UNCTAD legal instruments (1964-2025)

An international convention or treaty is an agreement between countries that is legally binding for the Contracting Parties/States, that is to say for the States that have formally declared their intention to be bound, upon its entry into force.

Most multilateral treaties expressly provide for States to express their consent to be bound by signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval (for further information, see UN Treaty Collection Glossary of terms relating to Treaty actions).

The legal instrument will enter into force for these States when the required number of ratifications as set out in the convention or treaty itself has been reached. After the entry into force of a legal instrument, other States may accede.

When a country signs a convention, it signals its intention to ratify it in the future. Signing is typically not legally binding, but it shows that the country supports the convention's goals and principles. A monitoring body is frequently established to evaluate State Parties' progress in implementing the convention by considering reports routinely supplied by States because contracting parties are legally required to adhere to the provisions of the convention.

UNCTAD’s binding instruments (in chronological order)

• United Nations Convention on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences (1974)
• United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (1978)
  Prepared under the auspices of UNCTAD.
• United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods (1980, not in force)
• Agreement establishing the Common Fund for Commodities (1980)
• United Nations Convention on Conditions for Registration of Ships (1986, not in force)
• Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (1988) and its Sao Paulo Round Protocol (2010, not in force)
• International Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages (1993)
• International Convention on Arrest of Ships (1999)
• Agreement establishing the Terms of Reference of the International Jute Study Group (2001)
• International Tropical Timber Agreement (2006)
• International Cocoa Agreement (2010)
• International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives (2015)

For authoritative information about the status of ratification of multilateral treaties deposited with the UN Secretary-General, see the UN Treaty Collection website.

Non-binding international legal instruments are classified according to their level of authority granted by member States. Thus, even if considered soft law instruments, the first category represents those that have been agreed by member States as non-binding and have the highest authority among the soft law instruments.

Other non-binding legal instruments are presented from an authoritative point of view and usually produced by the UNCTAD secretariat in some cases in collaboration or jointly with other Organizations.

Non-mandatory rules may include a substantive set of rules designed for incorporation into commercial contracts as well as standards.

Principles present the fundamental objectives, values, criteria and interpretation sources and lines of action. They are generally acknowledged as the basic standards that are used for the understanding, interpretation and application of the law in various contexts.

Guidelines tend to present advisory opinions on the best implementation and application practices to carry out a specific policy objective.

Model laws aim to harmonize implementing legal frameworks so that member States can translate their legal obligations under international treaties within their national legislation.

Codes of conduct provide a collection of guiding rules to demonstrate compliance on a voluntary basis within a specific legal framework or sector/industry (but note the UN Convention on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences (above), which is a binding legal instrument, in force internationally.

Frameworks refer to a technical roadmap used to address or implement a specific political objective.

Finally, drafts of non-binding instruments are listed. These drafts demonstrate the political willingness of member States to engage in the regulation of a specific topic without showing a higher level of commitment due to a lack of consensus by member States.

Non-binding legal instruments adopted by member States (in chronological order)

• United Nations Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (1980) 
  Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 35/63 of 22 April 1980.
• United Nations Model Law on Competition (2010, and subsequent revisions until 2020)
• United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (2015) 
  Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 39/248 of 16 April 1985, and last revised by UN General Assembly Resolution 70/186 of 22 December 2015.
• International Classification of Non-Tariff Measures (2019 version). 
  Endorsed by the 50th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission for data collection across countries and for reporting on internationally comparable data on non-tariff measures, from 4 to 7 March 2019.
• Guiding policies and procedures under section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (2020) 
  Adopted by the 8th UN Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, held from 19 to 23 October 2020.
• Recommendation on the prevention of cross-border distribution of known unsafe consumer products (2020) 
  Approved by the 8th UN Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, held from 19 to 23 October 2020.

Other non-binding legal instruments (in chronological order)

Non-mandatory rules, standards and model clauses in the field of transport

• UNCTAD Minimum Standards for Shipping Agents (1988)
• UNCTAD Model Clauses on Marine Hull and Cargo Insurance (1989)
• UNCTAD/ICC Rules for Multimodal Transport Documents (1992)
• UN/CEFACT Recommendation 45 on Minimum Standards for Ship Agents and Ship Brokers (2021) 
  [update of the 1988 UNCTAD minimum standards for ship agents]

More

Principles

• BioTrade Principles and Criteria (2007, revised in 2020) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment that Respects Rights, Livelihoods and Resources (2010) 
  Issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UNCTAD secretariat and the World Bank Group.
• Principles on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing (2012) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes (2015)
  Adopted by the UN General Assembly on 29 July 2015
• Guiding Principles for Investment Policymaking for the countries of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (2020) 
  Issued by the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation and the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Principles to guide Critical Energy Transition Minerals towards Equity and Justice (2024)
• Guiding principles for sustainable investment in tourism (2025) 
  Jointly issues the UNCTAD secretariat and the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism)

Guidelines/Guidance

• Guidelines towards the application of the Convention on the Code of Conduct for Liner Conference (1986) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Guidelines for Port Authorities and Governments on the privatization of port facilities (1998)
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Guidance on Good Practices in Corporate Governance Disclosure (2006) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Guidance on corporate responsibility indicators in annual reports (2008) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat and the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR).
• Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (2009)
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Best Practice Guidance for Policymakers and Stock Exchanges on Sustainability Reporting Initiatives (2013) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Model Guidance on Reporting ESG Information to Investors: A Voluntary tool for Stock Exchanges to Guide Issuers (2015) 
  Issued by the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.
• Reform Package for the International Investment Regime (2018) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Model Guidance on Climate Disclosure: A template for stock exchanges to guide issuers on TCFD implementation (2021) 
  Issued by the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.
• Guidance on Core Indicators for Sustainability and SDG Impact Reporting (2022) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Guidelines for the Collection of Data Guidelines for the Collection of Data on Official Non-tariff Measures (2023 edition) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Compilation guidelines for measurement of gender-in-trade statistics (2023) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Model guidance on sustainability-related financial disclosures: A template for stock exchanges (2024) 
  Issued by the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.

Frameworks

• Entrepreneurship Policy Framework (2013) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (2015) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Global Action Menu for Investment Facilitation (2016) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.
• Statistics Quality Assurance Framework (2019)
• Towards a statistical framework for the measurement of tax and commercial illicit financial flows (2023)
• Manual for the framework to measure South–South cooperation (2025)
• A Sustainability Integration Framework for Institutional Investors (2023) 
  Issued by the UNCTAD secretariat.

Drafts of non-binding of legal instruments

• Draft International Code of Conduct on the Transfer of Technology (1985)
• Draft United Nations Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations (1983)
• Non-binding Guiding Principles for Investment Policies (2023). 
  Issued by the Islamic Development Bank and the UNCTAD secretariat.