Professor Herbert KRONKE (Director of the Institute for Foreign and International Private and Economic Law, University of Heidelberg, Germany), who was appointed to the post of Secretary-General of UNIDROIT by the UNIDROIT Governing Council at its 77th session (16-20 February 1998), took office on 1 September 1998.
52nd Session of the UNIDROIT General Assembly (Rome, 27 November 1998)
I. PREPARATION OF UNIFORM LAW INSTRUMENTSa. Priority items:
1. International interests in mobile equipment
2. The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contractsb. Other items under consideration, subject to the identification of external funding:
1. Model law on disclosure (franchising)
2. Model law on leasing
3. Transnational rules for civil procedure
4. Uniform rules applicable to transportII. ACTIVITIES CONNECTED WITH THE UNIFICATION OF LAW
1. Legal co-operation programme
2. Promotion of UNIDROIT activities and instruments (in particular the Internet site)
3. UNIDROIT Publications
4. Data bank on uniform law (in collaboration with the UNIDROIT Foundation)
The following were elected members of the Governing Council for the period running from 1 January 1999 until 31 December 2003: Mr Ömer I. AKIPEK (Turkey); Mr Luiz Olavo BAPTISTA (Brazil); Mr Anthony S. BLUNN (Australia); Mr Antonio BOGGIANO (Argentina); Mme Isabel DE MAGALHĂES COLLAÇO (Portugal); Mr Michael B. ELMER (Denmark); Mr Royston M. GOODE (United Kingdom); Mr Arthur S. HARTKAMP (the Netherlands); Mr Gerard W. HOGAN (Ireland); Mr Kiyoshi HOSOKAWA (Japan); Mr Alexander KOMAROV (Russian Federation); Mr Roland LOEWE (Austria); Mr Byung-Hwa LYOU (Republic of Korea); Mr Ferenc MÁDL (Hungary); Mr Jacques PUTZEYS (Belgium); Mr Jorge SÁNCHEZ CORDERO DAVILA (Mexico); Mr Biswanath B. SEN (India); Mr Bruno STURLESE (France); Mr Ronald THANDABANTU NHLAPO (South Africa); Ms Anne-Marie TRAHAN (Canada); Mr Evelio VERDERA y TUELLS (Spain); Mr Ioannis VOULGARIS (Greece); Mr Maher A. WAHED (Egypt); Mr Pierre WIDMER (Switzerland); Mr Yuqing ZHANG (People's Republic of China).Cyprus joins UNIDROIT
Following the deposit by Cyprus of its instrument of accession to the Statute of the Institute with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with effect from 1 January 1999, UNIDROIT now has 58 member States: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia (former Federative Socialist Republic of).
The preliminary draft UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the preliminary draft Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment, as revised by the Steering and Revisions Committee, will be submitted to a committee of governmental experts whose first meeting will be held in Rome from 1-12 February 1999. It has been agreed that the intergovernmental process will be co-sponsored by UNIDROIT and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The application of the Convention was extended for Canada to New Brunswick with effect from 5 December 1997.
Hungary ratified the Convention on 8 May 1998, with entry into force for that State scheduled for 1 November 1998.
The Russian Federation acceded (with a declaration) to the Convention on 3 June 1998, with entry into force for that State scheduled for 1 January 1999, while Belarus acceded on 18 August 1998, with entry into force for that State scheduled for 1 March 1999.
Germany ratified the Convention on 20 May 1998, with entry into force for that State scheduled for 1 December 1998.
UNIDROIT has established relations with the professional circles most involved in the areas to be covered by the uniform law data base, with a view to exploring possible partnership formulae.
The following scholars conducted research at UNIDROIT between 1 March and 31 December 1998:
Mr Bizan IZADI (Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran) conducted research (1 June - 15 July 1998) on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, as well as a comparative study on the rules applicable to contracts under the Iranian Civil Code, with a view to the translation of the Principles into Persian, with a grant from UNIDROIT'S legal co-operation fund.
Mr Mohamed El Hadi ALLALI (Assistant Professor, University of Annaba, Algeria) conducted comparative research into the application of commercial law to State-owned companies (1 June - 31 July 1998), with funding from the French Government.
Mr Le NET (Assistant Professor, National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) carried out research (30 June - 7 August 1998) on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and their application in the developing world, and completed the translation of the Principles into Vietnamese, with a grant from the Korean Government.
Mr Miklós KIRÁLY (Assistant Professor, Eötvos Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary), conducted a comparative study on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and European Union contract law (30 June - 10 August 1998), with funding from the Korean Government.
Ms Sathya NARAYAN (Joint Director, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Puna, India), undertook a comparative study (1 July - 30 September 1998) on tort law and ways of framing a better extra-contractual liability law for India, with funding from the Korean Government.
Ms Mirela RUSU (Counsellor, Head of Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bucharest, Romania) completed a two-month research period (15 September - 15 November 1998) on contracts between the State and private foreign investors: dispute settlement, with a grant from the French Government.
Ms Jana ZASTEROVA (Head of the Department of Environmental Law, Czech Academy of Science; Adviser to the Czech Government) carried out comparative research (2 September - 15 October 1998) on insurance law and environmental protection, with a French Government grant.
Mr Ion BURUIANA, Assistant Dean (Faculty of Law, University of Chisinau, Moldavia) spent three months at the Institute (15 September - 15 December 1998) on research into the lex mercatoria and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and international commercial arbitration, with funding from the Agence de la Francophonie (Paris).
1. See UNIDROIT News, Uniform Law Review 1997, 712, for an account of the work carried out prior to the situation here described. See also R.M. GOODE, "Transcending the Boundaries of Earth and Space: the Preliminary Draft UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment", Uniform Law Review 1998, 52. [Back to text]
2. Prof. R.M. GOODE, Q.C., Professor of English Law in the University of Oxford, Member of the UNIDROIT Governing Council; Prof. P. WIDMER, Director of the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne, Member of the UNIDROIT Governing Council; Mr W. RODINŇ, Acting Secretary-General, Prof. H. KRONKE, Secretary-General elect; International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): Dr L. WEBER, Director of the Legal Bureau; International Air Transport Association (IATA): Mr A. CHARLTON, Director of Legal Services (Geneva); Aviation Working Group: Mr J. WOOL, Co-ordinator; Partner, Perkins Coie (London); Experts: re: private international law aspects of the texts: Hague Conference on Private International Law: Prof. C. KESSEDJIAN, Deputy Secretary-General; re: relations of the texts with other conventions, Prof. C. CHINKIN, Professor of Law, London School of Economics; Member of the International Law Association Committee on relations between existing Treaties and new Treaties. [Back to text]