EU And 15 WTO Members Reach Agreement On Multilateral Interim Appeals Arbitration Arrangement

The European Commission's official website recently announced that the EU agreed with the 15 WTO members of China, Canada, Norway, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland and Singapore on the agreement on multilateral interim appeal arbitration arrangements. Hogan, a trade commissioner of the European Commission, said that the agreement reached on that day fulfilled the political commitments made by the parties at the Ministerial Conference in Davos in January. Although the agreement is only an expedient alternative to the WTO dispute settlement appeal mechanism, it fully demonstrates the common belief of the European Union and many members that the best choice in crisis is cooperation. The European side will continue to work with all parties to give priority to the resumption of the operation of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, and also hopes that other WTO members can join the open arrangement temporarily. The arrangement ensures that trade disputes can be resolved through a fair and independent ruling, which is crucial to a rule-based multilateral trading system. The EU firmly supports the rule-based trading system and has always been the dominant force in establishing the interim emergency measure in WTO. The European side expects that the agreement will be formally notified to WTO within the next few weeks and will take effect after participating in the completion of its respective internal procedures.