Briefly Noted

On July 25, 2022, the first Article 25 Arbitration Appeal award was issued. The Article 25 mechanism is being used while Appellate Body appointments are still blocked . The substance of the case concerned a dispute between the European Union and Turkey regarding a localization requirement whereby Turkey required foreign producers to commit to localize in Turkey their production of certain pharmaceutical products and where producers did not commit to doing so, relevant products were no longer reimbursed by the Turkish Social Security Institution. Ultimately, the arbitral panel found that the localization requirement was not justifiable under GATT (and consequently that the panel below had not erred in its judgment).