United Nations: Commission on International Trade Law – författare

This taxonomy has been prepared by the secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to map the main legal issues relating to emerging digital technologies in trade. It covers the key topics of artificial intelligence, data, digital assets, online platforms, and distributed ledger systems. For each topic, the taxonomy defines key concepts, explores the actors, legal relationships and legal issues involved, and appraises the application of existing legislative texts developed by UNCITRAL. The publication supports the central and coordinating role of UNCITRAL within the United Nations system in addressing legal issues related to the digital economy, and is designed to guide future legislative projects aimed at enabling digital trade

The Guide offers an overview of the uniform law instruments in the area of international commercial contracts. Chapters I and II provide information on the origin and purpose, scope and approach, and intended readership of the Guide. Chapter III deals with issues of private international law, namely the determination of the law applicable to international commercial contracts, whether chosen or not by the parties. Reference is made to the texts prepared by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, specifically the HCCH Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts. Chapter IV deals with the uniform law of international sales, discussing in particular the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the Convention on the Limitation Period in the International Sale of Goods and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, and their interaction. Chapter IV also contains a reference to regional uniform texts and to model contracts based on uniform texts. Chapter V contains a summary of recurring legal issues that arise frequently in connection with sales contracts and how they are addressed in uniform law instruments

The UNCITRAL Yearbook is a compilation of all substantive documents related to the work of the Commission and its Working Groups. It also reproduces the annual Report of the Commission which is published as Supplement No. 17 of the Official Records of the General Assembly. UNCITRAL is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. It specializes in the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business

The UNCITRAL Yearbook is a compilation of all substantive documents related to the work of the Commission and its Working Groups. It also reproduces the annual Report of the Commission which is published as Supplement No. 17 of the Official Records of the General Assembly. UNCITRAL is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. It specializes in the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business.

The use of electronic transferable records may bring a number of benefits to commerce due to speed and security of transmission, the possibility of reusing data and of automating certain transactions through “smart contracts”. Those features may be of particular interest for the finance and transport business sectors. Particularly relevant for developing countries is the possibility to establish a market for electronic warehouse receipts, which, in turn, may facilitate farmers’ access to credit. However, an adequate legislative framework is necessary to provide certainty on the legal status of electronic transferable records and therefore enable their use. Building on existing UNCITRAL texts on electronic commerce, and namely on the principles of functional equivalence and of technology neutrality underpinning those texts, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records aims at legally enabling dematerialisation of transferable documents and instruments such as bills of lading, promissory notes, bills of exchange and warehouse receipts. It does so by setting forth the requirements for the equivalence between paper-based transferable documents and instruments, on the one hand, and electronic transferable records, on the other hand. Thus, the Model Law allows transposing the notion of “possession” in an electronic environment. The Model Law provides also guidance on the assessment of the reliability of the method used to manage the electronic transferable record, on change of medium (electronic to paper and the reverse), and on cross-border issues, among others. Being technology-neutral, the Model Law may accommodate the use of emerging technologies such as those based on distributed ledgers or blockchain technology. The Model Law is accompanied by an Explanatory Note to assist States in enacting its provisions and to offer guidance to other users of the text.

The UNCITRAL Model Law on Automated Contracting is aimed at facilitating the use of automation in contracts, including through the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and “smart contracts”, as well as in machine-to-machine transactions. The Model Law provides legislators with a set of internationally acceptable rules to overcome legal obstacles to automated contracting. This publication contains the text of the Model Law on Automated Contracting and its guide to enactment. The guide to enactment draws on preparatory work within UNCITRAL to provide detailed article-by-article remarks to assist those involved in studying or applying the model law.

This publication contains the text and the explanatory note of the UNCITRAL Model Law on the Use and Cross-border Recognition of Identity Management and Trust Services. This is the first model law at the global level that offers guidance on laws that enable identifying persons online and providing assurance of quality of data messages. Online identification and assurance of data quality are building blocks of the digital world and their international use is critical to ensure seamless cross-border dataflows. The explanatory note offers a detailed illustration of the 27 articles of the Model Law, building on the travaux préparatoires.

This annual report of the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) submitted to the General Assembly covers the Fifty-second session (8–19 July 2019).