Welcome to the Private International Law site, maintained by the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law (L/PIL) at the U.S. Department of State. L/PIL is responsible for the negotiation and conclusion of international conventions, model laws and rules, legislative guides, and other instruments governing private transactions that cross international borders. For Current Developments, see below.
This website is intended to provide a convenient location to find information regarding private international law in areas such as trade, finance and banking; judicial assistance; arbitration and judgments; matters involving families and children; and wills, trusts and estates.
(updated 1-04-10)
Several working groups of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) met in the late fall. Working Group VI (Security Interests) met November 2-6 and made substantial progress in developing an intellectual property annex to the 2007 UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions. At its November 9-13 meeting, Working Group V (Insolvency) concluded its work on domestic law aspects of the treatment of corporate groups when one or more entities are involved in insolvency proceedings, and will recommend that the UNCITRAL Commission adopt, at its 2010 plenary meeting in June/July, a supplement to the existing Guide on Insolvency Law. Progress was also made on international legal issues involving corporate groups with entities in multiple countries, and the Working Group will determine at its next meeting in April whether an instrument on that will be ready to submit to the Commission. Working Group I (Procurement) made significant progress during its December 7-11 meeting in a second reading of the draft text of revisions to the 1994 UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement. The second reading should be completed at the Working Group’s next meeting in April 2010.
The Hague Conference on Private International Law held a Special Commission November 10-17 to discuss implementation of the 2007 Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (which is not yet in force). The Special Commission adopted 12 recommended forms to be used by parties to the treaty for making and addressing child support-related requests and a country profile form that will explain how each country will implement its treaty obligations. The Permanent Bureau is continuing work on a practical handbook for caseworkers and an implementation checklist. On November 17, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported out favorably the Child Support Convention. We are awaiting action by the full Senate.
UNIDROIT held an intergovernmental meeting at Rome December 7-11 on the proposed space finance protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. The participants addressed a number of unresolved technical questions and also discussed the need for an economic impact assessment of the proposed protocol as proposed by Canada, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Institute intends to conduct such an assessment within the limits of available resources, but a large majority of states rejected deferring further work. The status of the project will again be considered when the Governing Council meets in May 2010. During the meeting on the space finance protocol, the European Community signed the second protocol to the Cape Town Convention covering financing of railroad equipment, which is expected to advance the implementation of that protocol.
L/PIL held two public meetings in December under the auspices of the Department of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law. One, held on December 9, concerned options for implementation of the UNCITRAL Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (Rotterdam Rules), which was signed by the United States in September 2009. The other, held on December 14, was a meeting of the OAS CIDIP study group, which is considering various proposals in the OAS regarding consumer protection.
Looking ahead: On January 12, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Abbott v. Abbott, which deals with the interpretation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The issue there is whether a ne exeat order confers a right of custody within the meaning of that Convention. The OAS CIDIP study group will convene again on January 15 to continue its discussion. UNCITRAL Working Group II (International Arbitration and Reconciliation) will meet February 1-5 with the objective of completing its work on revisions to the 1976 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. February 8-12, Working Group VI will meet with the expectation of completing the intellectual property annex to the 2007 Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions. In March, UNCITRAL plans to host two colloquia in Vienna: one on possible future work for Working Group VI, and another regarding online dispute resolution for E-commerce.
