On 6-7 December 2018, UNIDROIT and OTIF held the 8th session of the Rail Preparatory Commission for the establishment of an International Registry under the Luxembourg Rail Protocol in Rome, immediately after the UNIDROIT General Assembly. The session was attended by 32 State delegations. It was opened by the Chairman of the UNIDROIT General Assembly, Ambassador Paul Dühr of the Embassy of Luxembourg in Rome, UNIDROIT Secretary-General Professor Ignacio Tirado, and Chief of Technical Interoperability of OTIF Mr Bas Leermakers. The Commission, Co-Chaired by Mr Peter Bloch and Ms Mervi Kaikkonen (who participated remotely), approved the Statutes and the Rules of Procedure of the Supervisory Authority, as well as future steps leading to the entry into force of the Protocol. A number of participating delegations made statements relating to the benefits connected with the future operation of the Protocols as well as to the status of the ratification process in their legal system. On the second day, panellists briefed interested delegations on the Protocol and its implementation.

-> Click here for further information on the Luxembourg Rail Protocol

At its 77th session (Rome, 6 December 2018), the General Assembly elected the 25 members of the UNIDROIT Governing Council for the period 1 January 2019 - 31 December 2023. The Governing Council is the organ at UNIDROIT which supervises all policy aspects of the means by which the Institute's statutory objectives are to be attained and in particular the way in which the Secretariat carries out the Work Programme drawn up by the Council. It is made up of one ex officio member, the President of the Institute, and 25 elected members, mostly eminent judges, practitioners, academics and civil servants.

The ELI/UNIDROIT Project on Transnational Civil Procedure – Formulation of Regional Rules was showcased at a conference held on 26-27 November in Trier, with participation of project members and external commentators. The conference, hosted by the Academy of European Law (ERA), was opened by Dr Angelika Fuchs (Head of European Private Law Section, ERA), Diana Wallis (Former President of ELI, Independent European Lawyer, Hull), Professor Anna Veneziano (Deputy Secretary-General, UNIDROIT) and Mr Robert Bray (Former Head of Unit, Committee on Legal Affairs, European Parliament), and featured three focus panels addressing key project issues, namely “Parties, collective redress and funding”, “Civil procedure, the challenges of modern technology and artificial intelligence”, and “Structure of civil proceedings – towards a coherent model law”, as well as an introductory panel, chaired by Professor Anna Veneziano, which featured an overview on various aspects of the draft provided by the project Working Groups.  

              -> Full programme of the conference                   -> More on the project

On 14th November 2018, UNIDROIT Secretary-General Professor Ignacio Tirado participated in a panel discussion titled ‘Legal Regime of Outer Space and Global Space Governance’ at the ‘United Nations/Germany High Level Forum: The way forward after UNISPACE+50 and on Space2030’ in Bonn, Germany. The Secretary-General presented on  ‘UNIDROIT and the Financing of the Space Industry’. The panel also included presentations from Sumaya Al Hajeri (UAE Space Agency), Bernhard Schmidt-Tedd (DLR), Bayar Goswami (McGill University), Marco Ferrazzani (ESA), Oliver Heinrich (BHO-Legal) and Andzej Misztal (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland).

-> For more details on the United Nations /
    Germany High Level Forum: The way forward
    after UNISPACE+50 and on Space2030 click here

-> For more details on the Space Protocol
     to the Cape Town Convention click here

On 12 and 13 November 2018,  UNIDROIT hosted an event on the Human-Centred Business Model organised in collaboration with the OECD Development Centre and the University of Florence, comprising a public event (12 November, morning) and two Workshops (12 November, afternoon and 13 November, morning).

The public event and the two workshops were attended by a broad and diversified group of experts and practitioners who made substantial contributions to the review of three Research Papers on the Guiding Principles and Corporate Governance of the Project.

The papers, presentations and other key documents are available on the UNIDROIT website to all the attendees and to those who were unable to attend or watch the live streaming of the event.

The panelists included Prof. Ignacio Tirado (Secretary-General, UNIDROIT), Senator Mauro Del Barba, Mr Marco Nicoli (OECD DEV); Prof. Andrea Zorzi (University of Florence); Ms Margherita Bianchini (ASSONIME); Prof. Juli Ponce Sole and Prof. Marta Ortega Gomez (University of Barcelona); Prof. Isabella Bunn (Oxford University); Prof. Thomas McInerney (Loyola University); Prof. Martin Petrin (UCL); and Prof. Paolo Montalenti (University of Turin). 

An updated version of the papers will be posted on the website once the input included.

-> Presentations and documents   

-> List of participants

Opening session - from left to right: Senator M. Del Barba, Prof. I. Tirado and Mr. M. Nicoli		Panel - from left to right: Prof. M. Ortega, Prof. J. Ponce, Prof. T. McInerney, Prof. A. Zorzi, Prof. I. Bunn and Ms. M. Bianchini

The UNIDROIT Secretary-General, Professor Ignacio Tirado, participated in the World Bank’s LJD Week (Washington, 5-9 November 2018) to pursue further collaboration with the World Bank Group and the Global Forum on LJD and to raise awareness about UNIDROIT’s work, including by leading two sessions. First, in a session entitled “UNIDROIT Secretary-General’s Vision on Law and Development” on 7 November, he debated how UNIDROIT could support economic empowerment and achievement of the SDGs, together with Ms Nathalie Rey (Senior Counsel, Export-Import Bank of the United States of America) who discussed the future MAC Protocol and with Ms Yuliya Panfil (Investment Manager, Property Rights Initiative, Omidyar Network) who discussed the future Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts. Second, in a session entitled “Community of Practice on Private Law and Agricultural Development” on 8 November, he considered, together with Professor Thomas McInerney (Rule of Law for Development Institute, Loyola University Chicago School of Law), how the Global Forum’s Community of Practice could promote UNIDROIT’s work in this area, contribute to a fairer and more secure legal environment and respond to economic and social challenges in agriculture.

-> UNIDROIT’s work and instruments in the area of agriculture

-> LJD Week 2018

-> Global Forum on LJD

From left to right: Ms Nathalie Rey, Secretary- General Ignacio Tirado and Ms Yuliya Panfil		Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado and Professor Thomas McInerney

From 6-9 November 2018, UNIDROIT was invited to participate at the 25th Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agencies Forum organised jointly in Singapore by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) and the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA). Hamza Hameed (UNIDROIT) delivered a presentation in the Academic Workshop on Space Policy and Law Perspectives for Space Debris Management held on Tuesday, 6 November 2018 titled: ‘Asset-based Financing in the Space Industry – Asset-based Financing to Facilitate Investment in Space Assets to Augment Space Debris Management’, and one to the plenary in the session on Space Cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Region on Thursday, 8 November 2018 titled: ‘Asset-based Financing in the Space Industry – The Space Protocol of the Cape Town Convention – An Internationally Coordinated Effort to Introduce a Harmonised System of Secured Transactions Law to the Space Industry’.

APRSAF-25 was attended by over 300 delegates from space agencies, governments, international organisations, and space industry participants primarily from within the Asia-Pacific Region.

-> Learn more about APRSAF

-> Learn more about the Space Protocol

On 25 October 2018, the Faculty of Law of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso - PUCV, Chile, hosted an International Colloquium on "El contrato agrícola: experiencias y desarrollos en el derecho latinoamericano y uniforme", with an opening lecture by Ms Frederique Mestre, Senior Legal Officer, Unidroit, on "Hacia un modelo de regulación de la agricultura por contrato: La tarea de Unidroit"; Panel 1 on "Agricultura por Contratos en Latinoamérica: Argentina y Brasil", moderated by Prof. Rodrigo Momberg Uribe with presentations by Prof. Maria Adriana Victoria, Prof. Nancy L. Malanos, Dr. Nunziata Valenza Paiva, Prof. Iacyr de Aguilar Vieira and Prof. Kassia Watanabe; Panel 2 on "El contrato agrícola en Chile. Un desafío pendiente" moderated by Prof. Nancy L. Malanos with presentations by Prof. Alvaro Vidal Olivares, Prof. Rodrigo Momberg Uribe, Prof. Jaime Alcalde, Dr. Matias Araya and Dr Sebastián Norris.

The Colloquium concluded with the launch of the book of the (reprint) Spanish version of the Legal Guide on Contract Farming UNIDROIT/FAO/IFAD, published by "Derecho PUCV".

-> Click here for the programme

-> Click here for more information on the Legal Guide

From left to right : Dr Nunziata Valenza Paiva, Prof. Rodrigo Momberg Uribe, Prof. Iacyr de Aguilar Vieira and Prof. Kassia Watanabe		Prof. Alvaro Vidal Olivares (PUCV) and Ms Frederique Mestre (UNIDROIT)		Ediciones Universitaria de Valparaiso, 2018