Ana Stanic discusses the revised UNCITRAL arbitration rules
The UNCITRAL arbitration rules (the rules) were adopted by the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the UN General Assembly in 1976. The rules seek to create a unified, predictable and stable procedural framework for ad hoc (non-administered) international arbitration acceptable in countries with different legal, social and economic systems.
Although designed for international trade disputes, the rules have been successfully used in state-to-state and investor-state arbitrations. In addition, the rules have been used as the template (sometimes with modifications) for arbitral rules of numerous arbitral institutions, including International Centre for Dispute Resolution, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Cairo International Commercial Arbitration Centre and the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.
“Seeking to modernise the rules and to promote greater efficiency in arbitral proceedings”, an UNCITRAL Working Group was set up to discuss possible revisions of the rules in 2006. The group, which has met on 52 occasions since inception, comprises representatives of the 60 members of UNCITRAL. Many non-member countries and non-governmental organisations, such as International Bar Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the
