AV Ganesan of India elected Chairman of WTO's appellate body

By Vijay Kumar

India's AV Ganesan was elected as the chairman of the WTO's appellate body. Each Member of the Appellate Body is required to be a person of recognized authority, with demonstrated expertise in law, international trade and the subject-matter of the covered agreements generally. They are also required to be unaffiliated with any government and are to be broadly representative of the Membership of the WTO. The Chairman holds office for one year.

Born in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, Arumugamangalam Venkatachalam Ganesan was a distinguished civil servant of India. He was appointed to the Indian Administrative Service in May 1959, and served in that service until June 1993. In a career spanning over 34 years, he has held a number of high level assignments, including Joint Secretary (Investment), Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India (1977-1980); Inter-Regional Adviser, United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC), United Nations Headquarters, New York (1980-1985); Additional Secretary, Department of Industrial Development, Government of India (1986-1989); Chief Negotiator of India for the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and Special Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India (1989-1990); Civil Aviation Secretary of the Government of India (1990-1991); and Commerce Secretary of the Government of India (1991-1993). He represented India on numerous occasions in bilateral, regional and multilateral negotiations in the areas of international trade, investment and intellectual property rights. Between 1989 and 1993, he represented India at the various stages of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations.

After his retirement from civil service, Mr. Ganesan served as an expert and consultant to various agencies of the United Nations system, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in the field of international trade, investment and intellectual property rights. He has also spoken extensively to the business, managerial, scientific and academic communities in India on the scope and substance of the Uruguay Round negotiations and Agreements and their implications. Until his appointment to the Appellate Body of the WTO in 2000, he was a Member of the Government of India’s High Level Trade Advisory Committee on Multilateral Trade Negotiations. He was also a Member of the Permanent Group of Experts under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and a Member of a Dispute Settlement Panel of the WTO in 1999-2000 in the United States — Section 110(5) of the US Copyright Act case.

Mr. Ganesan has written numerous newspaper articles and monographs dealing with various aspects of the Uruguay Round Agreements and their implications. He is also the author of many papers on trade, investment and intellectual property issues for UNCTAD and UNIDO, and has contributed to books published in India on matters concerning the Uruguay Round, including intellectual property right issues.