United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
- UNCITRAL was established in 1966 with the recognition that international trade cooperation among States is an important factor.
- When world trade began to expand dramatically in the 1960s, national governments began to realize the need for a global set of standards and rules to harmonize national and regional regulations, which until then governed international trade.
- UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency was a model law issued by the Secretariat of UNCITRAL in 1997 to assist states in relation to the regulation of corporate insolvency and financial distress involving companies which have assets or creditors in more than one state.
- The Model Law is designed to provide a model framework to encourage cooperation and coordination between jurisdictions.
- UNCITRAL carries out its work at annual sessions held alternately in New York City and Vienna.
Membership
- UNCITRAL’s original membership comprised 29 states, and was expanded to 36 in 1973, and again to 60 in 2004.
- Member states of UNCITRAL are representing different legal traditions and levels of economic development, as well as different geographic regions.
- States includes 12 African states, 15 Asian states, 18 European states, 6 Latin American and Caribbean states, and 1 Oceania state.
- The Commission member States are elected by the General Assembly. Membership is structured so as to be representative of the world’s various geographic regions and its principal economic and legal systems.
- Members of the commission are elected for terms of six years, the terms of half the members expiring every three years
Activities
UNCITRAL is
- Coordinating the work of active organizations and encouraging cooperation among them.
- Promoting wider participation in existing international conventions and wider acceptance of existing model and uniform laws.
- Preparing or promoting the adoption of new international conventions, model laws and uniform laws and promoting the codification and wider acceptance of international trade terms, provisions, customs and practice, in collaboration, where appropriate, with the organizations operating in this field.
- Promoting ways and means of ensuring a uniform interpretation and application of international conventions and uniform laws in the field of the law of international trade.
- Collecting and disseminating information on national legislation and modern legal developments, including case law, in the field of the law of international trade.
- Establishing and maintaining a close collaboration with the UN Conference on Trade and development.
- Maintaining liaison with other UN organs and specialized agencies concerned with international trade.