Dear Colleagues,
I would like
to welcome each of you as Members of this Group of Experts for the
Seventh Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private
International Law (CIDIP-VII) Topic I – Consumer Protection.
After our
preliminary opening of Discussions, in which we received several
important contributions and proposals, we will begin with the
Formal article-by-article review of the working documents for
Topic I.
In your
capacities as Governmental Experts, Independent Experts,
International Organization Experts, and Experts from the
Inter-American Juridical Committee, you will participate freely in
all deliberations to take place over the next several months.
Through your participation in this internet discussion forum, the
Group of Experts will draft new Inter-American Instruments on
Consumer Protection for presentation to the Member States during
CIDIP-VII.
The
objective of the preliminary opportunity for discussion in April
and May was to receive initial impressions of a general nature
from the Group of Experts with respect to the proposed Instruments
on Applicable Law, on one hand, and Jurisdiction, on the other.
In this regard, your participation was very productive considering
that, thanks to the explanatory documents provided by Dr. Lima
Marques, we now have a detailed vision of the purposes and
operation of the Convention on Applicable Law. Moreover, thanks
to the additional contributions from the Group, we now also have a
broad view of the interdependence between the topic on Applicable
Law and the second topic on Jurisdiction, including the possible
need to manage both in parallel manner.
This
interdependence was also discussed in detail during the
negotiations of the Member States for the selection of the topics
for CIDIP-VII. During these negotiations, what was decided was to
handle both topics separately, both to facilitate the preparatory
work and to permit moving forward with one topic or another
without tying their progress to each other.
Consequently, preparatory work will continue under that premise –
these topics will be handled separately, starting with Applicable
Law and continuing with Jurisdiction.
A second
premise under which the Group of Experts will work concerns rules
for achieving consensus on the texts of the working documents. In
this regard, the absence of specific comments will be interpreted
as approval of current texts. Moreover, alternate proposals
presented by one Member of the Group of Experts must achieve
consensus through a showing of support from other Members. These
premises apply to both Governmental Delegations and
Non-Governmental Experts. As a result, Experts should provide
specific comments on all features important to your
Delegations, all features on which you have technical
contributions or proposed alternate language, and all
proposals which you believe improve the current drafts.
Members of
the Group of Experts must keep in mind that we only have four
weeks in which to present specific comments with regard to the
Draft Convention on Applicable Law presented by Brazil. As
you also recall, this timetable is divided into a discussion on
Articles 1 – 4 during the first two weeks of June, continuing with
a discussion on Articles 5 – 7 during the final two weeks of the
month.
Even though
time is short, your initial contributions are significant steps
forward, especially considering that most already contain specific
comments on the Articles of this proposed instrument.
Consequently, I would like to request that the Author of the Draft
Convention and other Experts that have presented specific
comments, that you reintroduce your comments to the forum under
the Article-by-Article format in conformity with the mentioned
timetable.
As a final
rule, Experts must keep in mind that the final objective is the
drafting of the Articles for the Convention, a task that should
take place in such a way as to address all your concerns, comments
and consensus. As a result, your contributions to the forum must
refer principally to the text and language of each article and,
preferably, will present changes to the text or current language
or present alternative compositions of the provisions of the
current draft.
This
methodology will provide a clear and detailed vision concerning
each of the Articles of this draft in the most methodical manner
possible and will provide the necessary sources to revise the
present Draft Convention.
Finally, I
wish to remind you that this is your forum. We are here to serve
you in your mission to draft legal instruments on secured
transactions for adoption by OAS Member States. As a result,
please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or
comments, or if there is anything we can do to improve the forum.
Thank you
all in advance for your active participation. |