TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) speaks up about filing an appeal after losing in the nickel lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono also said that Indonesia had officially filed an appeal.

However, Djatmiko said that until now, there had been no recent developments because Indonesia has entered a long queue. As a result, the government is not sure when this case could be resolved.

"It depends on the WTO. So if someone asks about the time, only God knows, no one in the world knows," Djatmiko said at his office in Central Jakarta on Friday, January 6, 2023.

Djatmiko estimated that there will be no significant obstacles in the appeal process. Because, as he said, every country has the right to file a claim and appeal to the WTO.

The Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan, also stated that Indonesia had officially submitted an appeal to the WTO. However, he assured that Indonesia would still face challenges that would occur in the future.

"That will be okay, we will deal with the challenge in the future, an appeal has also been filed," said Zulkifli.

The Indonesian government's appeal regarding the dispute with the European Union was submitted to the WTO on Monday, December 12, 2022, as seen from the WTO trade dispute announcement. The World Trade Organization, however, rejected Indonesia's defense of the EU's nickel lawsuit.

The notice of the appeal is filed simultaneously with the filing of an appeal to the Appellate Body Secretariat. The Indonesian government submitted an appeal as a form of further defense of the final panel report on October 17, 2022, which stated that Indonesia had been proven to have violated WTO Article XI.1 GATT 1994 in a legal action registered in dispute settlement (DS) 592.

Previously, the initial defense through the provisions of Article XI.2 (a) and XX (d) of the 1994 GATT, relating to the limited number of national nickel reserves had been rejected by the international trade regulatory body.

On November 30, 2022, the panel's decision was distributed to the other WTO members. Following that, the panel's decision will be put on the agenda of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on December 20, 2022.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI l IMAJI LASAHIDO

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