Online Course on Exploring Digital Trade and Sustainable Development in Trade Agreements with Legal TINA 2026

10 - 30 August 2026
ESCWA

Introduction:

This course is organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This course aims to enhance the capacity for research leveraging Legal TINA and to assist in understanding and negotiating RTAs. It will focus on digital trade and sustainable development provisions in trade agreements, including core digital trade issues, such as paperless trade and data-related cooperation; and key sustainable development issue areas, such as MSMEs, gender, environment, and labour. 

This course will demonstrate, elaborate, guide, and promote the use of the free online tool assisting legal research in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and trade negotiations: Legal TINA (https://legal.tina.trade/). Legal TINA is an extension of the original TINA. It provides guidance and analytical capabilities to develop the text and legal provisions of trade agreements. Legal TINA allows users to learn the basic framework of RTAs and explore emerging trends, assisting negotiators in narrowing down the formulation of provisions based on priorities and needs. It also enables users to easily search and compare the texts of the existing trade agreements, making it easier to understand what text may be more acceptable to negotiating parties involved and what more ambitious provisions may be proposed. The latest update of Legal TINA will be available online from the start of the course.

Course format:

This course consists of self-paced e-learning and interactive live sessions. Self-learning includes mandatory video modules, readings, online quizzes, and optional materials. Two 90-minute live sessions will be organized for deeper discussions with distinguished experts (participants will be required to undertake the self-paced course before participating in the live sessions). Optional quiz explanation sessions will be provided to help participants understand selected difficult quiz questions. 

Detailed course programme will be updated under the ‘DOCUMENTS’ tab.

Estimated time for the completion of the course: 15-20 hours (over 21 days). 

UN certificate: Participants who pass the online quizzes, attend the live sessions, and complete the course evaluation survey will receive free online traceable course certificates from ESCAP and UNCTAD.

Deadline for registration: 9 August 2026 (late registration may be accepted by 16 August) 

Registration link
Event page

Kindly note that we approve registration on a selective basis as the seats are limited. You will be notified by email no later than 10 August if you are successfully registered. For late registration after 9 August, we will inform you about late acceptance within 3 working days after you submit the registration form.

Regions: Global