UNIS/L/363
16 July 2024

UN Commission on International Trade Law concludes its 57th session in New York

VIENNA, 16 July (UN Information Service) – At its 57th session in New York, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted four new texts (the UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts, the Statute of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution, the UNCITRAL Model Clauses on Specialized Express Dispute Resolution, and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Automated Contracting) and agreed on a future programme of work.

Finalization and adoption of texts

UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts

The UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts was developed as a joint project of UNCITRAL and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). The Model Law provides a legal framework that covers the private law aspects of a warehouse receipt system for adoption by States seeking to reform their legislation in this area. It contemplates the issuance and transfer of both paper-based and electronic warehouse receipts on a medium-neutral and technology-neutral basis. This allows the use of central registries, distributed ledgers, platforms and other technologies for managing the electronic warehouse receipts.

Statute of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution

The Commission adopted in principle the Statute of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution (the "Centre"), a further element of the broader reform of the investor-State dispute settlement system (ISDS) undertaken in UNCITRAL. Once established and operational, the Centre is expected to provide crucial legal services in the field of ISDS, including training and representation services with the aim of enhancing the capacity of States, especially least developed countries and developing countries, to prevent and handle international investment disputes. It is anticipated that the Statute will become a Protocol to the multilateral instrument on ISDS reform currently being prepared by UNCITRAL Working Group III as an instrument to allow States to implement a wide range of reform elements.

UNCITRAL Model Clauses on Specialized Express Dispute Resolution (SPEDR)

The UNCITRAL Model Clauses on Specialized Express Dispute Resolution (the “SPEDR Model Clauses”), building on the UNCITRAL Expedited Arbitration Rules, offer customized solutions for parties in dispute with four model clauses. Designed as a resource for businesses and practitioners engaging in international dispute resolution, especially when speed (Model Clause on Highly Expedited Arbitration), ongoing contract performance (Model Clause on Adjudication), technical expertise (Model Clause on Technical Advisor) or confidential data (Model Clause on Confidentiality)  are crucial factors, the SPEDR Model Clauses provide parties with tailored means to settle disputes in an expeditious manner, ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of their dispute resolution processes, while catering for their unique needs.

UNCITRAL Model Law on Automated Contracting

The UNCITRAL Model Law on Automated Contracting provides a legal framework to enable the use of automation in international contracts, including through the deployment of artificial intelligence and “smart contracts”, as well as in machine-to-machine transactions. It is intended to complement and supplement existing laws on electronic transactions, in particular those based on other UNCITRAL electronic commerce texts.

Future Work

The Commission made several decisions on the allocation of future work to its working groups and secretariat. The Commission tasked Working Group II with a new mandate to work on the recognition and enforcement of electronic arbitral awards following a stocktaking exercise on Dispute Resolution in the Digital Economy (DRDE) undertaken during the last two years.

With respect to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, the Commission reviewed a UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT study on the legal nature of verified carbon credits issued by independent carbon standard setters and provided States with the opportunity to make their comments before deciding on next steps. The secretariat will organize a colloquium focussing on the relevance of UNCITRAL instruments, notably the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the Model Law on Public Procurement, the Model Legislative Provisions on Public-Private Partnerships and the UNCITRAL framework on dispute settlement, to climate actions by States.

In light of the emergence of new types of assets (digital assets, data, verified carbon credits, warehouse and crop receipts and others) and legislative efforts by international and regional organizations to address transactions involving those assets, the Commission requested the secretariat to take stock of the legislative developments with regard to new types of assets and their treatment under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions (MLST). The secretariat will organize a colloquium involving relevant experts and representatives of international and regional organizations to review and discuss the treatment of these new assets under the MLST and the need for possible future work in this area.

The Commission also requested the secretariat to conduct a stocktaking exercise to examine all UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce and other substantive law texts that include provisions on electronic aspects, such as the Rotterdam Rules, the UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts and the draft instrument on negotiable cargo documents. The stocktaking exercise will include a survey of the uptake of UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce by States in their domestic legislation as well as in international commitments concerning paperless trade. The secretariat will coordinate with other relevant organizations in the field of paperless trade such as the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN /CEFACT) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The results of the stocktaking exercise will assist the Commission to decide whether future work would be needed to prepare a consolidation of UNCITRAL texts on electronic transactions with a particular focus on supporting paperless trade.

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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. For more information, visit: uncitral.un.org

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For information, please contact:

José Angelo Estrella-Faria 
Principal Legal Officer and Head, Legislative Branch 
UNCITRAL Secretariat 
Email: joseangelo.estrella-faria[at]un.org