UNCITRAL Working Group II Session on Highly Expedited Dispute Resolution and E-Awards

Newsletter 5/2024 - News

Contact

UNCITRAL’s Working Group II (Dispute Resolution) met for its 80th session from 30 September to 4 October 2024 in Vienna, supported by the DIS as an observer. The Working Group finalized its work on SPEDR and commenced its work on its new mandate.

The UNCITRAL Model Clauses on Specialized Express Dispute Resolution (SPEDR) consist of model clauses on highly expedited arbitration, adjudication, technical advisors and confidentiality which have been introduced in more detail in DIS Newsletter 2/24.  After the Commission had approved SPEDR in its 57th session in summer 2024, Working Group II finalized the Explanatory Notes to SPEDR on 30 September 2024.  The full text of model clauses and their explanatory notes will made available on the UNCITRAL website soon.

Following the successful completion of SPEDR, the Working Group attended to its new mandate to work on the recognition and enforcement of e-awards.  The Working Group had before it the Note by the Secretariat A/CN.9/WG.II/WP.238, a remarkably comprehensive document that was based, inter alia, on the insights gained during UNCITRAL’s stocktaking project.  The stocktaking project included a “World Tour” which also comprised the Lunch DIScussions of 8 February 2024.

The work on e-awards began with a two-day colloquium that discussed the topic from the perspectives of arbitral institutions, of (enforcement) courts and of UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce and electronic communication. Subsequently, the Working Group started debating issues of enforcing e-awards, possible solutions and forms of instruments. There was a tendency towards soft-law instruments, but the discussions remained vague at this early stage.

The full report on the session of Working Group II will be available here.

For the joint side event of the Federal Republic of Germany and the DIS, see here.

Reinmar Wolff
 

Important notice: Outdated web browser INTERNET EXPLORER

The DIS website is not fully compatible with the outdated web browser INTERNET EXPLORER, for which security updates are no longer being provided. Some important functions of the website are not available (e.g. cost calculator, member access) or availability is limited (e.g. event area) with INTERNET EXPLORER.
For full use of the DIS website, please switch to an up to date web browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.