International Commercial Law: 2007 Developments

摘要

This Survey reviews progress during 2007 in the international community's initiatives to modernize and harmonize international commercial law. A major highlight this year was the adoption of the Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL" or the "Commission"). We include a brief summary of the Legislative Guide below, which is designed to assist countries in developing or modernizing their law governing secured transactions in personal property. In addition to UNCITRAL, the Organization of American States ("OAS"), the Hague Conference on Private International Law (the "Hague Conference"), and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law ("UNIDROIT") spearheaded efforts to update international commercial law. We discuss the initiatives of each of these international bodies. UNCITRAL acts primarily through its six working groups, which typically meet biannually and are responsible for the substantive preparatory work on topics approved by the Commission.