UNIDROIT participates in Roundtable on Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems and Digital Transition

On 19 November 2021, Legal Officers Ms Philine Wehling and Ms Priscila Andrade participated at the final event of the Winter School on EU Law on Digital Agriculture, organised by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa) within the Jean Monnet Module SUSTAIN.

Their presentation entitled “Fostering digital transition in agriculture through private law” highlighted the relevance of technology in a number of current UNIDROIT projects. Emphasis was given to the joint UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT project to develop a Model Law on Warehouse Receipts and its focus on electronic warehouse receipts (EWRs).

An enabling legal framework for EWRs can promote their use in the agricultural sector, and thereby contribute to digital transition in agribusiness more broadly. The presentation discussed different technological models that are currently being deployed for EWRs (e.g., registry and token-based) and illustrated their implementation through practical country examples. It explored the advantages of and legal challenges related to EWRs, and explained how the Model Law aims to adopt a technology-neutral approach to maximise applicability across different jurisdictions in the future notwithstanding continuing technological developments.

The event also featured presentations by academics and representatives of the FAO, World Bank, European Commission and the Italian Ministry of Agriculture.

Learn more about UNIDROIT’s agriculture development projects  here.

Learn more about the UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts Project here.

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