Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement

The Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) is a plurilateral mechanism established in 2020 by a group of World Trade Organization (WTO) members to preserve a functional two-tier dispute settlement system after the WTO Appellate Body ceased to function in December 2019. The Appellate Body lost its quorum because the United States, beginning under the Obama administration and intensifying under the Trump administration, blocked the appointment and reappointment of its members.

The MPIA is built on Article 25 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), which permits parties to a dispute to resort to arbitration as an alternative means of dispute settlement. Under the arrangement, participating members agree in advance that, if either side appeals a panel report in a dispute between them, the appeal will be heard by a pool of standing arbitrators applying procedures that closely mirror Appellate Body practice — including a 90-day timeframe, confidentiality rules, and review limited to issues of law.

The MPIA was notified to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in April 2020. Founding participants included the European Union, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among others. Participation has since grown to over 25 members. The United States, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom are notable non-participants.

A pool of ten arbitrators was selected in 2020; three are drawn by lot for each appeal. The first award under the MPIA was issued in December 2022 in Colombia – Frozen Fries (DS591), a dispute between Colombia and the European Union.

The MPIA is explicitly interim: participants describe it as a stopgap until the Appellate Body is restored. WTO members agreed at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12, June 2022) to work toward a fully functioning dispute settlement system by 2024, though reform negotiations remain ongoing.