Meeting Spot of the World: UN Vienna Office

On Friday, our group visited the United Nations Vienna Office where we got a brief tour of the grounds and attended lectures on international trade and the environment. Particularly, we were fascinated by the lecture done by the United Nations Commission on International Trade (UNCITRAL). This intergovernmental body, with universal membership, is core legal body of the UN system in the field of private international trade and commercial law. Their mandate is the harmonization and modernization of international trade law by drafting model laws that help facilitate trade.

One of the interesting aspects that we learnt about was how long the overall process of drafting model laws takes. With only twelve lawyers on staff and only having meetings once or twice a year, the process of creating these laws may be hindered by limited resources and miscommunications. We see that UNCITRAL is vital to countries and businesses, because without it there would not be uniform rules, certainty, dispute resolutions, lower costs, and the increased need for coordination. We see UNCITRAL working to solve and reduce these issues through their intergovernmental platform. Further to that, UNCITRAL coordinates its efforts with the WTO and the ICC to further ensure harmonization of all rules and regulations surrounding international trade.

There are risks to globalization, but we view UNCITRAL as an organization that has and will continue to help mitigate these risks. The question we have for you guys is do you think that there are redundancies in having the WTO and UNCITRAL develop rules for trade? Would it be more efficient to just have one body that drafts law and resolves disputes?

-Stephanie & Michael