The day when it will be possible to consult an UNIDROIT on-line data base for information on uniform law instruments has come closer since the autumn of this year: on 26 and 27 September 2000 a first meeting of experts on the 1956 Geneva Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), the convention on which work will begin, was held in Brussels, at the Club de la Fondation Universitaire. The meeting examined how a data base in general, and the section on the CMR in particular, should be organised logically, what its intellectual structure should be.
The meeting was chaired by Mr R. LOEWE, First Vice-President of the UNIDROIT Governing Council and one of the original drafters of the CMR. The other participants were Mr M. CLARKE (United Kingdom), Mr K. HAAK (the Netherlands), Mr B. MERCADAL (France), Mr J. PUTZEYS (Belgium), Mr F.J. SÁNCHEZ-GAMBORINO (Spain), Mr J. THEUNIS (Belgium), and Mr W. CZAPSKI (IRU). Ms L. PETERS of the UNIDROIT Secretariat acted as Secretary to the Group. Mr R. HERBER (Germany) will be joining the Group in the future. The meeting was organised by Mr J. PUTZEYS, member of the UNIDROIT Governing Council.
The Republic of Uzbekistan acceded to the Convention on 6 July 2000, with entry into force for that State on 1 February 2001. The following are Contracting States of the Convention: Belarus, France (with a declaration), Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Nigeria, Panama, Uzbekistan, Russian Federation (with a declaration). [status report]
International seminar on "The commercial and financial instruments of UNIDROIT and uniform law: the Mexican challenge", organised jointly by UNIDROIT, the Law Research Institute of the UniversidadAutónoma Nacional de México, the Mexican Government (Ministry of Economy and Trade, Foreign Ministry), Mexico D.F., 6-8 November 2000, and by the Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law and Colima University (Colima), 9-10 November 2000.
The Guide sur les accords internationaux de franchise principale, the English-language version of which, entitled Guide to International Master Franchise Arrangements, was published in 1998, is now available in French.
The UNIDROIT Secretariat's invitation to Member States to designate libraries to serve as depositories for UNIDROIT Proceedings and Papers on CD-ROM and the Uniform Law Review, New Series has been well received. Thirty-three libraries world-wide have been designated so far to serve this purpose. In addition to those indicated in this column in ULR 1999-3 and 1999-4, the following libraries are depositories for UNIDROIT documentation: