UNCITRAL

Presented by:
- Jamyrrh Danielle Muena
- Sayazhan Zhameledenova
- Pranjal Singh
- Amine Benhammadi
Contents of This Presentation
Here’s what you’ll find in our UNCITRAL Presentation:

1. A slide structure based on History of UNCITRAL, its Basic Information, its Composition & Roles played by
Uncitral.
2. An assortment of organization and methods of work of the Uncitral, its Working groups, Secretariat, a wide picture
of the Participation at sessions of Uncitral.
3. Work of UNCITRAL, its techniques, convention and model laws.
4. Final part with:
 Coordinating the work of other organizations
 The system for the collection and dissemination of court decisions
 Technical cooperation and assistance to law reform
 01
UNCITRAL - United
Nations Commission for
International Trade Law
History
When world trade began to expand
dramatically in the 1960s, national Basic information
governments began to realize the need for
a global set of standards and rules to What is UNCITRAL -Core legal body of the UN system,
harmonize national and regional w.r.t International Trade Law.
regulations, which until then governed
When it came into existence- 17 December 1966
international trade.
Who established it - UN General Assembly

Why was it established - to ensure that the UN can

actively play a role in reducing and removing the obstacles
in the flow of trade.

Where - Headquarter in Vienna (Austria)

More in Depth

Composition Mandate Instruments

Composition
Membership - 60 elected Member States.
Elected by - General Assembly
Term - 30 member states - 3 years
other 30 member states – 6 years
Representativeness -geographical areas & their
principle economic and legal
systems
According to geographical representation - 6 regional groups
- African States (14)
- Eastern European states (8)
- Asian states (14)
- Latin American and Caribbean states (10)
- Western European and others (14)
Mandate

“Further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade.”

What does harmonization and unification refer to here?

Harmonization -Process of elimination major differences and creating common standards in the law, to make
cross border transactions feasible.
Unification - Adoption of common legal rules, by the states, which helps in governing the aspects of the areas
these rules correspond to.

Implementation of Mandate - Draft and adopt instruments which Unify and harmonize substantive law in the
area of International commercial and finance law
Instruments
Conventions, Model Laws, legislative guides and Principles, etc.

Initiation and Drafting done by

- Member states
- Observer states
- IGOs
- NGOs

Finalization and Adoption done by UNCITRAL (commission level).

Roles Played by UNCITRAL

Promotes Collects and

disseminates
Adoption of Information on
new international national legislation
conventions and modern legal
developments

Maintains
Coordination in work of active organizations and
cooperation among them
02
Organization and
methods of work
Work Organization
UNCITRAL’s work is organized and
Working groups
conducted at three levels. The first
level The substantive preparatory work on topics on
UNCITRAL’s work program is usually assigned to
is UNCITRAL itself, often referred to
working groups,19 which generally hold one or
as the Commission, which works two sessions per year and report on the progress of
through their work to the Commission.
an annual plenary session.

Participation at
UNCITRAL (the sessions of
Commission) UNCITRAL
UNCITRAL carries out its
work at annual sessions held Documentation for annual UNCITRAL sessions,
alternately in discussion places, size and composition of member
New York and Vienna and non-member State delegations.
Secretariat and its Working Program

To assist the work of UNCITRAL, the secretariat undertakes a variety of

different tasks, which includes preparation of studies, reports and draft texts on
topics that are being considered for possible future inclusion in the work program; legal
research; drafting and revision of working papers and legislative
texts on topics already included in the work program; reporting on Commission and working
group meetings; and providing a range of administrative services to UNCITRAL and its
working groups.
Secretariat, Technical Assistance & Other Activities

Technical
Other activities Visiting scholars
Assistance
The secretariat also 5 Interns are assigned
The work of
assists the specific tasks in
UNCITRAL does not
Commission in its connection with
end with the
functions of UNCITRAL’s work
finalization and
coordinating program and projects
adoption
the work of other being undertaken by the
of a text but, as noted
organizations; secretariat.
above, includes
promoting the work of Individuals participating in
promotion of the use
UNCITRAL within this program can
and adoption of
the familiarize themselves
those legislative and
broader United with the work of
non-legislative texts.
Nations agenda. UNCITRAL
03
UNCITRAL’s
LEGAL TOOLS
Selection of the work programme

After considering several suggestions by member States, at its first session in 1968, the
Commission adopted nine subject areas as the basis of its work programme:
• International sale of goods
• International commercial arbitration
• Transportation
• Insurance
• International payments
• Intellectual property
• Elimination of discrimination in laws affecting international trade
• Agency
• Legalization of documents.
Techniques of modernization and harmonization
UNCITRAL has adopted a flexible and functional approach with respect to the techniques it
uses to perform its mandate to modernize and harmonize the law of international trade.
These techniques fall into three broad categories which operate at different levels and involve
different types of compromise or acceptance of difference:

1. Legislative Techniques - Conventions, model laws, legislative guides, and model

provisions
2. Contractual Techniques- Standard Clause/s
3. Explanatory Techniques- Legal guide, Practice and Information guides, interpretative
declarations.
Conventions, Model Laws, Legislative Guides & Model Provisions
 A convention is an agreement among participating states establishing obligations binding upon
those States that ratify or accede to it. Unifies the law at an international level.

 A model law is a legislative text that is recommended to States for enactment as part of their
national law. Harmonizes domestic law.

 A legislative guide aims to provide a detailed analysis of the legal issues in a specific area of the
law, proposing efficient approaches for their resolution in the national or local context. Harmonizes
domestic law.

 When several conventions deal with a particular question in a way that may require unification and
modernization, model provisions can be developed and recommended for use in future
conventions and in revisions of existing ones
CONTRACTUAL TECHNIQUES

A Contractual technique, while drafting a contract, is to use standard or uniform clause or set of
clauses or rules as a reference to resolve the issues one might face during the drafting. These
standardized clauses or rules have a number of advantages. One such advantage is - It can identify all
of the issues that parties should address in such clauses or rules.

A standard clause example - Standard dispute resolution clause, this clause can be included in a
contract which refers to the use of internationally recognized rules for conduct of dispute resolution
proceedings.

Internationally recognized uniform rules - UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules (1980)

- UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (1976, revised in 2010)
 EXPLANATORY TECHNIQUES

Legal guides
A legal guide which gives explanations concerning contract drafting may be an alternative when it is not
necessary to develop a standard or model set of contract rules.
Legal Guide can help parties negotiating complex international contracts, as they often experience difficulties in
negotiating and drafting appropriate contract clauses for reasons such as lack of specific expertise, resources or
reference materials
Examples:
- UNCITRAL Legal Guide on Drawing up International Contracts for the Construction of Industrial Works
(1987)
- UNCITRAL Legal Guide on International Countertrade Transactions (1992)
EXPLANATORY TECHNIQUES
Practice and other information guides
In 2009, the Commission adopted a practice guide: The UNCITRAL Practice Guide on Cross-Border
Insolvency Cooperation providing information on practical aspects of cross-border insolvency
cooperation and coordination

In 2011, the Commission adopted a text—The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency: the
judicial perspective—developed in conjunction with judges and other insolvency experts to provide
information and assistance to judges with respect to questions arising under the Model Law on Cross-
Border Insolvency

Interpretative declarations
An interpretative declaration could be used to achieve a uniform interpretation of a particular text,
where the desirability of that interpretation is dictated by widespread changes in commercial practices,
developments in technology, emerging divergence in interpretation by the courts.
04
UNCITRAL’s
PURPOSES
 UNCITRAL’s purpose
Harmonization and unification of the law of international trade refers to the process through which the law
facilitating international commerce is created and adopted

Importance of harmonization and unification of International Trade Law

International commerce may be hindered by factors such as the lack of a predictable governing law or out-of-date laws
unsuited to commercial practice. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law identifies such problems
and then carefully crafts solutions which are acceptable to States having different legal systems and levels of economic
and social development.

Harmonization – Process through which domestic laws may be modified to enhance predictability in cross-border
commercial transactions.

Unification- The adoption by States of a common legal standard governing particular aspects of international business
transactions.
In practice, the two concepts are closely related..
UNCITRAL’s position within the United Nations system

UNCITRAL is an integral part of the United Nations system, and its work is relevant to the
broader United Nations agenda in several fields, including rule of law, legal empowerment of
the poor, business and human rights and the Millennium Development Goals.

Direct involvement by the UNCITRAL Secretariat in relevant inter-agency coordination and

cooperation mechanisms has been an effective way to achieve results and ensure the wider
recognition of UNCITRAL instruments and their use in relevant programs (e.g., the United
Nations Inter-agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity).
UNCITRAL undertakes a range of technical cooperation and assistance activities to promote its
work and the use and adoption of the legislative and non-legislative texts it has developed. These
activities include:

Participating in
seminars and Assisting countries in
Organizing briefing conferences, organized
missions assessing their trade
at both national and law reform needs
regional levels
Coordinating the work of other organizations

An important part of the mandate of Avoid duplication of

UNCITRAL is to coordinate the work effort
of organizations in order to:

Encourage cooperation
between them
Promote efficiency,
consistency and
coherence in the
modernization and
harmonization of
international trade law
Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts or CLOUT

The CLOUT system relies on national correspondents designated either by States parties to a
convention or by States having enacted legislation based on a model law.

The CLOUT system is instrumental in promoting the uniform interpretation of UNCITRAL

texts through their application by courts and arbitral tribunals worldwide, contributing to the
development and refinement of a global interpretation of those texts, and enhancing their
acceptability.
Special Events for UNCITRAL
UNCITRAL has organized a few special events relating to different aspects of international
trade law. n the context of the United Nations Decade of International Law.
Example- A congress on international trade law was held in May 1992 during the twenty-fifth
session of UNCITRAL

The General Assembly generally adopts one or more resolutions regarding UNCITRAL’s
annual work; one typically addresses the general work discussed at an annual session, while the
others address the specific legal standard or text adopted at that session.
Thank You
CREDITS: This presentation template was created by
Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and
for your
infographics & imagesattention.
by Freepik.