The WTO’s highest court reversed an earlier panel ruling last Thursday in a dispute filed by Panama ( DS453 ) concerning various Argentine tax measures, along with policies involving access to the reinsurance sectors, the Argentine capital market, the foreign exchange market, and the registration of foreign company branches. The previous panel ruling, circulated late last year, had found that many of these financial services-related measures were in violation of WTO rules. Earlier proceedings A key element of the eight measures challenged by Panama is that they impose different requirements based on the distinction between “cooperative” and “non-cooperative” countries for tax transparency purposes, which was established under an Argentine Decree. According to this Decree, for a country to be considered “cooperative,” it must have a deal with Argentina for effective exchange of tax information, or fulfil necessary requirements for initiating talks on the subject. By signing such agreements, which “shall as far as possible comply with the international standards on transparency adopted by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes,” countries cannot invoke banking, stock market, or any other form of secrecy in response to specific information requests from Argentina. Panama was classified as a...