Secured Transactions - November 2013

Department of International Law Attends Conference and Annual Meeting of the American Association of Private International Law (ASADIP)

The Department of International Law (DIL) took part in the recent conference and annual meeting of the American Association of Private International Law (ASADIP) that was held on October 31st and November 1st in Asuncion, Paraguay. ASADIP was founded in 2007 with one of its objectives being “to cooperate with the Organization of American States regarding Inter American draft rules on the subject, as well as with other instances and universal, regional, sub regional and national institutions, both public and private, in charge of the drafting and development of Private International Law.” The two organizations subsequently entered into a cooperative agreement in furtherance of that objective.

The ASADIP 2013 Annual Meeting was attended by practitioners, academics and government officials, including legal experts from several OAS Member States, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (Regional Office). Presentations were made at the conference on a wide range of technical topics that included the following: responses of private international law (PIL) to the international financial crisis; hedge funds and sovereign debt; electronic transfer of funds and international payments; security interests in international trade; cross boundary insolvency; new directions in international contracts; stock markets and financial mediation; international cooperation and international litigation in relation to banking and stock exchanges.

Mr. Dante Negro, Director of the DIL, gave the inaugural address to open the conference, during which he invited closer collaboration between the two organizations and outlined steps that could be taken towards strengthening this relationship. By drawing upon the technical expertise within the broad base of the ASADIP membership, it will be possible to build on the valuable legacy that has been created by the Inter-American system and to develop further initiatives in this important field. Ms. Jeannette Tramhel, Senior Legal Officer, took part in the panel on secured transactions and explained the participatory law reform process that DIL is using in its Secured  Financing Project in the Americas, made possible with financial support from the Government of Canada. (For information about that project, see previous post, July 23, 2013.

To see OAS Booklet — Secured Transactions Reform in the Americas, click here »

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