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International Institute for the Unification of Private Law
Sede UNIDROIT Roma.jpeg
Abbreviation UNIDROIT
Formation 1926
Type intergovernmental Organization
Headquarters Rome, Italy
Membership
65 States (2023)
Official language
English

French

Spanish

Italian

German
Secretary General
Professor Ignacio Tirado
President
Professor Maria Chiara Malaguti
Website https://www.unidroit.org/

UNIDROIT (formally, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law; French: Institut international pour l'unification du droit privé) is an intergovernmental organization whose objective is to harmonize private international law across countries through uniform rules, international conventions, and the production of model laws, sets of principles, guides and guidelines. Established in 1926 as part of the League of Nations, it was reestablished in 1940 following the League's dissolution through a multilateral agreement, the UNIDROIT Statute. As of 2023 UNIDROIT has 65 member states.

UNIDROIT has prepared multiple conventions (treaties), but has also developed soft law instruments. An example are the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. Distinctly different from the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) adopted by UNCITRAL, the UNIDROIT Principles do not apply as a matter of law, but only when chosen by the parties as their contractual regime.

Seat

The seat of UNIDROIT is in Rome, Italy, between via Nazionale and via Panisperna, occupying the Villa Aldobrandini, a 17th-century princely villa that borders the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, to the south.

Working methods

Preliminary stage

Once a subject has been included in UNIDROIT's Work Programme, the Secretariat is responsible for preparing a feasibility study and a preliminary comparative law analysis to evaluate the relevance and feasibility of the proposed reform. This study will be presented to the Governing Council for review, and if considered appropriate, a committee will be established to draft a preliminary project for a convention or other legal instruments.

Intergovernmental negotiation stage

A preliminary draft instrument prepared by the study group is presented to the Governing Council for approval and guidance on the next steps. If it is a preliminary draft Convention, the Council usually requests the Secretariat to form a committee of governmental experts to finalize a draft Convention for submission to a Diplomatic Conference. If an alternative to a preliminary draft Convention is deemed unsuitable for the committee, the Council authorizes its publication and dissemination by UNIDROIT.

Participation in UNIDROIT committees is open to representatives of all Member States, and additional States, international organizations, and professional associations may be invited as observers. The finalized draft Convention by the committee is submitted to the Governing Council for approval. If it reflects a consensus among the participating States and has a good chance of adoption at a Diplomatic Conference, the Council authorizes its transmission to the Conference. The Diplomatic Conference, convened by a UNIDROIT Member State, adopts the draft Convention as an international Convention.

Co-operation with other international organisations

UNIDROIT maintains cooperative relationships with various international organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, through cooperation agreements at the inter-Secretariat level. The Hague Conference on Private International Law, UNIDROIT, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), known as "the three sisters," are the primary private-law formulating agencies. UNIDROIT's expertise in the international unification of law also leads to commissioned work for other organizations, including comparative law studies and drafting Conventions that serve as the foundation for international instruments in those organizations.

Network of correspondents

In order to fulfill its statutory objectives, UNIDROIT recognizes the critical importance of having access to current and comprehensive legal information from diverse jurisdictions. However, obtaining such information can be challenging. Therefore, UNIDROIT establishes and maintains a network of correspondents comprising academic and practicing lawyers from both Member and non-Member States. These correspondents are appointed by the Governing Council and serve as valuable sources of legal knowledge, enabling UNIDROIT to stay informed about the state of the law in different countries.

Membership

Unidroit map
Mai 2023

States become members through acceding to its statute. The 65 members are:

Member country Year of joining
 Argentina 1972
 Australia 1973
 Austria 1948
 Belgium 1940
 Bolivia 1940
 Brazil 1940
 Bulgaria 1940
 Canada 1968
 Chile 1951
 China 1986
 Colombia 1940
 Croatia 1996
 Cuba 1940
 Cyprus 1999
 Czech Republic 1993
 Denmark 1940
 Egypt 1951
 Estonia 2001
 Finland 1940
 France 1948
 Germany 1940
 Greece 1940
 Holy See 1945
 Hungary 1940
 India 1950
 Indonesia 2009
 Iran 1951
 Iraq 1973
 Ireland 1940
 Israel 1954
 Italy 1940
 Japan 1954
 Latvia 2006
 Lithuania 2007
 Luxembourg 1951
 Malta 1970
 Mexico 1940
 Netherlands 1940
 Nicaragua 1940
 Nigeria 1964
 Norway 1951
 Pakistan 1964
 Paraguay 1940
 Poland 1979
 Portugal 1949
 South Korea 1981
 Serbia (joined as  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) 2001
 Romania 1940
 Russia (joined as  Soviet Union) 1990
 San Marino 1945
 Saudi Arabia 2009
 Singapore 2023
 Slovakia 1993
 Slovenia 1995
 South Africa 1971
 Spain 1940
 Sweden 1940
 Switzerland 1940
 Tunisia 1980
 Turkey 1950
 United Kingdom 1948
 United States 1964
 Uruguay 1940
 Venezuela 1940
 Mongolia 2023

Ecuador was a member State of UNIDROIT from 1940 to 1964; Lebanon was a member State of UNIDROIT from 1958 to 1964 and Senegal was a member State from 1991 to 1997. Countries which have ceased to exist are former member states: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, United Arab Republic, and Yugoslavia.

Unidroit instruments

Conventions

Unidroit has over the years prepared the following international Conventions, drawn up by Unidroit and adopted by diplomatic Conferences convened by member States of Unidroit:

  • Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods (The Hague, 1964)
  • Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (The Hague, 1964)
  • International Convention on Travel Contracts (Brussels, 1970)
  • Convention providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will (Washington, D.C., 1973)
  • Convention on Agency in the International Sale of Goods (Geneva, 1983)
  • UNIDROIT Convention on International Financial Leasing (Ottawa, 1988)
  • UNIDROIT Convention on International Factoring (Ottawa, 1988)
  • UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (Rome, 1995)
  • Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Cape Town, 2001)
    • Protocol on Aircraft (2001)
    • Protocol on Railway Rolling Stock (2007)
    • Protocol on Space Assets (2012)
    • Protocol on Matters Specific to mining, Agricultural and Construction Equipment (2019)
  • Geneva Securities Convention (Geneva, 2009)

UNIDROIT is depositary of two of its conventions: the Cape Town Convention (including its four protocols) as well as the Geneva Securities Convention.

For many years UNIDROIT prepared the background studies for international conventions that were subsequently finalized by other international organisations. To be noted among these, are the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), finalized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe in 1956, and the United Nations Convention on the Liability of Operators of Transport Terminals in International Trade finalized by UNCITRAL in 1991.

Soft law

The institute has prepared non-binding rules to serve as a source of inspiration for members of the international community, such as model laws, principles and legal and contractual guides.

  • the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (1994, 2004, 2010 and 2016)
  • the ALI / UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure (in co-operation with the American Law Institute) (2004)
  • the 2011 Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects (in co-operation with UNESCO)
  • the Principles on the Operation of Close-Out Netting Provisions (2013)
  • the UNIDROIT/FAO/IFAD Legal Guide on Contract Farming (2015)
  • the ELI/UNIDROIT Model European Rules of Civil Procedure (2020)
  • UNIDROIT/ IFAD Legal Guide on agricultural land investment contracts (2021)
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