The most intriguing use of a liability rule in the WTO system is pursuant to the Dispute
Settlement Understanding (DSU), which governs claims by one member nation that another
has violated its obligations. Article 21(3) of the DSU provides that a member has a reasonable
period of time to bring its policies into conformity with its obligations after it has been found to
have violated them.27 Article 22(1) then states that compensation or a suspension of
concessions may result if compliance has not been achieved within a reasonable period of
time.28 The first step in the process is a negotiation over compensation, in effect to determine
whether the case can be "settled."29 Should those negotiations fail, the aggrieved party(ies) can
propose a suspension of concessions, which must be "substantially equivalent" to the ongoing
harm that they suffer from the violation.30 An arbitration procedure exists to examine the
"substantial equivalence" question if the member faced with such a suspension of concessions
objects that the suspension is excessive