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Code of conduct

Draft Working Papers for comments

ICSID and UNCITRAL Release Draft Code of Conduct for Adjudicators

May 1, 2020: Today the Secretariats of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) released a draft Code of Conduct for Adjudicators. 

The draft Code was developed jointly by the ICSID and UNCITRAL Secretariats in the context of the work of UNCITRAL Working Group III (ISDS reform) and the process underway to amend ICSID’s rules of procedure.  

The draft provides applicable principles and detailed provisions addressing matters such as independence and impartiality, and the duty to conduct proceedings with integrity, fairness, efficiency and civility. It is based on a comparative review of standards found in codes of conduct in investment treaties, arbitration rules applicable to ISDS, and of international courts.  

Comments on the draft are welcome and may be sent to the UNCITRAL Secretariat (uncitral@un.org) and ICSID Secretariat (icsidsecretariat@worldbank.org) on or before 15 October 2020. Comments from States, international organizations and other interested stakeholders will be compiled and published jointly by UNCITRAL and ICSID in the form and language in which they are received.

Notes by the secretariat

Reports

Reform options

  1. Presentation of reform options
  2. Tribunals, ad hoc and standing multilateral mechanism
    1. Multilateral advisory centre
    2. Stand-alone review or appellate mechanism
    3. Standing first instance and appeal investment court, with full-time judges
  3. Arbitrators and adjudicators appointment methods and ethics
    1. ISDS tribunal members' selection appointment and challenge
    2. Code of conduct
  4. Treaty Parties' involvement and control mechanisms on treaty interpretation
  5. Dispute prevention and mitigation
    1. Strengthening of dispute settlement mechanisms other than arbitration (ombudsman, mediation)
    2. Exhaustion of local remedies
    3. Procedure to address frivolous claims, including summary dismissal
    4. Multiple proceedings, reflective loss and counterclaims by respondent States
  6. Cost management and related procedures
    1. Expedited procedures
    2. Principles/guidelines on allocation of cost and security for cost
  7. Third-party funding
  8. Implementation of the reforms: multilateral instrument on ISDS reform