Articles

• Gal-Or, Noemi

Abstract

The WTO Appellate Body represents an innovation in international law in that an international adjudication authority now operates as a final instance to hear appeals arising from international arbitral (panel) procedures. It is thereby strongly emulating domestic appellate courts without, however, possessing the characteristics that make appellate courts the institutions of justice that they are. Following this trend in a cutting-edge fashion are several other inter-governmental arrangements that had been either concluded (Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Olivos Protocol in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur)) or proposed (the US Congresses' 2002 Trade Promotion Authority Act, the ICSID Discussion Paper of 22 October 2004, the third draft Free Trade Area for the Americas). They embrace the concept of a permanent international instance for appeal from arbitral awards, particularly regarding investment agreements including also disputes arising between the state (public) and the individual legal person (private).