UNCITRAL is a global hub for harmonizing and unifying international trade law, including in the area of arbitration and dispute resolution. UNCITRAL regularly transforms innovative ideas into instruments to shape the future of dispute resolution.
The latest achievement of its Working Group II (Dispute Settlement) was finalizing the Explanatory Notes to the UNCITRAL Model Clauses on Specialized Express Dispute Resolution (SPEDR) on 30 September 2024 during the 80th Session.
At the occasion of the same Working Group II Session, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) have jointly presented another innovative instrument, namely the DIS Supplementary Rules on Third-Party Notices (DIS-TPNR). Following a short introduction by Judith Knieper (UNCITRAL), Nadine Lederer (German Federal Ministry of Justice) and Reinmar Wolff (DIS) introduced to the members of the Working Group the setting in which “recourse traps” occur, what the solution in state court proceedings under the German Code for Civil Procedure is and how the DIS-TPNR transfer these rules to arbitration.
The short and well-attended presentation triggered a remarkably lively discussion with several State representatives that lasted almost as long as the presentation itself. It circled around the conditions under which the third-party notice can be issued, which rights the intervener has in the initial arbitration and the degree to which it is bound to the outcome of these proceedings.
Reinmar Wolff