Activities promoting trade expansion: contract practices
and arbitration
The former Committee on Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development has sought
to promote trade through practical arrangements and improved legal or contract
practices affecting trade. During the years 1953-1961 the Group of Experts
on International Contract Practices in Industry drew up a series of standard
general conditions of sale for the export and import of engineering equipment.
This activity was later extended to other sectors and standard contracts or
general conditions of sale have been drawn up for a number of products and
services. The Group of Experts on ICP (formerly the Working Party on International
Legal and Commercial Practice - WP.5) has also prepared guidelines for drawing
up contracts and guides on different issues (see General
conditions of sale and standard clauses drawn up under the auspices of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).
European Convention on International Commercial Arbitration of April 1961
This Convention established a mechanism whereby arbitrators may be designated
in cases where the parties to a contract do not succeed in agreeing among themselves
on such a designation. The Convention also provides for the settlement of questions
which may arise concerning the relationship of international commercial arbitration
procedures to the rights of parties to have recourse to courts of law. In addition,
optional UNECE arbitration rules have been prepared which may be used by parties
to international commercial transactions, if they so desire, for insertion
in their contracts.
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