WTO's dispute settlement mechanism and its effectiveness to provide solutions to trade disputes are discussed this month. Article in this issue of "International Trade Amicus", suggesting penalty before imposition of sanctions, also states that some innovative solutions have to be found out. In WTO, India has sought consultations with Turkey on certain safeguard measures of the latter against imports of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Philippines internal taxes on distilled spirit were held as discriminatory and Russia along with two other countries were officially welcomed to join the World Trade Organisation. A court in the US has held that Department of Commerce cannot impose countervailing duty on imports from non-market economy (NME) countries, while European court has upheld the latest carbon tax proposed by EU on airlines flying in and out of Europe. India has extended ban on imports of milk and milk products from China while USA will be shortly debating the bill to make the foreign manufacturers accountable.
