Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of Its 38th Session

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A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 79 Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 38th session, published in 2006.

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29 documents · 1988–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/161	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 58th session	2,747	–
2024	A/RES/79/117	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 57th session	3,108	–
2023	A/RES/78/103	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 56th session	2,799	–
2022	A/RES/77/99	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 55th session	2,723	–
2021	A/RES/76/229	Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its 54th session	3,228	–

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20 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its thirty-eighth session;1

Commends the Commission for the finalization and approval of a draft convention on the use of electronic communications in international contracts;³

³Ibid., chap. III and annex I.

Also commends the Commission for the progress made in its work on a revision of its Model Law on Procurement of Goods, Construction and Services,⁴ on model legislative provisions on interim measures in international commercial arbitration, on a draft instrument on transport law and on a draft legislative guide on secured transactions;

⁴Ibid., Forty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 17 and corrigendum (A/49/17 and Corr.1), annex I.

Endorses the efforts and initiatives of the Commission, as the core legal body within the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, aimed at increasing coordination of and cooperation on legal activities of international and regional organizations active in the field of international trade law, and in this regard appeals to relevant international and regional organizations to coordinate their legal activities with those of the Commission, to avoid duplication of efforts and to promote efficiency, consistency and coherence in the modernization and harmonization of international trade law;

Reaffirms the importance, in particular for developing countries, of the work of the Commission concerned with technical assistance in the field of international trade law reform and development, and in this connection:

Welcomes the initiatives of the Commission towards expanding, through its secretariat, its technical assistance programme;

Expresses its appreciation to the Commission for carrying out technical assistance activities in Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, Ethiopia (for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, South Africa (for the Association of Law Reform Agencies of Eastern and Southern Africa) and Thailand;

Expresses its appreciation to the Governments whose contributions enabled the seminars and briefing missions to take place, and appeals to Governments, the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, organizations, institutions and individuals to make voluntary contributions to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Trust Fund for Symposia and, where appropriate, to the financing of special projects, and otherwise to assist the secretariat of the Commission in carrying out technical assistance activities, in particular in developing countries;

Reiterates its appeal to the United Nations Development Programme and other bodies responsible for development assistance, such as the World Bank and regional development banks, as well as to Governments in their bilateral aid programmes, to support the technical assistance programme of the Commission and to cooperate and coordinate their activities with those of the Commission;

Takes note with regret that, since the thirty-sixth session of the Commission, no contributions have been made to the trust fund established to provide travel assistance to developing countries that are members of the Commission, at their request and in consultation with the Secretary-General,⁵ stresses the need for contributions to the trust fund in order to increase expert representation from developing countries at sessions of the Commission and its working groups, and reiterates its appeal to Governments, the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, organizations, institutions and individuals to make voluntary contributions to the trust fund;

⁵Resolution 48/32, para. 5.

Decides, in order to ensure full participation by all Member States in the sessions of the Commission and its working groups, to continue, in the competent Main Committee during the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, its consideration of granting travel assistance to the least developed countries that are members of the Commission, at their request and in consultation with the Secretary-General;

Recalls that the responsibility for the work of the Commission lies with the meetings of the Commission and its intergovernmental working groups, and stresses in this regard that information should be provided regarding meetings of experts, which bring an essential contribution to the work of the Commission;

Also recalls its resolutions on partnerships between the United Nations and non-State actors, in particular the private sector,⁶ and in this regard encourages the Commission to further explore different approaches to the use of partnerships with non-State actors in the implementation of its mandate, in particular in the area of technical assistance, in accordance with the applicable principles and guidelines and in cooperation and coordination with other relevant offices of the Secretariat, including the Global Compact Office;

⁶Resolutions 55/215, 56/76 and 58/129.

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General, in conformity with the General Assembly resolutions on documentation-related matters,⁷ which, in particular, emphasize that any reduction in the length of documents should not adversely affect either the quality of the presentation or the substance of the documents, to bear in mind the particular characteristics of the mandate and work of the Commission in implementing page limits with respect to the documentation of the Commission;

⁷Resolutions 52/214, sect. B, 57/283 B, sect. III, and 58/250, sect. III.

Requests the Secretary-General to continue providing summary records of the Commission’s meetings relating to the formulation of normative texts;

Stresses the importance of bringing into effect the conventions emanating from the work of the Commission for the global unification and harmonization of international trade law, and, to this end, urges States that have not yet done so to consider signing, ratifying or acceding to those conventions;

Takes note with appreciation of the preparation of digests of case law relating to the texts of the Commission, in particular a digest of case law relating to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods⁸ and a digest of case law relating to the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law,⁹ which will assist in dissemination of information on those texts and promote their use, enactment and uniform interpretation;

⁸United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1489, No. 25567.

⁹Official Records of the General Assembly, Fortieth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/40/17), annex I.

Welcomes the Commission’s decision to hold, in the context of its fortieth session in 2007, a congress on international trade law in Vienna, with a view to reviewing the results of the past work of the Commission as well as related work of other organizations active in the field of international trade law, assessing current work programmes and considering topics and areas for future work, and acknowledges the importance of holding such a congress for the coordination and promotion of activities aimed at the modernization and harmonization of international trade law;

Notes that 2006 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption by the Commission of the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law,¹⁰ used worldwide in the settlement of disputes concerning international trade and investment, and in this regard welcomes initiatives being undertaken to organize conferences and other similar events to provide a forum for assessing the experience with the Rules, as well as discussing their possible revision;

¹⁰United Nations publication, Sales No. E.77.V.6.

Recalls its resolutions affirming the importance of high-quality, user-friendly and cost-effective United Nations websites and the need for their multilingual development, maintenance and enrichment,¹¹ commends the Commission’s restructured website in the six official languages of the United Nations, and welcomes the continuous efforts of the Commission to maintain and improve its website in accordance with the applicable guidelines.

¹¹Resolutions 52/214, sect. C, para. 3, 55/222, sect. III, para. 12, 56/64 B, sect. X, 57/130 B, sect. X, 58/101 B, sect. V, paras. 61-76, and 59/126 B, sect. V, paras. 76-95.

Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of Its 38th Session

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