WTO DG Azevêdo told the Dispute Settlement Body on 26 September 2014 that “there is no question that the WTO’s dispute settlement system has been a success”, noting that in just under 20 years the system had received 482 requests for consultations, much more than the 300 disputes General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had received in 47 years. He also noted that in the first 16 years of the WTO estimates suggested the system handled disputes covering at least US$1 trillion of trade flows. He said that “while this is welcome, it does create some real challenges”, including the doubling since 2012 of disputes being handled by the Secretariat, and a much higher than expected rate of appeals.