Summary: 

On July 2, 2024, at UN Headquarters in New York, the European Union signed the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, also known as the “Mauritius Convention on Transparency”. The European Union’s signature on the Convention creates the opportunity for Member States to ratify, accede to, or accept it. The signing coincides with the 10th-anniversary celebration of the Mauritius Convention on Transparency, which is being marked by a number of international commemorative events and UNCITRAL Days, an academic initiative that raises public knowledge of international trade standards and norms. 

Context: 

The Mauritius Convention on Transparency ends its entry into force on April 1, 2014, and gives States and regional economic integration organizations, an effective way to apply the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based investor-State Arbitration (“Rules on Transparency”) to investment treaties. Therefore, concerning duties on transparency, the Convention enhances previous investment treaties. A State or regional economic integration organization consents to apply the Rules on Transparency to investor-state arbitration by signing the Convention. Now, the question may arise what is the Transparency Registry, and why it is important? The answer is that ‘The Transparency Registry’ is an online database on treaty-based investor-state arbitration, commonly referred to as a “repository.” The arbitration process was confidential in the past, as was customary in international business arbitration. Transparency in the proceedings and the conclusion is crucial in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) cases involving public interest concerns, such as those involving social and environmental policies. As a result, UNCITRAL has approved documents known as the “UNCITRAL Transparency Standard” to ensure transparency in ISDS. A Party to the Convention may express reservations to exclude certain investment treaties or sets of arbitration rules other than the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (negative-list approach) from the Convention’s implementation. A Party may additionally announce that it will not make an offer of application on its own. Finally, should the Rules on Transparency be updated, a Party may additionally announce, within a specified timeframe following the update, that it will not be implementing the updated version. The Convention ensures that reservations cannot be exploited to undermine the Convention’s goals while providing the required degree of flexibility by setting precise deadlines for the creation and removal of reservations. The Convention and any reservations thereto apply prospectively, that is, to arbitrations that are started after the Convention becomes operative for the relevant Party. In conjunction with the Transparency Rules, the Convention considers the public interest in this type of arbitration as well as the parties’ desire for a speedy and equitable resolution of their differences. According to the Convention, the UN Secretary-General will carry out the repository role via the UNCITRAL secretariat. States and regional economic integration organizations are welcome to sign, ratify, and join the Mauritius Convention on Transparency.

Picture and Article Source:  United Nations, Oxford University Press