In terms of providing a little background, there are two levels of dispute settlement at the WTO: the panel stage and the appellate body or the appeal stage. At this point, cases at the panel stage are still proceeding as normal.
The issue we have run into now, as a result of the impasse in appointments to the appellate body, is that it is possible for a party, at the time a panel decision is issued, to appeal that dispute into what is effectively “the void”, meaning that, because there is no quorum to hear the appeal, the case does not progress further.
That is the reason Canada and other WTO members have explored this parallel, interim appeal arbitration arrangement, so those members who are part of that arrangement can use that appeal mechanism, as opposed to simply appealing into the void.