UNIS/L/355
8 April 2024

UNCITRAL Working Group III concludes its work on the draft statute of an advisory centre on international investment dispute resolution

Another major step towards investor-State dispute settlement reform

VIENNA, 8 April (UN Information Service) – Representatives of more than 70 State delegations and 40 international organizations gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last week to complete another set of reforms in investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS), which Working Group III of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was mandated to carry out in 2017.

The Working Group completed its work on a draft statute of an advisory centre on international investment dispute resolution (the “Centre”). The proposed Centre aims to provide training, support and assistance with regard to international investment dispute resolution, and enhance the capacity of States in preventing and handling international investment disputes, in particular, least developed countries and developing countries. The draft statute of the Centre will be presented to the Commission for its adoption, with the relevant part of the session currently scheduled to take place from 2 to 5 July in New York.

At last week’s session in New York, the Working Group further tasked the Secretariat to prepare a toolkit on dispute prevention and mitigation as a descriptive text compiling the practice of various States. The Working Group further worked on a draft statute of a standing mechanism to resolve international investment disputes, another reform element that is being developed.

Additional information can be found on the UNCITRAL website: uncitral.un.org.

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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, and maintains a website at 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