Ms. Rabab Yasseen, Partner Mentha Avocats, Deputy Judge Geneva Civil Courts, Vice Chair of the CRCICA Advisory Committee represented CRCICA at the hybrid 45th session of UNCITRAL’s Working Group III (WGIII) held in New York (27 – 31 March 2023). WGIII continued its consideration of the possible reform of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS).
The Working Group continued and finalised discussion on draft provisions on mediation, draft guidelines on investment mediation, draft legislative guide on investment dispute prevention and mitigation, and Codes of Conduct for Arbitrators and Judges, along with their commentaries.
The documents considered included draft provisions on mediation as contained in document A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.226, and ranging from availability and commencement of mediation, information required in an invitation, relationship with arbitration and other dispute resolution proceedings, confidentiality, use of information in other proceedings, to settlement agreement. The Working Group also continued its consideration of the draft guidelines on investment mediation as contained in document A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.227, following its 1st reading in September 2022 of these guidelines. Numerous issues were addressed ranging from the purpose of these guidelines, to the treatment of information exchanged on a “without prejudice” principle.
The Working Group requested the Secretariat to revise the draft provisions on mediation and draft guidelines on investment mediation based on the decisions and deliberations of the current session to present them for consideration by the Commission at its 56th session in 2023.
Finally, a discussion on a draft legislative guide on investment dispute prevention and mitigation (the “draft legislative guide”) took place. In that regard, following the discussion, the Secretariat was requested to revise the draft legislative guide, based on the deliberations, as a non-prescriptive guidance document on means to prevent and mitigate disputes including examples of best practices, which would aim to assist mainly States. The Secretariat was further asked to continue to compile information on best practices.
Finally, the Codes of Conduct for Arbitrators and for Judges, were also subject to the continuing review of the Working Group, following the January 2023 revisions. Main issues were discussed and agreed. The Working Group, flagging all discussed and deliberated issues, requested the Secretariat to revise the draft Codes based on its decisions and deliberations and to present them with their accompanying commentaries for finalization and adoption by the Commission at its 56th session in 2023, with the next WGIII session itself scheduled to take place in Vienna, tentatively from 9 to 13 October 2023.
