The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. A legal body with universal membership specializing in commercial law reform worldwide for over 50 years, UNCITRAL's business is the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business.
Trade means faster growth, higher living standards, and new opportunities through commerce. To increase these opportunities worldwide, UNCITRAL is formulating modern, fair, and harmonized rules on commercial transactions. These include conventions, model laws and rules which are acceptable worldwide; legal and legislative guides and recommendations of acknowledged practical value. Moreover, UNCITRAL provides updated information on case law and enactments of uniform commercial law and offers technical assistance in law reform projects, for instance by organizing regional and national seminars on uniform commercial law.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
- How does UNCITRAL’s work and activities specifically touch upon e-commerce and the digital economy?
UNCITRAL has prepared a suite of legislative texts to enable and facilitate the use of electronic means to engage in commercial activities, which have been adopted in over 100 States.
In keeping with its central and coordinating role within the United Nations system in addressing legal issues related to the digital economy, UNCITRAL continues its efforts to legally enable emerging technologies and their trade applications, including in connection with other areas of work such as dispute resolution, security interests, insolvency and the international transport of goods. In 2022, UNCITRAL approved the publication of a taxonomy of legal issues related to the digital economy, which records exploratory work by the UNCITRAL secretariat on the topics of artificial intelligence, data, online platforms, digital assets, and decentralized systems, and which is intended to guide proposals for future legislative work on electronic commerce (digital trade) and in other areas of work.
Significant work in cooperation with other organizations has also been conducted in the field of legal aspects of single windows and paperless trade facilitation.
IMPACT STORIES
- Bahrain: creating a suitable legal environment for fintech and digital innovation
UNCITRAL and Bahrain have worked together to create a modern, efficient and effective legal environment supporting the latest developments of the digital economy.
The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) is an investment promotion agency with overall responsibility for attracting investment into the Kingdom of Bahrain and supporting initiatives that enhance the investment climate. The EDB works to ensure that Bahrain’s investment climate is attractive, including with respect to its legal aspects.
The EDB and UNCITRAL have a long and significant record of cooperation on drafting laws enabling digital trade. The Electronic Transactions Law, which has been first adopted in 2002 based on the MLEC, is an early example of this fruitful joint work.
Another significant result of the cooperation between Bahrain and UNCITRAL is the enactment of the MLETR, which was done with the adoption of the Electronic Transferable Records Law (Law No. 55/2018). Bahrain was the first jurisdiction in the world that enacted the MLETR, which is now widely seen as a key enabler of post-COVID 19 economic recovery.
The Electronic Transferable Records Law has been prepared in support of the “Cloud First” policy. That same effort led to Bahrain’s accession to the ECC, the first Arab State to do so.
- Kiribati: enabling electronic transactions for digital trade and climate change resilience
The UNCITRAL Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives (MCIC) of Kiribati have been working to define scope and content of an electronic transactions bill based on UNCITRAL texts, which already provide the template for all existing laws on electronic transactions adopted in the Pacific.
The work is carried out based on the policy insight contained in the Kiribati Rapid eTrade Readiness Assessment. Given the peculiar geographic and social features of the country, the Assessment highlights that broad use of ICT is considered “a key enabler of more equitable growth and improved access to essential social services: education, health, disaster management, and national security”.
At the operational level, the Enhanced Integrated Framework funded and co-organised with UNCITRAL and MCIC a workshop to sensitize stakeholders on the electronic transactions bill and collect their input held in Tarawa on 19-20 December 2019.
As a first result, Kiribati became a party to the ECC on 21 April 2020. Moreover, a bill incorporating the MLEC, the substantive provisions of the ECC and the MLETR has been adopted by the Maneaba ni Maungatabu (the Parliament of Kiribati) in August 2021.
The resulting law will significantly contribute to pursuing sustainable and diversified economic development. Moreover, the law will help the diffusion of information and communication technologies that are key to addressing in an innovative manner Kiribati’s special vulnerability due to factors such as climate change and rise in sea level.
Additional work is foreseen to legally enable paperless trade facilitation, in cooperation with UN/ESCAP.
To sum up, UNCITRAL and a number of other actors are carrying out a coordinated and coherent effort to support Kiribati’s inclusion in the digital economy.