The UNIDROIT Principles are now (September 2001) available in the five official UNIDROIT languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) as well as in a growing number of other languages – the recent Persian (Farsi) version bringing that number to ten. Following are the co-ordinates of all these editions:

• Arabic (2000): translation prepared, published (trilingual Arabic/French/English edition) and distributed by Shalakany Law Office, 12 Marashly St., Zamalek 11211, Cairo (Egypt).
• Chinese (1996): Chinese/English bilingual edition edited and translated by the Treaty and Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and available from Beijing Legal Publishers and Distributors, Jia No. 1, Liuliqiao Beili, Guangwai, Beijing 1007 (China).
• Czech (1997): translated by Markéta Larisová, Jana Tomascinová and Monika Pauknerová and available from CODEX Bohemia, a.s., Holeckova 31, Praha 5 (Czech Republic).
• Dutch (1997): translated by Mr. N. Frenk and Prof. Dr M.E. Storme in co-operation with Mr M.J. Hoekstra and Mr. Drs S.A. Gijsen, under the auspices of the Molengraaff Instituut voor Privaatrecht, University of Utrecht; published by Koninklijke Vermande (Netherlands).
• Hungarian (1996): translated by József Gehér, László Réczei and Péter Katona, published by Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó, Budapest (Hungary).
• Persian (Farsi) (2001): translated by Behrooz Akhlaghi and Farhad Emam, and published as a bilingual Farsi/English edition by the S.D. Institute of Law, Tehran (Iran).
• Portuguese (2000): published by the Ministry of Justice (Portugal).
• Russian (1996): translated by Prof. Alexander Komarov and published by the International Center for Financial and Economic Development, Komdiva Orlova Street 2/37, Korpus 3, 127 106 Moscow (Russian Federation).
• Slovak (1996): translated by Dr Ján Švidron and available from Iura Edition, spol. s r.o. Myjavská 1, 811 03 Bratislava (Slovakia).
• Vietnamese (1999): translated by Mr Le Net and published in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

It is worth noting that the UNIDROIT Principles were expressly referred to in the context of the applicable law clause of the Model International Franchising Contract of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Publ. No. 557, 2000), which provides in Article 32 (Applicable Law):

“32[A] – This Agreement is governed by the rules and principles of law generally recognized in international trade together with the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.”¹

It may be recalled that a similar reference was made in the ICC Model Occasional Intermediary Contract (non-circumvention & non-disclosure agreement – ICC Publ. No. 619, 2000 – Article 13(1)) and in the Model Contract for the International Commercial Sale of Perishable Goods (issued by the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) in 1999 – Article 14).²

“The UNIDROIT Principles and International Contracts: Practical Aspects" – XII^ES JOURNÉES MAXIMILIEN-CARON – Symposium organised by the Centre for Business Law and Inter-national Trade (CDACI), in conjunction with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Québec Division Montreal (Canada), 20 April 2001. See the Notice reproduced in this issue, p. 339.

“The Use of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts in International Commercial Arbitration”, Joint Seminar UNIDROIT / ICC, 29 April 2001. See the Notice reproduced in this issue, p. 339.

Diplomatic Conference to adopt a Mobile Equipment Convention and an Aircraft Protocol
Cape Town (South Africa), 29 October – 16 November 2001

As previously announced in this Review (2001, 78), details on the diplomatic Conference and the documents to be submitted thereto may be accessed on the UNIDROIT website at www.unidroit.org/english/internationalinterests/conference2001/main.htm.

The Committee of Governmental Experts convened to examine the draft Model Franchise Disclosure Law met for the first time from 25 to 29 June 2001. The meeting took place in Rome, at the seat of the Institute, and was attended by representatives of twenty member States, one non-member State, and three international organisations. ³ Ms Hernany VEYTIA (Mexico) chaired the meeting, with Mr Souichirou KOZUKA (Japan) acting as Vice Chairperson.

While appreciating the work of the Study Group, the Committee made a number of proposals for modification of both the text and the Explanatory Report. Outstanding questions include the insertion of a Preamble at the beginning of the Model Law – while the principle of the Preamble has been accepted its format has not yet been decided – , whether or not the list of items to be disclosed in Article 6 should be a closed list, and the nature of the remedies available under the Model Law.

It will be recalled that the draft, which comprises eleven articles in all, begins with an article specifying the scope of application of the law (Article 1). A list of definitions of the concepts used in the text follows (Article 2). Article 3 specifies when the disclosure document must be delivered to the prospective franchisee (Article 3(1)) and also indicates how often and when the document must be updated (Article 3(2)). Article 4 deals with the format of the disclosure document and Article 5 lists cases in which the franchisor would be exempt from the duty to disclose. Article 6 is the core provision of the model law and lists in great detail the information with which a franchisor should provide a prospective franchisee. Article 7 indicates that a franchisor may require the prospective franchisee to acknowledge in writing the receipt of the disclosure document. Article 8 deals with an issue that has given rise to a number of problems, namely the language in which the disclosure document is written, whereas Article 9 specifies remedies that are available to the franchisee if the franchisor fails to hand over the disclosure document within the period of time specified in Article 5 or if the disclosure document contains a misrepresentation or an omission of a material fact. Article 10 provides that the law applies to franchise agreements entered into after the coming into force of the law and Article 11, which was added by the Committee, provides that any waiver on the part of a franchisee of any rights granted by the Model Law is void.

The Committee of Governmental Experts is scheduled for a second meeting sometime during the second half of 2002, when it is expected to finalise the preparatory work for the Model Law.

The second session of the Joint Working Group for the preparation of Principles and Rules of Transnational Civil Procedure set up by UNIDROIT and the American Law Institute (ALI) took place at the seat of UNIDROIT in Rome from 3-7 July 2001. The meeting essentially focused on the Draft General Principles prepared by Mr G.C. HAZARD Jr. and on the comments to the draft prepared by Mr R. STÜRNER (co-rapporteurs), as well as on selected provisions contained in the Draft Rules of Transnational Civil Procedure drafted by Messrs G.C. HAZARD Jr., M. TARUFFO and A. GIDI. The Group agreed that the Draft Rules of Transnational Civil Procedure were to be kept separate from the Draft Principles.

The two co-rapporteurs were asked to draft a new General Principles text with comments, which will be made available in the course of October 2001, with a French version to follow as soon as possible.

The Working Group is scheduled for a third session in Rome in May 2002.

² See Unif. L. Rev. / Rev. dr. unif., 2000, 266-268. [Back to text]

³ Member States: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, United States of America; non-member State: Ukraine; international organisations: International Bar Association, Union Internationale des Avocats, World Franchise Council. [Back to text]