UNCITRAL

Acronym of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law; also known in law as the abbreviation in reference to arbitration rules and laws published by that agency.

UNCITRAL, or the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, was established by the UN General Assembly in 1966, and is based in Vienna, Austria.

The Commissions sits as a body of 60 commissioners each elected for 6 year terms. The Vatican has an observor.

While constantly active in developing and promoting international trade-related treaties, UNCITRAL has been especially successful in the domain of ADR generally, and arbitration in particular.

As of 2009, UNCITRAL was the central agency for the following international treaties:

• Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1965; aka - the New York Convention)
• UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (1976)
• UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules (1980)
• UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985; amended in 2006)
• UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation (2002)

REFERENCES:

• Association for International Arbitration (AIA)
• UNICITRAL.org