The Hidden Jewels of the WTO: How the Committees Keep Trade Moving

When we think of the WTO resolving trade conflicts, we think of legal battles and Panel Reports. But the real workhorse is quieter — a specialized committee (like the SPS Committee) that has helped resolve hundreds of disputes before they ever reach the Dispute Settlement Body.

Over the past 31 years, WTO Members notified 38,500 sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures — regulations covering food safety, animal and plant health — covering everything from pest-free zones to pesticide residue limits. With that volume of regulation, conflict is inevitable. Yet only 54 formal disputes related to the SPS Agreement were ever filed with the Dispute Settlement Body, and only 22 of those disputes saw a Panel Report.

What happened to the rest?

Research shows how the SPS Committee — a standing forum for WTO Members — acts as a pressure valve, early warning system, and negotiating table all at once. The mechanism it relies on is called a Specific Trade Concern (STC): a formal (but non-litigious) way for one Member to raise a concern about another Member's SPS measure during regular committee meetings.

The research analyses all 619 STCs raised from 1995 to December 2025, alongside every SPS dispute filed at the WTO, and finds a striking pattern: the more Members engage through the STC process, the less likely concerns are to become disputes — and the more likely disputes are to settle without a Panel Report.

The carousel below summarizes the paper's six key findings.

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