Key takeaways

• On December 10, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration (the “Convention”).
• The primary purpose of the Convention is to extend the current application of the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Investor-State Arbitration (the “Transparency Rules”) to cover all Investor-State Arbitrations brought under investment treaties concluded before April 1, 2014, irrespective of the applicable arbitration rules. However, a State party to the Convention may make a reservation excluding the application of the Transparency Rules in relation to Investor-State Arbitrations (i) initiated under specific investment treaties; or (ii) conducted under arbitration rules other than the UNICTRAL Arbitration Rules and in which it is a respondent.
• The Convention will be opened for signature on March 17, 2015, and will enter into force six months after the date of deposit of the third ratification instrument.
• On December 10, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly also designated a Transparency Registry, in which UNCITRAL will make available to the public the information on investor-State arbitrations specified by the Transparency Rules (found at www.uncitral.org/transparency-registry).