Singapore Management University’s Professor of Law Locknie Hsu has been appointed as one of 10 appeal arbitrators in the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) endorsed by 24* World Trade Organization (WTO) members.

The pool of arbitrators under the MPIA comprises persons of recognised authority, with demonstrated expertise in law, international trade and the WTO Agreements generally.  This is the first time a Singaporean has been appointed to an international pool of arbitrators to hear trade dispute appeals under such an arrangement.

The MPIA, which became operational on 31 July 2020, allows Singapore and other WTO members in the MPIA to have access to an appeal mechanism to settle their trade disputes with each other while the WTO Appellate Body (AB) is not operational.

The AB is the appeal tier of the WTO’s dispute settlement system, and presently, it is not operational as WTO members have not agreed on new AB members to replace those who have completed their terms.  This means that trade disputes decided by WTO panels cannot be heard by the AB at the moment. The MPIA therefore provides those WTO members which endorse it with an interim appeal mechanism for their trade disputes with each other. Other members may also join the MPIA if they wish.

On her appointment Prof Hsu shared, “I am deeply honoured to have been nominated by Singapore and to have been selected by the WTO members participating in the MPIA.”

The other nine appeal arbitrators are from Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the EU, Mexico, New Zealand and Switzerland.

Prof Hsu is a renowned international law expert in Singapore.  She was, in 2001, attached to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, assisting with Singapore’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with Australia and Japan. In 2004, she was member of the Singapore team in the ASEAN-Korea FTA Joint Study Expert Group.  Prof Hsu currently chairs the Trade and Investment Group in the ASEAN Law Association, where judges, academics and lawyers meet to gather and share information about ASEAN laws, so as to build up the strength and proficiency of lawyers in the region.  In November 2015 to April 2016, she also served as Amicus Curiae (independent expert) of the Supreme Court of Singapore, providing an independent expert opinion to the Singapore Court of Appeal in relation to an investor-State dispute.

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*An update has been made to this article on 28 September 2020 to indicate the number of MPIA members as 24, based on the latest developments.