October, 2012
From the 1-5th of October 2012, the UNCITRAL Working Group II on arbitration and conciliation (WG) met in Vienna to negotiate a legal standard on transparency in treaty-based investor-state arbitration. The WG continued with the second reading of the draft rules on transparency currently under consideration. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, and the United States have been among the outspoken States supporting strong transparency rules. For other States, the current process on transparency is nothing short of a “revolutionary” step in arbitration history.
CIEL has been instrumental in bringing the issue of transparency to the forefront of the agenda of UNCITRAL. Working with NGO partners, CIEL has provided expertise throughout the negotiation process, including by intervening in the discussions, preparing analysis of textual options, and proposing content for rules on transparency.
The WG will next meet at UN Headquarters in New York City in February 2013, and it is expected that the WG will then complete the second reading of the rules on transparency in investor-State arbitration.
Katja Bratrschovsky, CIEL Louis B. Sohn Fellow,
Fall 2012 – Spring 2013
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