At its upcoming fifty-eighth session, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is expected to finalize a draft convention on negotiable cargo documents. The draft convention establishes negotiable cargo documents as new negotiable documents of title representing goods in transit across all modes of transport, which could be used to enhance flexibility in trade, bridge the trade finance gap and support the digital transformation of global trade. Once finalized, the draft convention will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly for adoption in late 2025. To raise awareness of the draft convention, the UNCITRAL secretariat is organizing a conference entitled “Shaping the Future: The Impact of Negotiable Cargo Documents on Trade Finance, Regional Connectivity and Digital Evolution”, in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Sessions and Events
- 7–23 July 2025, Vienna
- 29 September-3 October 2025, Vienna (tentative)
- 13-17 October 2025, Vienna (tentative)
- 22-26 September 2025, Vienna (tentative)
- 18–22 November 2024, Vienna
- 24-28 March 2025, New York
- 20-24 October 2025, Vienna (tentative)
- 16-20 December 2024, Vienna
- 12-16 May 2025, New York
- 8-12 December 2025, Vienna (tentative)
- 15-19 December 2025, Vienna (tentative)
Events
On 14 March 2025, UNCITRAL RCAP and the Department of Justice of the Government of Hong Kong SAR, China will co-organize the Conference on Climate Change and International Trade Law. This one- day conference will consist of panel discussions covering the key takeaways of recent UNCITRAL colloquiums, sustainable supply chains (including PPs, PPPs and the CISG), insolvency and dispute prevention and settlement. Please click here to register for in-person or virtual participation. More details are available here.
At its fifty-seventh session, in 2024, the Commission noted the emergence of new types of assets that could be used as collateral in international finance (including digital assets, data, verified carbon credits and crop receipts) as well as the development of new international financing practices. The Commission also noted legislative efforts by international and regional organizations to address transactions involving such assets as well as the evolving legislative approaches of States to legally characterize those new types of assets. It thus requested the UNCITRAL secretariat to organize a colloquium to clarify and refine various aspects of possible future work in the area. Read more here.
At its fifty-seventh session, in 2024, UNCITRAL requested the secretariat to organize a colloquium on the relevance of UNCITRAL instruments to climate action, notably the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), the Model Law on Public Procurement, the Model Legislative Provisions on Public-Private Partnerships and the instruments on dispute settlement. The colloquium should help UNCITRAL assess the desirability for the secretariat to prepare guidance documents on the practical application and interpretation of existing instruments and possible supplementary texts to address issues concerning climate action. In response to the request, the UNCITRAL secretariat is organizing the UNCITRAL Colloquium on the Law of International Trade for a Greener Future on 23 and 24 October 2024 at the Vienna International Centre (Vienna, Austria).
New Articles
Barbados has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the "Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships"). Read the full press release here.
Brazil has signed the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the "Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships"). Read the full press release here.
The monthly compilation for March PDF of the bibliography of recent writings related to the work of UNCITRAL is now available.
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