The United Nations General Assembly officially approves the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Documents for Goods

On December 15th local time in New York, the 80th United Nations General Assembly officially approved the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Documents (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) and authorized Ghana to hold a signing ceremony in 2026.   The convention fully demonstrates China's determination and actions to adhere to true multilateralism, strive to provide public goods for the world, and promote global governance reform and improvement.

In order to fill the gap in international rules related to the issue of property rights certificates for cross-border railway waybills, China submitted a formal proposal to the 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCTAD) in July 2019, proposing to study and formulate new international rules for this issue. After more than 6 years of joint cooperation and unremitting efforts between China and all parties, the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly respectively reviewed and approved the draft convention in July and December 2025, and the convention was finally implemented.

The convention aims to address the issue of property rights effectiveness of various cross-border transport documents, including railway waybills, provide legal protection for financing transactions of transport documents, alleviate the financial pressure on enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, reduce the cost of land trade transactions, improve transaction efficiency, and inject new impetus into global trade prosperity and economic development.