The World Trade Organization (WTO) stands as the sole global international organization dedicated to regulating trade between nations. At its core lie the WTO agreements, meticulously negotiated and embraced by a majority of the world’s trading nations, subsequently ratified in their respective parliaments.

What is the WTO?
Established formally in 1995, the WTO functions as a paramount international entity tasked with overseeing and governing trade. Its establishment as a comprehensive trade regulatory body is rooted in the Agreement Establishing The World Trade Organization, commonly referred to as the “Marrakesh Agreement.” Charged with the responsibility of managing the rules that govern international trade, the WTO serves as a platform for facilitating trade negotiations among its expanding membership, which has grown from 123 in 1994 to its current count of 164 member nations.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is instrumental in crafting the framework for international trade law, driven by its mandate to propel the ongoing harmonisation and modernisation of global trade regulations.

What is UNCITRAL?
Established by the General Assembly in 1966 through Resolution 2205(XXI), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was created to address disparities in national laws affecting global trade. The General Assembly acknowledged that these differences posed obstacles to trade flow and envisioned UNCITRAL as a crucial mechanism for the United Nations to actively mitigate or eliminate such impediments. It is a legal entity with global membership, specialising in the worldwide reform of commercial law.

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Kuvera Resources v J.P. Morgan Chase: Certainty of payment vs risks of breaching sanctions under Letters of Credit – The overreaching arc of sanctions regulations is threatening the certainty of payments guaranteed by the smooth functioning of letters of credit (LC) in international trade. This tension recently played out in the Singapore courts in a judgment handed down recently (Kuvera Resources Pte Ltd v JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. [2023] SGCA 28). 

TFG to host comprehensive Tradecast on UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) – Trade Finance Global (TFG), in collaboration with UK Export Finance and the Department for Business & Trade, is set to host a tradecast on 13th September 2023, one week before the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) comes into force. 

Almond ailments: New York courts find jurisdiction a hard shell to crack – Does a New York court have jurisdiction over an Indian collecting bank that is alleged to have violated the Uniform Rules for Collections (URC 522) for neither collecting and remitting funds to pay for shipments represented by the documents forwarded to it nor returning originals of several of the documents sent to it for collection? 

Kuvera Resources v J.P. Morgan Chase: Certainty of payment vs risks of breaching sanctions under Letters of Credit

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Almond ailments: New York courts find jurisdiction a hard shell to crack

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