###### 2. Commentary to the Work Plan

- 6. Based on the inputs received from delegations, the Work Plan was prepared in light of the fact that a detailed schedule of work would be necessary to determine whether there was a need to request additional resources to support the ISDS project. In short, the Work Plan provides the basis for identifying necessary resources, allocating existing resources and requesting any additional resources.
- 7. The Work Plan is only notional and adjustments will need to be made as the work progresses. It can serve as a basis for the monitoring of the progress made by the Working Group and thus ensure both predictability and flexibility. The Work Plan takes into consideration the need to develop multiple reform options simultaneously, while maintaining a balance between structural reforms and non-structural reforms.
- 8. Establishing an end date or a goal is important in any project planning. The Work Plan foresees an end date of 2025 based on existing and additional resources, which would be approximately 8 years after the ISDS project begun in 2017. This is largely in line with a detailed assessment of previous legislative projects carried out by the Commission. And it takes into account that requests for additional resources should be limited in time, in light of the prevailing liquidity crisis in the United Nations.
- 9. The Work Plan envisages work to be undertaken through Working Group sessions as well as using various other means intersessionally. The Work Plan also foresees that certain reform options would be subject to approval in principal by the Commission in a staggered manner beginning in 2022. As is clear from the Work Plan, this could ease the workload on the Commission in 2025, as reaching such agreement in principle at earlier sessions would make it possible to formally adopt all of the reform options more efficiently at the Commission in 2025.
- 10. According to the Work Plan, a total of 57 days of Working Group session would be required to complete the ISDS Project (exclusive of days for the adoption of 3 reports). This could be carried out in 15 one-week sessions of the Working Group over a period of 5 years beginning in 2021.
- 11. The Work Plan also foresees the use of other means or informal meetings (inter- sessional meetings, drafting groups, joint work with other organization as well as supporting webinars) during the intersessional period to further enhance the efficiency of deliberations while maintaining the role of the Working Group. In other words, they aim to reduce the overall time required at a formal Working Group session by facilitating a better understanding of the different positions of the delegations and keeping them informed of, and engaged in, the ongoing deliberations. They also provide the opportunity to overcome disagreements and to develop options for consideration by the Working Group. Overall, they assist in building consensus, thus ensuring that formal meetings are reserved for those issues, which require more extensive deliberations. The Working Group may wish to recall a series of informal webinars and consultations organized or facilitated by the Secretariat following the