Date:3 to 5 June 2026
Place: Rabat, Morocco
Venue: Palais des Congrès “Le Bouregreg”
This workshop aims to provide technical assistance to developing and least developed countries, with a focus on supporting African States in engaging with and implementing the ISDS reform process. The workshop will be hosted by the Ministry of Justice of Morocco with the kind support from the Government of Canada. It is open to African State representatives and experts from relevant ministries of both UNCITRAL member and observer States as well as representatives of relevant international organizations.
The workshop will feature training sessions, including presentations, Q&A, and roundtable discussions on the following topics:
- Working Group III process in the development of ISDS reforms
- Adopted texts: Code of conduct, mediation related texts, toolkit in dispute prevention and mitigation
- Texts to be submitted to the Commission: The Statute of the Advisory Centre and the Supplementary Provisions on the Conduct of IID proceedings
- Texts under consideration by the Working Group: Statutes of standing mechanisms for the resolution of international investment disputes, remaining provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues as well as the multilateral instrument on ISDS Reform
Programme
Participant guide
Reference documents:
Participants to the workshop are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the relevant materials to be discussed during the workshop, as listed below.
Texts adopted by the Commission:
- UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (effective date: 1 April 2014)
- United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (New York, 2014) (the "Mauritius Convention on Transparency")
- UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules
- UNCITRAL Code of Conduct for Arbitrators in International Investment Dispute Resolution and commentary (2023)
- UNCITRAL Code of Conduct for Judges in International Investment Dispute Resolution and commentary (adopted in principle in 2023)
- UNCITRAL Model Provisions on Mediation for International Investment Disputes (2023)
- UNCITRAL Guidelines on Mediation for International Investment Disputes (2023)
- Statute of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution (adopted in principle in 2024)
- UNCITRAL Toolkit on Prevention and Mitigation of International Investment Disputes (2025) - forthcoming
Texts submitted to the Commission in 2026 (fifty-ninth session):
- A/CN.9/1246 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft supplementary provisions on the conduct of proceedings to resolve international investment disputes (advance copy)
- A/CN.9/1265 - Summary of the third meeting on the operationalization of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution and updates to the Statute thereof
- A/CN.9/1266 - Issues relating to the operationalization of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution – interim secretariat(advance copy)
- A/CN.9/1268 - Issues relating to the operationalization of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution – article 9 of the Statute and a draft decision by the Commission(advance copy)
Texts under consideration by Working Group III:
Permanent tribunal for international investment disputes and permanent appellate tribunal for international investment disputes:
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.259 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft statute of a permanent tribunal for international investment disputes
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.260 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft statute of a permanent appellate tribunal for international investment disputes
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.256 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Structure and design of a standing mechanism for the resolution of international investment disputes
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.257 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement: Submission from the European Union and its Member States on certain aspects concerning the jurisdiction of the Standing Mechanism
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.265 - Submission from the Government of Singapore on certain aspects concerning the jurisdiction of the Permanent Tribunal (English only)
Remaining draft provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues:
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.253 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.254 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Annotations to draft provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.255 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft guidelines on the calculation of damages and compensation in investor-State dispute settlement
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.261 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Submission from the Governments of Viet Nam and Nigeria (English only)
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.262 - Possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS): Draft provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues (revised text of draft provision 5–8, 12, 18, 19 and 20)
- A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.263 - Summary of the ninth intersessional meeting on investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) reform submitted by the Government of Chile (in English and Spanish only)
Multilateral instrument on ISDS reform:
Comments on the multilateral instrument (in order of submission)
- European Union and its Member States (English only)
- United States (English only)
- ICLRC (English only)
Latest reports of the Commission and Working Group III:
- A/80/17 - Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Fifty-eighth session
- A/79/17 - Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Fifty-seventh session
- A/78/17 - Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Fifty-sixth session
- A/CN.9/1240 - Report of Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) on the work of its fifty-fourth session (Vienna, 23–27 March 2026)
- A/CN.9/1239 - Report of Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) on the work of its fifty-third session (New York, 12–16 January 2026)
- A/CN.9/1238 - Report of Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) on the work of its fifty-second session (Vienna, 22–26 September 2025)
- A/CN.9/1196 - Report of Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) on the work of its fifty-first session, first part (New York, 17–19 February 2025)
- A/CN.9/1196/Add.1 - Report of Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) on the work of its fifty-first session, second part (New York, 7–11 April 2025)