International Institute for the Unification of Private Law
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The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, also known as UNIDROIT, is an independent intergovernmental organisation. Its purpose is to study needs and methods for modernising, harmonising, and coordinating private international law and in particular commercial law between states, and to draft international Conventions to address the needs.
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[edit] History
Set up in 1926 as an auxiliary organ of the League of Nations, the Institute was, following the demise of the League, re-established in 1940 on the basis of a multilateral agreement, the UNIDROIT Statute. Its seat is in Rome, Italy.
Membership of UNIDROIT is restricted to States acceding to the UNIDROIT Statute. UNIDROIT's 61 member States are drawn from five continents, and represent a variety of different legal, economic, and political systems as well as different cultural backgrounds.
[edit] Achievements
- UNIDROIT has over the years prepared the following international Conventions, drawn up by UNIDROIT and adopted by diplomatic Conferences convened by member States of UNIDROIT:
- Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods (The Hague, 1964)[1]
- Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (The Hague, 1964)[2]
- International Convention on Travel Contracts (Brussels, 1970)[3]
- Convention providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will (Washington, D.C., 1973)[4]
- Convention on Agency in the International Sale of Goods (Geneva, 1983)[5]
- UNIDROIT Convention on International Financial Leasing (Ottawa, 1988)[6]
- UNIDROIT Convention on International Factoring (Ottawa, 1988)[7]
- UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (Rome, 1995)[8]
- Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Cape Town, 2001)[9]
- Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (Cape Town, 2001)[10]
[edit] Other Instruments include
- The Guide to International Master Franchise Arrangements (1998)[11]
- The Model Franchise Disclosure Law (2002)[12]
- the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts, the first edition of which was published in 1994, and the second, enlarged edition of which was published in 2004[13]
[edit] Work-in-Progress
- UNIDROIT has as a work in progress a draft convention on Intermediated Securities - Study LXXVIII,[14] *the "Unidroit Securities Convention." The next session of the Committee of Governmental Experts for the Preparation of a draft Convention on Substantive Rules regarding Intermediated Securities will be held from in Geneva from 1-13 September 2008, subject to the Unidroit Governing Council's approval.[15] The negotiation process will culminate in the signing of an international Convention addressing the legal framework of intermediated securities.[16]
- The Working Group for the preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts has also started work on additional chapters.[17]
