UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law New Tools for the Uniform Interpretation and Application of UNCITRAL Texts on Arbitration Luca CASTELLANI Head, UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific Incheon, Republic of Korea

UNCITRAL • The core legal body of the UN system in the field of international trade law • Mandate: to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing international trade law • Prepared legal texts in a number of key areas • Provides technical assistance to trade law reform UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

UNCITRAL-RCAP • UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP) • The first regional office of UNCITRAL, opened on 10 January 2012 • Located in Incheon, Republic of Korea • Covers approximately 55 States of the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

RCAP: Objectives & Functions • Disseminate international trade norms and standards, in particular those elaborated by UNCITRAL • Provide bilateral and multilateral technical assistance to States • Engage in coordination activities with international and regional organizations • Function as a channel of communication between States in the region and UNCITRAL • Sub-regional priority: promote the adoption of the New York Convention in the Pacific Islands UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

UNCITRAL Dispute Settlement Texts • Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards , 1958 (the "New York" Convention) 1958 1976 1980 • UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules • UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules • UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (amended in 2006) 1985 2002 • UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation • Revised UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

Model Law on Arbitration • Adopted in 1985, amended in 2006 • A framework for the conduct of arbitral proceedings • Consistent with the New York Convention • Reflects world wide consensus • Adopted in about 90 jurisdictions • Aims at reducing discrepancy between domestic procedural laws affecting international commercial arbitration • To achieve this purpose, uniform interpretation and application of the Model Law is equally important UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts • UNCITRAL established in 1988 a case-reporting system known as Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT) • Collection of court decisions and arbitral awards relating to UNCITRAL texts for use by judges, arbitrators, lawyers, parties to commercial transactions, academics, students, etc. • Available in all UN official languages • Relies on national correspondents for full texts and abstracts of decisions and awards UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

The Digest on the Model Arbitration Law UNCITRAL • Launched on 9 June 2012, features 725 cases from 37 States in 232 pages • Provides users with a means to better understand, interpret and apply the enactments of the Model Law • Organised according to the chapters and articles in the Model Law • Summary of case law for each article, highlighting common views and reporting any divergent approach • Footnotes with live links to cases • Aims at identifying trends in the interpretation of the Model Law, and whether any divergence is a result of variation in 1) legislative enactment of United Nations Commissionthe on International Tradeor Law Model Law 2) interpretation

Guide on the New York Convention • Currently being prepared by UNCITRAL (expected in 2013) • Meanwhile, an on-line platform on the New York Convention Guide (www. newyorkconvention 1958. org) was launched on 2 July 2012 • The content of the website aims at presenting the evolution of case law on the New York Convention UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

Thank You! For more information, please visit our website http: //www. uncitral. org/ - or Send an Email to uncitral. rcap@uncitral. org UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law