Appointment of Professor Emeritus ARAKI Ichiro of Yokohama National University to the pool of Arbitrators for the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA)

1．Appointment of Professor Emeritus ARAKI Ichiro to the pool of Arbitrators for the MPIA

In April 2020, some WTO members launched the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) as an interim response to the impasse within the Appellate Body. The MPIA is an arrangement which stipulates that the participating members will resolve disputes by using arbitrations, instead of appealing to the non-functional Appellate Body (the so-called “appealing into the void”), when they dispute the adoption of panel decisions. Japan joined the MPIA in March 2023, and as of May 2025, 56 countries and regions, including the European Union, Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brazil are participating in this arrangement.

The MPIA has a pool of 10 Arbitrators appointed by participating members, and each appeal is heard by three Arbitrators selected from the pool. This time, the members have partially re-composed this pool of 10 Arbitrators, who were appointed at the launch of the MPIA in 2020, by replacing five of them with individuals who were newly appointed or reappointed, including Professor Emeritus ARAKI.

Japan welcomes the appointment of Professor Emeritus ARAKI to the new pool of Arbitrators and expects that his expertise will enhance the predictability of the WTO dispute settlement system through the MPIA and contribute to the maintenance and strengthening of the multilateral trading system. The Government of Japan will continue to work toward a fully- and well-functioning WTO dispute settlement system and will contribute to the maintenance of the rules-based international economic order through the effective use of the MPIA.

2．Profile of Professor Emeritus ARAKI Ichiro, Yokohama National University

Professor Emeritus ARAKI joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) (currently the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)) in 1983. After serving as a Legal Officer at the WTO Legal Affairs Division from 1995 to 1998, he returned to the Ministry and then served as Director of Trade Policy Reviews, Trade Policy Bureau of the Ministry until 2001. Subsequently, he started to teach at Yokohama National University in 2003 and has held his current position (Professor Emeritus, Yokohama National University) since 2024. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo and received a Master of Laws degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Professor Emeritus ARAKI is a leading figure in Japan in the field of international economic law. As mentioned above, he served as a trade negotiator for the Government of Japan and a staff member of the WTO Secretariat. He has also served as a panelist in multiple WTO dispute settlement cases. He has accomplished many outstanding achievements internationally in the field of international trade law, including the WTO Agreements.

Division in Charge

WTO Compliance and Dispute Settlement Office, International Economic Affairs Department, Trade Policy Bureau