Today the United Kingdom announced the decision to join the Multi-party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) in the WTO.
Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič said “Given the current trade tensions, the MPIA is ever more important. It ensures the final and orderly resolution of trade disputes among its participants and supports rules-based trade. With each new country joining, we increase the stability of multilateral trading relations. This is why I warmly welcome the UK, Paraguay and Malaysia among the MPIA participants. I stress that the MPIA is open to all WTO Members.”
The MPIA was put in place since 2020 and it has proven its effectiveness since. As of 1 June 2025, the MPIA has an updated pool of appeal arbitrators to ensure that appeals are heard by independent arbitrators of the highest caliber.
The MPIA now covers 57 WTO Members and 57.6% of world trade, according to the International Monetary Found. At the moment the members are the following: Australia, Benin, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the European Union (and its Member States), Guatemala, Hong Kong (China), Iceland, Japan, Macao (China), Mexico, Malaysia, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
Participants in the MPIA have access to an operative dispute settlement system in the WTO. MPIA ensures that rules can be enforced and trade disputes can be orderly resolved, given the absence of a functioning WTO Appellate Body.
Appeals are heard by arbitrators selected randomly from the pool of 10 appeal arbitrators set up by the countries participating in the MPIA. Components are persons of recognized authority and demonstrated expertise in law, international trade and the WTO Agreements.
The original pool of arbitrators was composed in July 2020. Its composition was recently partially changed, following a merit-based process.