For information only - not an official document

UNIS/L/145
20 August 2010

Arbitration Centre Adopts UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules
(as revised in 2010)

VIENNA, 20 August (UN Information Service) - The Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) has become the first arbitration centre to adopt, on 15 August 2010, new arbitration rules incorporating the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules as revised in 2010. KLRCA was established under the auspices of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO), an inter-governmental organization comprising 47 governments of the Asian and African region, in cooperation with the Government of Malaysia.

Recognized as one of the most successful international instruments of a contractual nature in the field of arbitration, the original UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, adopted in 1976, have been used for the settlement of a broad range of disputes, including disputes between private commercial parties where no arbitral institution is involved, commercial disputes administered by arbitral institutions, investor-State disputes and State-to-State disputes. They have also been adopted by numerous arbitral institutions as their institutional rules.

On 25 June 2010, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law adopted the revised UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, which came into effect on 15 August 2010. They include additional provisions dealing with, for example, multiple parties arbitration and joinder, liability, and a procedure to object to experts appointed by the arbitral tribunal. A number of innovative features aim to enhance procedural efficiency, including revised procedures for the replacement of an arbitrator, a requirement for reasonableness of costs and a mechanism for reviewing the costs of arbitration.

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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 www.uncitral.org.

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For information contact:

Jenny Clift
Senior Legal Officer
UNCITRAL Secretariat
Email: jenny.clift@uncitral.org