For information only - not an official document

UNIS/L/163
31 May 2012

First UNCITRAL Digest of International Commercial Arbitration case law published

VIENNA, 31 May (UN Information Service) - A Digest of Case Law on International Commercial Arbitration will be launched in Singapore on 9 June 2012 by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The Digest will be available on the UNCITRAL website and in print. The Digest is being launched at an event organized by the Singapore Ministry of Law, in cooperation with the UNCITRAL Secretariat, at Maxwell Chambers in Singapore.

The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (Model Law) was adopted on 21 June 1985 and amended on 7 July 2006. The Model Law provides a uniform legal framework for international commercial arbitration and is one of the most successful legal standards prepared by UNCITRAL. Legislation based on the Model Law has been adopted in around 90 jurisdictions so far, covering all legal traditions, economic systems and levels of development.

The Digest identifies trends in the interpretation of the Model Law and is designed to enable judges, arbitrators, lawyers, parties to commercial transactions, academics and students to better understand, interpret and apply the Model Law. The current version of the Digest which is 232 pages long, is based on 725 cases from 37 States all over the world.

Arbitration is an alternative dispute settlement mechanism where parties agree to entrust the resolution of a dispute between them to an arbitral tribunal that imposes a binding decision upon them known as an award.

Three of the main contributors to the Digest, Frédéric Bachand (Canada), Lawrence Boo (Singapore), and Stefan Kröll (Germany) will be attending the launch in Singapore.

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The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria.

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For information contact:

Timothy Lemay
Principal Legal Officer
UNCITRAL Secretariat
Email: timothy.lemay[at]uncitral.org