• International Interests in Mobile Equipment
• UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts
• Preparation of a Model Law on International Franchising
• Implementation of UNIDROIT Instruments
• The UNIDROIT Research Scholarships Programme

The first joint session of the UNIDROIT Committee of governmental experts for the preparation of a draft Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and a draft Protocol on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment and of the Sub-Committee of the ICAO Legal Committee on the study of international interests in mobile equipment (aircraft equipment) was held in Rome from 1-12 February 1999.² A Drafting Committee ³ and a Registration Working Group⁴ were established.

The session opened with a series of introductory presentations on: the basic objectives of the proposed new international regimen (H. KRONKE, UNIDROIT Secretariat; L. WEBER, ICAO Secretariat); the anticipated economic impact of this regimen, with specific reference to the preliminary draft Aircraft Protocol (L.S. CLARK, IATA); the structure of the regimen and an examination of the relationship between the preliminary draft Convention and each of the equipment-specific Protocols (C. KESSEDJIAN, Hague Conference on Private International Law); the basic features of the preliminary draft Convention (R.M. GOODE) and its relationship to the preliminary draft Aircraft Protocol (J. WOOL, Aviation Working Group); the importance of the preliminary draft Protocol on Matters Specific to Space Property (P.D. NESGOS, Aviation Working Group) and of the preliminary draft Protocol on Matters specific to Railway Rolling Stock (H. ROSEN, Rail Working Group). The issues related to the establishment of a modern international registration system formed the subject of three presentations: the electronic option chosen by the Quebec personal property registry (S. POTVIN PLAMONDON, Canada); the United States' experience of a paper-based system (C.W. MOONEY, Jr., United States of America); the international registration system provided for under the proposed new international regimen (R. CUMING, Canada).

The joint session made a first reading of the texts of the preliminary draft Convention and the preliminary draft Protocol, and the Drafting Committee made the required adjustments. The Registration Working Group proposed a series of changes to the provisions of both texts relating to the registration system.

It became clear during the session that a number of issues would require special attention:

• insolvency: it was agreed to set up an informal working group to consider the technical issues relating to insolvency raised in the preliminary draft instruments, and in particular their relationship with the 1990 European Convention on certain international aspects of bankruptcy, the 1995 Convention of the European Union on Insolvency Proceedings and the 1997 Uncitral Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency.
  
• jurisdiction: it was agreed that this complex issue should be looked at in the light of domestic law, regional Conventions on the subject and the comments that the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law had agreed to formulate on the subject in the light of its current work on the preparation of an universal Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments.
  
• relations between the future Convention and the Convention on Assignment in Receivables Financing under preparation by an UNCITRAL working group in view of the danger of overlap between the two instruments (chiefly on assignments, in particular the provisions related to "associated rights" and priority issues with regard to insurance proceeds).

The second session of the Working Group for the preparation of a second enlarged edition of the UNIDROIT Principles was held in Bozen/Bolzano (South Tyrol) from 22 to 26 February 1999, with a financial contribution by the School of Economics of the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano and the Chamber of Arbitration of the local Chamber of Commerce.

The session was attended by M.J. BONELL (UNIDROIT, Chairman of the Group), P.-A. CRÉPEAU (Canada), S.K. DATE BAH (Ghana), A. DI MAJO (Italy), A. EL KHOLY (Egypt), E.A. FARNSWORTH (United States of America), P. FINN (Australia), M. FONTAINE (Belgium), M. FURMSTON (United Kingdom), A. HARTKAMP (Netherlands), HUANG DANHAN (China), C. JAUFFRET-SPINOSI (France), A. KOMAROV (Russian Federation), H. KRONKE (Secretary General of UNIDROIT), O. LANDO (Chairman of the Commission on European Contract Law), P. SCHLECHTRIEM (Germany) and T. UCHIDA (Japan). H. GRIGERA NAÓN (ICC Court of Arbitration) and G. SCHIAVONI (Milan Italian and International Chamber of Arbitration) attended as observers.

The session opened with the examination of the Draft Model Clause which parties could employ to incorporate the UNIDROIT Principles into their contracts, prepared by E.A. Farnsworth. After a brief but intensive discussion, the Group agreed, with a minor change in the accompanying text, on the Model Clause and decided to submit it to the Governing Council for approval.

The session then focused mainly on the draft Chapter on "Authority of Agents" prepared by M.J. Bonell. After an extensive discussion the Group, while basically agreeing on the general structure and substance of the draft, decided on some amendments to the black letter rules and suggested an alternative to one of the articles of the project. The Group then proceeded to discuss the position papers prepared by P. Schlechtriem on limitation of actions by prescription, by M. Furmston on third party rights under contract (both these rapporteurs were invited to draft the relevant chapters for discussion at the next session) and by M. Fontaine on assignment of contractual rights and duties, while, due to lack of time, examination of the position papers by T. Uchida on UNIDROIT Principles and electronic commerce and C. Jauffret-Spinosi on set-off had to be deferred to a subsequent session.

The next session of the Working Group will probably be held in Cairo (Egypt) from 24-28 January 2000.

Following the decision by the General Assembly at its session in November 1998 to include in the Work Programme the elaboration of a model law on international franchising, a drafting committee of the Franchising Working Group met in Rome from 14-16 January 1999. The group consisted of the following members: O. BINDER (Paris), M. BRENNAN (Chicago), A. KONIGSBERG (Montreal) and A. SCHULZ (Stuttgart).

The members of the drafting committee discussed the possible scope of application of such a model law as well as the procedure that might be adopted in drafting it. They agreed on the outlines of a first set of provisions.

The Study Group, whose members will be appointed by the Governing Council at its session in April 1999, will meet in the Autumn of 1999.

Finland ratified (with a declaration) the Convention on 14 June 1999, with entry into force for that State scheduled for 1 December 1999. [status]

In Argentina, an Honorary Commission set up in 1995 has completed its preparatory work on a Draft Civil Code integrated with the Code of Commerce, which was presented to the Minister of Justice on 18 December 1998. Both the Introduction and the Preamble make extensive reference to the sources of international law and foreign law which were taken into account by the members of the Commission. Among these sources, the UNIDROIT Principles are quoted on several occasions in Title II - "On Contracts in General", while Title III - "On Contracts in Particular", in its Chapter V on leasing, states that "the rules proposed are compatible with the 1988 Ottawa Convention of UNIDROIT ...".⁵ It should be noted that Argentina is not a Contracting Party to that Convention.

The following scholars conducted research at UNIDROIT between 1 January and 31 March 1999:

Mrs Adriana DREYZIN DE KLOR (Professor of Private International Law) and Mrs Maria Emilia LLOVERAS DE RESK (Professor of Private Law) (University of Córdoba, Argentina) were at UNIDROIT from 14 January - 28 February to conduct research on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts with a view to their application in the framework of MERCOSUR. Their stay was funded by the UNIDROIT budget (legal co-operation fund).

Mrs XU LI (Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Foreign Trade, Shanghai, China) conducted comparative research (1 February - 30 April) on international commercial contracts (with special reference to the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts), with a grant from the Government of the Republic of Korea. This scholarship was organised together with the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, which provided a three-month supplementary scholarship at the Institute headquarters in Lausanne.

¹ For details of the work already carried out on this project, see the "UNIDROIT News" sections in previous issues of Uniform Law Review. See, in particular, the text of the preliminary draft Convention discussed at the joint session (subject to minor formal amendments) in Uniform Law Review 1998, 76, and R. GOODE, "Transcending the Boundaries of Earth and Space: The Preliminary Draft Unidroit Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment", idem, 52. [Back to text]

² 34 States, 5 intergovernmental Organisations and 9 non-governmental Organisations participated in the joint session; E. CHIAVARELLI (Italy) chaired the session; R.M. GOODE (United Kingdom, Chairman of the UNIDROIT Study Group) was elected rapporteur. [Back to text]

³ Chaired by K.F. KREUZER (Germany). [Back to text]

⁴ Chaired by R.C.C. CUMING (Canada). [Back to text]

⁵ Proyecto de Código Civil de la República Argentina unificado con el Código de Comercio, Abeledo-Perrot, Buenos Aires, 1999; see in particular, pp. 11, 54 et seq. and pp. 12, 76, respectively. The Introduction and the Preamble, as well as the full text (revised version of 17 March 1999) may be accessed on Internet at http://snts1.jus.gov.ar/minis/Nuevo/ProyectoCodigoCivil.htm [Back to text]