The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body within the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. UNCITRAL was tasked by the General Assembly to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade by:
1. "Co-ordinating the work of organizations active in this field and encouraging co-operation among them;
2. Promoting wider participation in existing international conventions and wider acceptance of existing model and uniform laws;
3. Preparing or promoting the adoption of new international conventions, model laws and uniform laws and promoting the codification and wider acceptance of international trade terms, provisions, customs and practices, in collaboration, where appropriate, with the organizations operating in this field;
4. Promoting ways and means of ensuring a uniform interpretation and application of international conventions and uniform laws in the field of the law of international trade;
5. Collecting and disseminating information on national legislation and modern legal developments, including case law, in the field of the law of international trade;
6. Establishing and maintaining a close collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development;
7. Maintaining liaison with other United Nations organs and specialized agencies concerned with international trade;
8. Taking any other action it may deem useful to fulfil its functions."
Find the English equivalents for the following words and expressions in the text.
the General Assembly, core legal body, collaboration, unification, codification
Summarize your findings from the text in 8–15 sentences.
TEXT 4. UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW (UNCITRAL)
International Payments
United Nations Convention on International Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes (New York, 1988) This Convention provides a comprehensive code of legal rules governing new international instruments for optional use by parties to international commercial transactions. It is designed to overcome the major disparities and uncertainties that currently exist in relation to instruments used for international payments. The Convention applies if the parties use a particular form of a negotiable instrument indicating that the instrument is subject to the UNCITRAL Convention. The Convention was adopted and opened for signature by the General Assembly at its 43rd session in December 1988. 10 ratifications or accessions are necessary for the Convention to come into force.
UNCITRAL Model Law on International Credit Transfers (1992) The Model Law, adopted in 1992, deals with operations beginning with an instruction by an originator to a bank to place at the disposal of a beneficiary a specified amount of money. It covers such matters as the obligations of a sender of the instruction and of a receiving bank, time of payment of a receiving bank and liability of a bank to its sender or to the originator when the transfer is delayed or other error occurs.
United Nations Convention on Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit (New York, 1995) The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 11 December 1995. It is designed to facilitate the use of independent guarantees and stand-by letters of credit, in particular where only one or the other of those instruments may be traditionally in use. The Convention also solidifies recognition of common basic principles and characteristics shared by the independent guarantee and the stand-by letter of credit. The Convention will enter into force upon the deposit of 5 instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade (2001) The main objective of the Convention is to promote the movement of goods and services across national borders by facilitating increased access to lower-cost credit. In order to achieve this objective, the Convention, inter alia: (1) removes legal obstacles to certain international financing practices (e.g. by validating assignments of future receivables and bulk assignments, and by partially invalidating contractual limitations to the assignment of receivables); (2) enhances certainty and predictability with respect to the law applicable to key issues (e.g. such as priority between competing claims); and (3) harmonizes domestic assignment laws by providing a regime governing priority between competing claims for States to opt-into.