UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

UNCITRAL Soft Law Instruments in Support of

Arbitration
Arbitration Conference, 2015

Corinne MONTINERI
Legal Officer
UNCITRAL Secretariat
When and why was UNCITRAL established?

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

 Stage I: Preparation of a legal
standard

Legislative
Convention Model Law
Guide

• Negotiated with universal participation and

reflect balance of national, regional, economic,
legal and other interest
• Drafted with a view to ensuring compatibility with
the various legal traditions
• Not necessarily international , texts implemented
domestically
UNCITRAL
 UNCITRAL Dispute Settlement Texts
• Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
1958 •
the "New York" Convention

• UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

1976

• UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules

1980

• UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration

1985

• UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation

2002

• Amendments to UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration

2010

• Revised UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

2010

• UNCITRAL Transparency Rules on Treaty-based Investor-State Disputes

2013
• UN Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration
UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
2014 •
the “Mauritius” Convention
Stage II: Harmonized application of
international instruments

EXAMPLES

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

Convention on the Recognition and
Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards,
“New York Convention”
• Gives effect to arbitration clause
• Arbitral award in one Convention
country to be recognized and enforced
in another Convention country (Article
II-IV, cf. court award)
• Limited grounds for denial of
enforcement (Article V)
• Nearly universal acceptance (154
parties)
UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
Status of the New York Convention
154 State parties (2015)

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

www.newyorkconvention1958.org

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

www.newyorkconvention1958.org

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

 UNCITRAL Model Law on
International Commercial Arbitration
• Adopted in 1985, amendments adopted in 2006
• Establishes a unified legal framework for the fair and
efficient settlement of international commercial disputes
• Covers all stages of the arbitral process
• Conforms to current practice in international trade and
modern means of contracting with regard
to the form of arbitration agreement and
the granting of interim measures
• Takes the form of a “model law” which
provides more flexibility for enacting states
• Prepared as a freestanding arbitration
statute
UNCITRAL
Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985)
UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985), with amendments as adopted in 2006

Legislation based on the Model Law adopted in 67 States in a total of 97 jurisdictions

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

 The Digest on the Model Law
• Launched on 9 June 2012
• Summary of case law for
each Article, highlighting
common views and
reporting divergent
approaches
• Footnotes with live links to
cases
• 725 cases from 37 States

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

 CLOUT

•A collection of court decisions & arbitral awards interpreting

UNCITRAL texts

•Case abstracts in the 6 UN languages

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

 Thank You!
For more information on UNCITRAL’s
work in the area of arbitration and
transparency in treaty-based investor-
State arbitration, please visit our web
site:
http://www.uncitral.org

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law