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14th WTO Ministerial Conference

DG cites MPIA as "practical, confidence-building bridge" pending dispute reform deal

The Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) is serving as a practical, confidence building bridge for WTO members committed to a fully functioning dispute settlement system pending an agreement on dispute settlement reform, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on 28 March. She made her remarks at a meeting of parties to the MPIA on the sidelines of the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14).

DG cites MPIA as "practical, confidence-building bridge" pending dispute reform deal

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• 14th WTO Ministerial Conference

- Dispute settlement

#TradeDisputes

The event saw MPIA parties issue a joint statement reaffirming their support for the mechanism and encouraging other WTO members to join. Based on the arbitration provision in Article 25 of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding, the MPIA was established as an alternative system for resolving WTO disputes that are appealed by a member in the absence of a functioning Appellate Body.

Barbados, Liechtenstein and Moldova have become the latest WTO members to join the MPIA. "As participation in the MPIA continues to grow, this strengthens our efforts to support a multilateral trading system based on rules," the parties said in a joint statement issued after the meeting.

The Director-General noted that 61 WTO members are now party to the MPIA, spanning multiple regions and levels of development. The MPIA has proven effective, she added, with two appeals successfully resolved through this mechanism so far.?

The "real success of the MPIA should not be judged just by the number of appeals it handles," she said. "Rather, it lies in the commitment of members that have chosen to join it to refrain from appealing cases into the void, and to bring any dispute with another MPIA participant to a timely and binding resolution."

"The result is a system that can help reinforce the rule of law in trade, support business and consumer confidence, and reduce the risks associated with unresolved disputes, particularly for smaller and more vulnerable economies."

Both the Director-General and MPIA parties underlined that the mechanism is intended to be temporary. In a joint statement, the MPIA parties reiterated their "strong commitment to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members" and that a "reformed WTO dispute settlement system remains our priority objective."

Pending this, "we encourage other WTO Members to join the MPIA, which provides rules-based stability, security and predictability," the parties said.

The full statement is available here.

The Director-General noted that despite the Appellate Body blockage, WTO members continue to use the WTO dispute settlement system to resolve their differences.?

In the past two years alone, members have brought 22 new dispute cases to the WTO, she noted. Panel reports in five disputes were adopted without appeal and eight other disputes were resolved by the parties themselves, including through mutually agreed solutions.?

"This reflects a quiet trend we have seen since the Appellate Body became inoperative in 2019: members have explored different approaches to reach mutually acceptable outcomes. That is how the system was intended to function in the first place."

Information on the WTO's dispute settlement reform process is available here. Further information on alternative dispute resolution procedures, including the MPIA, is available here.

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