Abstract
The United Nations (UN) is the organization in charge of overseeing international commercial arbitration and the organization that drafted the international trade laws (ITL). Because of the varied nature of national laws pertaining to international commercial arbitration, the United Nations has developed its own model laws to serve as a guide for the creation of nationally consistent laws governing international trade and commercial arbitration. Arbitration and agreement, definition and form of the arbitration agreement, substantive claim before the court, the arbitration agreement and interim measures by the court, number of arbitrators, and finality of an arbitration award are all topics that have been covered by the model laws. A brief analysis of the mandatory model law is presented hereunder.
TopBackground
International trade is an essential activity of humankind in a globalized environment to enhance trade and commerce and benefit from the comparative cost of production of goods and services as also making available the goods and services produced across the world. It improves the standard and quality of living across the globe. With the explosion of international trade, there are always possibilities of international disputes arising. In the absence of an appropriate legal framework, the settlement of these conflicts will be extremely difficult and the pace of growth of trade will be affected adversely. The United Nations is the appropriate international forum to provide the legal framework and as such the UNCITRAL Model Laws were introduced to be used by all the nations for smoothening their international trade through settling international commercial conflicts with the help of arbitration
In this chapter, an attempt has been made to achieve the following objectives:
- i.
To understand the nature and features of the UNCITRAL Model Laws
- ii.
To gain insights from the previous scholarly works on UNCITRAL Model Laws
- iii.
To make an analysis of the Model Laws and
- iv.
To provide the judicial precedents of the Model Laws
The methodology used is descriptive and analytical. The secondary sources as available in printed material like books, journals, and articles have been accessed as also web sources are perused.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Model Laws: They are non-binding legal texts that are developed by international organizations to serve as a guide for countries when developing their own national laws. An example is the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration which was developed by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to provide a framework for countries to use when developing their own arbitration laws.
Necessary measures: They refer to actions that are required to be taken in order to achieve a specific goal or objective.
Party autonomy: It is a principle in arbitration that allows parties to have substantial control over the process used to resolve their conflicts.
Preamble: It is an introductory statement in a legal document that explains the purpose and intent of the document.
Arbitration Rule: It is a rule that governs the conduct of arbitration proceedings. These rules can be set by the parties themselves or can be based on model rules such as the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.
International Trade: It refers to the exchange of goods, services, and capital between countries. It is governed by international trade laws and agreements between countries.
Judicial Precedents: They refer to past court decisions that serve as a guide for future cases with similar facts or legal issues.