UNCITRAL Finalizes Advisory Centre Statute and Adopts New ISDS Procedural Provisions
At its 59th session in New York, UNCITRAL finalized the draft Statute of the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution on July 3, 2026, for submission to the UN General Assembly for adoption. The Centre is designed to provide legal advice, training, and representation support to states, particularly developing and least developed countries, which face chronic capacity asymmetries when defending investor claims. The Commission also finalized and adopted the UNCITRAL Supplementary Provisions on the Conduct of Proceedings to Resolve International Investment Disputes as a standalone instrument for use by disputing parties and treaty parties. Draft statutes for a permanent first-tier tribunal and a permanent appellate tribunal remain under negotiation in Working Group III, whose 55th session is scheduled for October 2026 in Vienna. While these are the first concrete institutional deliverables of the reform process launched in 2017, they represent cosmetic reform at best. None of the products changes the underlying ISDS system and limits the scope of claims investors can bring. Ahead of the WGIII final year, the prospect of significant reform is thinning.