Op-Ed: “Saving Appeals in WTO Dispute Settlement: The Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement Pursuant to Article 25 of the DSU” by Holger Hestermeyer

On 27 March the EU and 15 other members of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) announced that they had reached agreement on an arrangement that allows them to bring appeals in trade disputes amongst them that they settle under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The new multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement (‘MPIA’) is supposed to function as a stop-gap measure replacing the WTO Appellate Body (‘AB’) for the time it is inoperative. This contribution sets out the background of the new mechanism, explains how it works and discusses what it is likely to achieve. The agreement is expected to be officially notified to the WTO in the coming weeks after the participating members have completed their internal procedures where app