The 54th session of Working Group III (Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)  was held in Vienna, Austria, from March 23 to 27, 2026. At the invitation of UNCITRAL, the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC)  appointed Liang Danni, senior Arbitrator of CIETAC, Deputy Secretary-General of the China  International Investment Arbitration Forum , and Associate Professor of the School of Law of Sun Yat-sen University and Fu Zhixing, Assistant Secretary-General of the CIETAC European Arbitration Center as representatives to attend the session on site.

This session further advanced discussions on the institutional design of a permanent mechanism for investor-state dispute settlement, with a key focus on the deliberation of the draft statute provisions for the Permanent Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal. Building on the existing reform framework, participating representatives engaged in discussions on core issues such as the jurisdiction arrangement of the two-tier permanent mechanism and its interface with the existing international investment dispute settlement system.

In terms of jurisdiction arrangement, the Working Group focused on discussions regarding different proposals for the jurisdiction conferral model of the permanent mechanism. All parties explored whether the permanent mechanism should have exclusive jurisdiction and how to clarify the scope of parties' consent through an "list system", and exchanged views on the potential impacts of different jurisdiction design options. In terms of interfaces of mechanisms, the session discussed the feasibility of adjusting the application of the Washington Convention through the method of "inter se modification" proposed by the ICSID  Secretariat, as well as complex issues such as the recognition and enforcement of awards rendered by the permanent mechanism in the territories of non-contracting states.

Through its participation in this session, CIETAC maintained close communication with representatives of various countries on the reform of the Investor-State dispute settlement mechanism and continued to take part in relevant rule discussions under the framework of UNCITRAL. In the future, CIETAC will continue to rely on the UNCITRAL platform to participate in the research and formulation of relevant issues and rules, and keep focusing on the progress of international investment arbitration reform.