Third session, 26 - 29 May 2008
The Working Group for the preparation of a third edition of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts held its third session in Rome from 26 to 29 May 2008. The session was attended by Guido Alpa (Italy), Berhooz Akhlaghi (Iran), M. Joachim Bonell (UNIDROIT, Chairman of the Working Group), Paul-André Crépeau (Canada), Samuel Kofi Date-Bah (Ghana), Benedicte Fauvarque-Cosson (France), Paul Finn (Australia), Marcel Fontaine (Belgium), Michael Philip Furmston (United Kingdom), Henry D. Gabriel (United States), Lauro Gama, Jr. (Brazil), Sir Roy Goode (United Kingdom), Arthur Hartkamp (The Netherlands), Alexander Komarov (Russian Federation), Takashi Uchida (Japan), Pierre Widmer (Switzerland), Zhang Yuqing (China) and Reinhard Zimmermann (Germany). The session was also attended by the following Observers: Ibrahim Al Mulla for the Emirates International Law Center, Eckart Brödermann for the Space Law Committee of the International Bar Association, Alejandro Carballo for the Private International Law Group of the American Society of International Law, Christine Chappuis for the Group de Travail Contrats Internationaux, François Dessemontet for the Swiss Arbitration Association, Alejandro Garro for the New York City Bar, Attila Harmathy for the Arbitration Court of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Emmanuel Jolivet for the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Pilar Perales Viscasillas for the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, Marta Pertegás for the Hague Conference on Private International Law, Hilmar Raeschke-Kessler for the German Arbitration Institute, Giorgio Schiavoni for the Chamber of National and International Arbitration of Milan, Jeremy Sharpe for the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, Center for American and International Law, Renaud Sorieul for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Christian von Bar for the Study Group for a European Civil Code and Wang Wenying for the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.
The Group was seized of four draft chapters and one position paper with draft provisions prepared by the Rapporteurs on the following topics respectively: unwinding of failed contracts, illegality, plurality of obligors and/or obligees, conditional obligations, and termination of long-term contracts for just cause. The Group proceeded to an in-depth discussion of:
- Draft Chapter on Unwinding of Failed Contracts (UNIDROIT 2008 – Study L – Doc. 105) by R. Zimmermann;
- Draft Chapter on Illegality (UNIDROIT 2008 – Study L – Doc. 106) black letter rules by M.J. Bonell, B. Fauvarque-Cosson, M. Fontaine, M. Furmston, R. Goode and R. Zimmermann; Comments by M. Furmston;
- Draft Chapter on Plurality of Obligors and/or Obligees (UNIDROIT 2008 – Study L – Doc. 107) by M. Fontaine;
- Draft Chapter on Conditional Obligations (UNIDROIT 2008 – Study L – Doc. 108) by B. Fauvarque-Cosson;
- Position Paper with Draft Provisions on Termination of Long-term Contracts for Just Cause (UNIDROIT 2007 – Study L – Doc. 104) by F. Dessemontet.
The Rapporteurs were asked to prepare on their respective topics revised draft chapters to be submitted to the Group for discussion at its next plenary session to be held in Rome from 25 to 29 May 2009.
The Summary Records of the 3rd session of the Working Group (26 - 29 May 2008) are under preparation.