Today, the EU and other WTO members have formally notified the ‘Multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement’ (MPIA) to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This notification marks the start of the application of the MPIA to disputes arising between the participating WTO members.
Annex 2 of the MPIA says the following:
COMPOSITION OF THE POOL OF ARBITRATORS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 4 OF COMMUNICATION JOB/DSB/1/ADD.12
After the notification of the present communication to the DSB, the participating Members will promptly commence the composition process. The following will apply:1. Each participating Member may nominate one candidate, by notifying the other participating Members.
2. The deadline for nominations will expire 30 days after the date of this communication.
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The participating members identified in the MPIA text posted by the European Commission today are: Australia; Brazil; Canada; China; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; European Union; Guatemala; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Mexico; New Zealand; Norway; Pakistan; Singapore; Switzerland; Ukraine; and Uruguay. That means each one of these may nominate a candidate within 30 days. I think it also means that other governments have an incentive to join the MPIA before the 30 days is up, so that they can make a nomination too.
It would be nice if the names of the nominated candidates become public, but we'll see how it plays out.
