U.S. – Poultry from China: WTO Panels Examining Domestic Law

For those who are into this sort of thing, the U.S. – Poultry from China (DS392) dispute has a very interesting issue related to the examination of domestic law.  In this case, one of the arguments made by the United States was that the statutory provision at issue, which is part of some appropriations legislation, is designed to provide Congressional "oversight" of a U.S. regulatory agency through the appropriations process.  (DSC subscribers can see this post for more background). The U.S. first written submission has some detail about how U.S. appropriations law works, both in general and in this case.  As a result, the WTO panel may have to examine the relationship of the legislative branch to the executive branch in the context of U.S. law-making.  No doubt the panel will tread very carefully in addressing this issue.