretariat (e-mail: [email protected], with a copy to Mr. Jorge Castro (e-mail: [email protected]) Mrs. Xuewei Feng (email: [email protected]), and Mrs. Tessa Bridgman ([email protected]).

(e) Parties and third parties shall provide the Panel with written versions of their oral statements by noon, local Geneva time, of the first working day following the date of the statements.

(f) Each party shall serve the executive summaries mentioned in paragraph 12 directly on the other party and confirm to the Secretariat that it has done so. Subparagraphs (d) and (e) above shall apply to the service of executive summaries.

(g) The Panel will endeavour to provide the parties with an electronic version of the descriptive part, the interim report and the final report, as well as of other documents as appropriate. When the Panel transmits to the parties or third parties both paper and electronic versions of a document, the paper version shall constitute the official version for the purposes of the record of the dispute.

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