For information only - not an official document

UNIS/L/176/REV
15 November 2012

United Nations General Assembly elects new UNCITRAL Members

VIENNA, 15 November (UN Information Service) - The General Assembly on 14 November held elections to fill vacancies in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

The outgoing members whose terms of office will expire on 7 July 2013 are: Armenia, Bahrain, Benin, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom.

The Assembly elected the following 29 States as members of UNCITRAL for a six-year term beginning on 8 July 2013: Armenia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Zambia. Regarding the one remaining vacancy that will exist from July 2013, the Assembly will conduct an election upon notification by interested Member States from the "Western European and other States" region for which the vacancy remains.

The term of the following 26 States members of the Commission continues until 2016: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Fiji, Gabon, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United States and Venezuela. Membership of the Commission until 2016 will also include a further 4 States members from the following States who have elected to alternate their membership during the period: Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Poland and the Ukraine.

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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