Statement by Mrs. Vijila Sathyananth, Member of Parliament & Member of the Indian Delegation on Agenda Item 81 - 'The Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its forty-eighth session' - at the Sixth Committee of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on October 19, 2015

Mr. Chairman,

We thank the Chairman of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL/the Commission) for his detailed report on the work of the UNCITRAL. We attach great importance to the work of the Commission. 

Through its working groups, the Commission has been and is engaging itself in the preparation of legal texts in a number of important areas of international trade law, including the international commercial dispute settlement, transport law, electronic commerce, insolvency, sale of goods, procurement and infrastructure development, and the micro-small and medium sized enterprises. 

The legal texts and model laws developed by the Commission are directly relevant to commercial transactions of the individuals, corporations and States and thus have practical value for all.

Mr. Chairman,

We extend our gratitude to the Commission for its report A/70/17 on the work of its forty-eighth session. During this session, the Commission took note of the summary of the deliberations taken place in Working Group I (Micro-small and medium sized enterprises); Working Group II (on Arbitration and conciliation); Working Group III (Online dispute resolution); Working Group IV (Electronic commerce); Working Group V (Insolvency law) and; the Working Group VI (Security Interests).

Mr. Chairman,

The United Nations is a neutral and universal body, and its secretariat is an independent and principal organ of the United Nations under the Charter. As such, we appreciate and endorse the Commission's unanimous view that the Secretariat should undertake initially as a pilot project the core functions of transparency repository, which constitutes central feature under both the UNCITRAL Transparency Rules and the Mauritius Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration. [paras160 & 161].

Mr. Chairman,

We also appreciate the Commission's other decisions: approving in principle the Notes on Organising Arbitral Proceedings [para 133]; to commence work on the topic enforcement of settlement of agreements resulting from conciliation and mediation [para142]; and to explore the topics on concurrent proceedings in investment arbitration [para 147] and code of ethics/conduct for arbitrators [para 151].

Mr. Chairman,

We welcome the Commission's approval of the report of the Committee of the Whole on the Model law on secured transactions, including the public registry system of the secured transactions; and entrusting the Working Group - VI with the task of preparation of the Guide to enactment of the model law [paras 12, 214 & 216]. 

Mr. Chairman,

We appreciate the efforts of the Commission towards promoting the uniform interpretation and application of its legal instruments, including the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and agree that CLOUT and the digests were important tools in this regard.

We reiterate the importance of technical cooperation and assistance to the developing countries, specifically in matters relating to the adoption and use of texts, adopted by the Commission, at the national level. We encourage the Secretariat to continue to provide such assistance to the broadest extent possible and to improve its outreach, in particular to the developing countries.

Thank you.