In its latest session, held in October 2020, the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) approved Guidelines on Binding and Non-Binding Agreements that offer definitions, understandings and “best practices” for OAS Member States (and others) to consider when they pursue different types of international agreements and engage with the various actors – States, government agencies, and sub-national territorial units – who make them, fostering clarity and reducing the risk for future with other States in the region and beyond.

In order to give the broadest dissemination to these Guidelines, and as requested by the CJI, the Department of International Law (DIL), in its capacity as Technical Secretariat of said Organ, held a webinar on November 12th, with Professor Duncan Hollis who served as rapporteur, presenting the Guidelines; CJI Member Dr. George Bandeira Galindo, who provided comments, and the Director of the DIL as moderator. This event may be accessed on demand at this link.

Furthermore, de DIL is pleased to announce that the Guidelines are available in the four official languages of the Organization at this link.

The CJI is the consultative organ of the OAS for juridical matters and is composed of eleven jurists from the Member States, elected to a four-year term.

For further information on this subject, contact the OAS Department of International Law (Technical Secretariat to the Inter-American Juridical Committee) at telephone + 1 202 370 0741.