UNCTAD DISPUTE SETTLEMENT COURSE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 10 March (UNCTAD) -– An online course on dispute settlement in international trade, investment and intellectual property is now available, free of charge, on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Web site (http://www.unctad.org/dispsett).

The course focuses on the basic rules and jurisprudence of dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  It also looks at three regional approaches –- those of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The course will serve as pedagogical material for workshops to be convened by UNCTAD in the coming years in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, the Pacific, and Eastern and Central Europe.  Workshop participants will be drawn from government, universities, business and the legal profession.  The course can also be used as training material for universities and training institutions in developing and transition countries.

The course (in English only) consists of 41 modules, 20 of which are currently available.  The others will be online by 1 August.

For further information, please contact Erik Chrispeels, Project Manager, Project on Dispute Settlement in International Trade, Investment and Intellectual Property (tel:  +41 22 907 5829, email:  erik.chrispeels@unctad.org), or UNCTAD Press Office (tel:  +41 22 907 5828, email:  press@unctad.org).

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