GENEVA, June 9 (Reuters) - A Mexican and Belgian candidate have been shortlisted to fill two vacancies on the World Trade Organisation's top court, the Appellate Body, trade sources said on Tuesday.
The seven-member Appellate Body gives final rulings in disputes involving the international trade rules refereed by the WTO in which billions of dollars can be at stake. The appellate judges manage the WTO's emerging body of case law.
The two are Ricardo Ramirez, former deputy general counsel for trade negotiations in Mexico's economy ministry, and Peter Van den Bossche, a Belgian professor of law at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and a former counsellor to the Appellate Body as well as acting director of its secretariat.
A selection committee headed by Canada's WTO ambassador, John Gero, who chairs the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, selected the names from six nominees, and will propose them to a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body on June 19, where they are likely to be approved as a formality, the sources said.
One vacancy must be filled in July, replacing a Brazilian lawyer who left earlier this year, and one in December to replace another law professor, Italian Giorgio Sacerdoti. Appellate judges serve four-year terms, which may be renewed once.
The two vacancies attracted high-level nominations, with other candidates from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and the Netherlands. (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)