Beijing News recently reported that, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China and the European Union, along with more than ten other WTO (World Trade Organization) member countries decided to establish a temporary appeal and arbitration arrangement while the official WTO appeal mechanism cannot function. The new arrangement will perform the WTO article 25 process to settle appeal and arbitration cases among participating countries. The dispute settlement mechanism is one of the core functions of the WTO. The official unit stopped functioning after December 11, 2019, due to certain member country blocking the judge selection process. China and other WTO member countries are working hard to notify the WTO of this new arrangement and welcome more countries to join. The participating countries in the temporary arrangement issued a Minister-level joint announcement on March 27, 2020.
Source: Beijing News, March 27, 2020
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2020/03/27/709985.html