© 1999 by Oxford University Press
The CCBE resolution
The following text contains observations and recommendations adopted on 26 June 1998 by the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community (CCBE) on the issue of the representation of parties and participants in WTO dispute settlement proceedings by private counsel. The CCBE fully endorses the Appellate Body's ruling in the Bananas case and points out that the right to representation by counsel of one's own choice in WTO proceedings is supported by the text of various international treaties.
The CCBE recommends that Member States should appropriately take the issue into account in the upcoming review of the Dispute Settlement Understanding. The CCBE has also drafted the 1988 Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the European Community, which has been adopted by the bar associations in the EC Member States and is being applied by some observer states to the CCBE. The CCBE has a permanent representation with the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance (CFI) exercising consultancy functions. Issues on which the CCBE advised the courts include the establishment of the CFI, the further elaboration of rules of procedure and the development of Notes for Guidance for lawyers in written and oral proceedings. The Code of Conduct itself is not part of the rules applicable before the European Court or the CFI, nor is it linked to European Community government institutions. The Code has therefore only an indirect impact on proceedings in the two courts through the binding of lawyers appearing before them to the rules of conduct of their respective domestic bars.