Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of Its 44th Session

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 79 Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 44th session, published in 2012.

What else is in this group?

29 documents · 1988–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/161	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 58th session	2,747	–
2024	A/RES/79/117	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 57th session	3,108	–
2023	A/RES/78/103	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 56th session	2,799	–
2022	A/RES/77/99	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 55th session	2,723	–
2021	A/RES/76/229	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 54th session	3,228	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 subjects

Developing Countries Documents Extrabudgetary Financing Information Dissemination International Trade Law Law Reform Law Reports and Digests Meeting Records Participants Receivables Financing Republic of Korea Rule of Law Technical Cooperation

What’s in this document?

27 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law;1

Commends the Commission for the finalization and adoption of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Public Procurement³ and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency: The Judicial Perspective;⁴

³Ibid., chap. III and annex I.

⁴Ibid., chap. IV.

Takes note with interest of the progress made by the Commission in its work on the preparation of legal standards on transparency in treaty-based investor-State arbitration, online dispute resolution for cross-border electronic transactions and electronic commerce, in particular at the colloquium held in February 2011, the interpretation and application of selected concepts of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency⁵ relating to centre of main interests, and a draft text on the registration of security rights in movable assets;⁶

⁵UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency with Guide to Enactment (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.99.V.3), part one.

⁶Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), chaps. V-IX.

Welcomes the decisions of the Commission to prepare a guide to enactment of the Model Law on Public Procurement, in as efficient and practical a manner as possible, and a study on possible future work of the Commission in the area of public-private partnerships and privately financed infrastructure projects, to undertake work in the field of electronic transferable records, to prepare, in cooperation with the World Bank, draft principles on effective secured transactions regimes, within existing resources and without utilizing working group resources, and to include microfinance as an item for the future work of the Commission and to further consider that matter at its next session, in 2012;⁷

⁷Ibid., chap. III, paras. 181–187, 190 and 191; chap. VIII, para. 228; and chaps. IX and X.

Notes with appreciation the decision of the Commission to commend the use of the 2010 revision of the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, as appropriate, in transactions involving demand guarantees;⁸

⁸Ibid., chap. XI.

Also notes with appreciation the progress made in the ongoing project of the Commission on monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, done in New York on 10 June 1958,⁹ and the decision of the Commission to request the Secretariat to pursue its efforts towards the preparation of a guide on the Convention;¹⁰

⁹United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 330, No. 4739.

¹⁰Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), chap. XII.

Endorses the efforts and initiatives of the Commission, as the core legal body within the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, aimed at increasing coordination of and cooperation on legal activities of international and regional organizations active in the field of international trade law and at promoting the rule of law at the national and international levels in this field, and in this regard appeals to relevant international and regional organizations to coordinate their legal activities with those of the Commission, to avoid duplication of efforts and to promote efficiency, consistency and coherence in the modernization and harmonization of international trade law;

Notes with appreciation the significant progress in the Commission’s coordination and cooperation activities in the field of security interests and in particular the approval by the Commission of a paper prepared jointly by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the secretariats of the Commission and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, with the assistance of outside experts, entitled “Comparison and analysis of major features of international instruments relating to secured transactions”,¹¹ as well as the request that it be given the widest possible dissemination, including as a United Nations sales publication, with proper recognition of the contribution of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the secretariat of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law;¹²

¹¹See A/CN.9/720.

¹²Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), paras. 278-283.

Notes the agreement of the Commission that a coordinated approach to the matter of the law applicable to the proprietary effects of assignments of receivables is in the interest of all States and its request to the Secretariat to cooperate closely with the European Commission with a view to ensuring a coordinated approach to the matter, taking into account the approach followed in the United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade¹³ and the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions;¹⁴

¹³Resolution 56/81, annex.

¹⁴United Nations publication, Sales No. E.09.V.12.

Reaffirms the importance, in particular for developing countries, of the work of the Commission concerned with technical cooperation and assistance in the field of international trade law reform and development, and in this connection:

Welcomes the initiatives of the Commission towards expanding, through its secretariat, its technical cooperation and assistance programme, and in that respect encourages the Secretary-General to seek partnerships with State and non-State actors to increase awareness about the work of the Commission and facilitate the effective implementation of legal standards resulting from its work;

Expresses its appreciation to the Commission for carrying out technical cooperation and assistance activities and for providing assistance with legislative drafting in the field of international trade law, and draws the attention of the Secretary-General to the limited resources that are made available in this field;

Takes note with interest of the comprehensive approach to technical cooperation and assistance, based on the strategic framework for technical assistance suggested by the Secretariat to promote universal adoption of the texts of the Commission and to disseminate information on recently adopted texts;¹⁵

¹⁵Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), chap. XIII.

Expresses its appreciation to the Governments whose contributions enabled the technical cooperation and assistance activities to take place, and appeals to Governments, the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, organizations, institutions and individuals to make voluntary contributions to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Trust Fund for Symposia and, where appropriate, for the financing of special projects, and otherwise to assist the secretariat of the Commission in carrying out technical cooperation and assistance activities, in particular in developing countries;

Reiterates its appeal to the United Nations Development Programme and other bodies responsible for development assistance, such as the World Bank and regional development banks, as well as to Governments in their bilateral aid programmes, to support the technical cooperation and assistance programme of the Commission and to cooperate and coordinate their activities with those of the Commission, in the light of the relevance and importance of the work and programmes of the Commission for the promotion of the rule of law at the national and international levels and for the implementation of the United Nations development agenda, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;

Calls upon Member States, non-member States, observer organizations and the Secretariat to apply the rules of procedure and methods of work of the Commission, taking into account the summary of conclusions as reproduced in annex III to the report on the work of its forty-third session,¹⁶ with a view to ensuring the high quality of the work of the Commission and international acceptability of its instruments, and in this regard recalls its previous resolutions related to this matter;

¹⁶Ibid., Sixty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/65/17).

Welcomes the decision by the Commission to establish, subject to the relevant rules and regulations of the United Nations and the internal approval process in the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat, a Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, in the Republic of Korea, as a novel yet important first step for the Commission in reaching out and providing technical assistance to developing countries in the region, it being understood that the establishment of a regional presence would have to rely entirely on extrabudgetary resources, including but not limited to voluntary contributions from States, expresses its appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Korea for its generous contribution to the pilot project, and requests the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly informed of developments regarding the establishment of such regional centres, including the Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific in the Republic of Korea and, in particular, their funding and budgetary situation;¹⁷

¹⁷Ibid., Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), paras. 262–270.

Appeals to Governments, the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, organizations, institutions and individuals to make voluntary contributions to the trust fund established to provide travel assistance to developing countries that are members of the Commission, at their request and in consultation with the Secretary-General, in order to enable renewal of the provision of that assistance and to increase expert representation from developing countries at sessions of the Commission and its working groups, necessary to build local expertise and capacities in the field of international trade law in those countries to facilitate the development of international trade and the promotion of foreign investment;

Decides, in order to ensure full participation of all Member States in the sessions of the Commission and its working groups, to continue, in the competent Main Committee during the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly, its consideration of granting travel assistance to the least developed countries that are members of the Commission, at their request and in consultation with the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conviction of the Commission that the implementation and effective use of modern private law standards on international trade are essential for advancing good governance, sustained economic development and the eradication of poverty and hunger and that the promotion of the rule of law in commercial relations should be an integral part of the broader agenda of the United Nations to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, including through the Rule of Law Coordination and Resource Group, supported by the Rule of Law Unit in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General;

Welcomes, in this regard, the panel discussion on the role of the Commission in the promotion of the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict societies, held during the forty-fourth session of the Commission, and takes note of the particular relevance of the instruments and resources of the Commission for creating an environment of sustainable economic activity conducive to post-conflict reconstruction and preventing societies from sliding back into conflict;

Takes note of the views expressed by the Commission at the end of the panel discussion that, owing to a lack of sufficient resources, innovative ways need to be found for the early engagement of the instruments and resources of the Commission in post-conflict recovery operations of the United Nations and other donors, and that awareness needs to be increased of the fact that the Commission deals also with the basic building blocks for commercial activity and thus makes a real and immediate contribution in societies emerging from conflict;¹⁸

¹⁸Ibid., paras. 318 and 319.

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General, in conformity with General Assembly resolutions on documentation-related matters,¹⁹ which, in particular, emphasize that any invitation to limit, where appropriate, the length of documents should not adversely affect either the quality of the presentation or the substance of the documents, to bear in mind the particular characteristics of the mandate and functions of the Commission in the progressive development and codification of international trade law when implementing page limits with respect to the documentation of the Commission;²⁰

¹⁹Resolutions 52/214, sect. B, 57/283 B, sect. III, and 58/250, sect. III.

²⁰Resolutions 59/39, para. 9, and 65/21, para. 18; see also Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/59/17), paras. 124–128.

Requests the Secretary-General to continue providing summary records of the meetings of the Commission, including committees of the whole established by the Commission for the duration of its annual session, relating to the formulation of normative texts, and encourages the Commission to discuss the matter at its next session, on the basis of a report to be prepared by the Secretariat;²¹

²¹Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/66/17), para. 333.

Reaffirms the need to ensure the broadest possible participation in meetings of the Commission, and in this connection notes the existing rationale for the historical alternating pattern of sites for meetings of the Commission, that is, the proportionate distribution of travel costs among delegations, the global influence and presence of the Commission and the needs of developing countries, many of which do not have representation in Vienna, also notes the agreement of the Commission that every effort should be made to identify alternatives to abolishing the alternating pattern of meetings that would achieve a similar result, and in this respect encourages Member States, jointly with the Secretariat, to continue to review current working practices to achieve increased efficiency, and with a view to identifying budgetary savings;²²

²²Ibid., chap. XXI.

Stresses the importance of promoting the use of texts emanating from the work of the Commission for the global unification and harmonization of international trade law, and to this end urges States that have not yet done so to consider signing, ratifying or acceding to conventions, enacting model laws and encouraging the use of other relevant texts;

Welcomes the preparation of digests of case law relating to the texts of the Commission, such as a digest of case law relating to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods,²³ a digest of case law relating to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration,²⁴ and a digest of case law relating to the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, with the aim of assisting in the dissemination of information on those texts and promoting their use, enactment and uniform interpretation.

²³United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1489, No. 25567.

²⁴Official Records of the General Assembly, Fortieth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/40/17), annex I; and ibid., Sixty-first Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/61/17), annex I.

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