• Institutional Aspects
• Implementation of the work programme for 1999-2001
• UNIDROIT Research Scholarships Programme
• UNIDROIT: Congresses and Colloquia
• Depository Libraries for UNIDROIT Documentation

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by a note verbale dated 26 April 2001, informed the Secretariat of UNIDROIT that on 1 April 2001, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia communicated that its Government had decided to accede to UNIDROIT as a new member State in accordance with Article 20 of the Statute of the Institute of 15 March 1940.

Diplomatic Conference to adopt a Mobile Equipment Convention and an Aircraft Protocol
Cape Town (South Africa), 29 October – 16 November 2001

Since the last report on this area of the Institute’s activities (cf. Unif. L. Rev. / Rev. dr. unif. 2000, 270-275), considerable progress has been achieved across the full range of activities under this heading.

Undoubtedly the principal landmarks reached were the decisions taken by the competent organs of both UNIDROIT (Governing Council, 79^th session, Lisbon 10-13 April 2000) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (ICAO Council, 9^th meeting of its 161^st session on 22 November 2000) to approve the texts of the draft UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (hereinafter referred to as the draft Convention) and the draft Protocol thereto on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment (hereinafter referred to as the draft Aircraft Protocol) as ready for submission to a diplomatic Conference of adoption and to authorise the convening of a diplomatic Conference for the adoption of these draft instruments, at the kind invitation of the Government of South Africa, in Cape Town from 29 October to 16 November 2001.

Information on the Conference, as well as the documents which will be submitted to the Conference, are accessible on UNIDROIT Internet Website.

The Institute’s activities over the period under consideration are set out below in relation to the different texts involved.

I. - DRAFT CONVENTION/AIRCRAFT PROTOCOL

Ad hoc Registry Task Force

An ad hoc task force was set up at the UNIDROIT / ICAO Third Joint Session (Rome, 20-31 March 2000) to prepare for the establishment of the International Registry for aircraft objects. Mr J.R. STANDELL (United States of America) and Mr G. GRALL (France) were elected Co-chairmen. The Task Force met in Paris from 21 to 23 June 2000. UNIDROIT was represented by Mr M.J. STANFORD, Principal Research Officer, and Mr A. DE FONTMICHEL, Associate Research Officer. During its meeting the Task Force considered inter alia a draft request for proposals, a draft requirements document and a draft regarding the process for the soliciting and evaluation of proposals. The Task Force recommended that a modern acquisition process to establish and operate an International Registry be commenced several months before the diplomatic Conference. It was recognised that the process might need to be conducted by a provisional authority.

The Task Force subsequently met during the 31st Session of the ICAO Legal Committee (Montreal, 28 August – 3 September 2000), on which occasion it was agreed that the draft request for proposals, the draft requirements document and the draft regarding the process for the soliciting and evaluation of proposals should be updated and that the Task Force should consider a technical evaluation plan and the regulations to be prepared, as well as proprietary rights, the scope of legal relations between the Supervisory Authority and the Registrar, cost recovery methods and insurance.

These issues as well as details of technical specifications, the possibility of developing a prototype and the framework for the private-law relationship between Supervisory Authority and Registrar were further discussed further at the following sessions of the Task Force, held in Dublin from 16 to 18 January and in Washington, D.C. from 13 to 15 February 2001. The Co-Chairmen submitted a Report on these sessions and a package of documents required for a call for tenders by States interested in hosting the registry to the Secretariats of UNIDROIT and ICAO, with a view to ensuring that the time before the diplomatic Conference can b e used to the best possible advantage of all parties involved.

The draft Convention and the draft Aircraft Protocol were discussed at a regional seminar (23 to 25 May 2001) organised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Trade Development Board and co-sponsored by UNIDROIT and ICAO. The objective of the seminar was to improve the level of awareness with regard to both instruments in the Asian Pacific region and to clarify and define the positions of Governments and users of the draft instruments. UNIDROIT was represented by the Secretary-General, Mr H. KRONKE. Speakers included representatives of ICAO (Mr L. WEBER and Mr S. ESPINOLA), the Aviation Working Group (Mr Jeffrey WOOL), IATA (Mr L. CLARK) and the Director General of the Department of Policy and Regulation, CAAC, Mr YUAN YAOHUI.

II. - PRELIMINARY DRAFT RAIL PROTOCOL ¹

The preliminary draft Protocol to the draft Convention on Matters specific to Railway Rolling Stock (hereinafter referred to as the preliminary draft Rail Protocol) was considered by a first session of a joint UNIDROIT / O.T.I.F. committee of governmental experts, held in Berne (Switzerland) at the seat of O.T.I.F. on 15 and 16 March 2001. This session was attended by the representatives of 20 States and five international non-governmental Organisations. The session was chaired by Mr K.F. KREUZER (Germany). The Deputy Chairman was Ms I. WEINBERG DE ROCA (Argentina). A restricted drafting committee set up at the conclusion of the session will be responsible for preparing a revised version of the preliminary draft Rail Protocol, to reflect the amendments agreed upon at the first joint session. It is anticipated that a second joint session will be held in Rome in Spring 2002.

II. - PRELIMINARY DRAFT SPACE PROPERTY PROTOCOL ²

At its 43^rd session, held in Vienna from 7 to 16 June 2000, where UNIDROIT was represented by Mr STANFORD, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) decided to include consideration of the draft Convention and the preliminary draft Protocol on Matters specific to Space Property (hereinafter referred to as the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol) as a new single issue/item for discussion on the agenda of the Legal Subcommittee of COPUOS at its 40th session, to be held in Vienna from 2 to 12 April 2001, and to invite UNIDROIT and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) to prepare a joint background paper to assist COPUOS member Governments on that occasion.

In the light of this decision, UNIDROIT, following consultation with OOSA, decided to convene back-to-back meetings of the Space Working Group and an ad hoc restricted informal group of experts to focus in a preliminary way on the issues likely to be discussed by the Legal Subcommittee, in particular the relationship between the draft Convention and the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol and existing space law and the question as to whether the United Nations might be interested in exercising the functions of Supervisory Authority in respect of the international registration system intended to underpin the future Space Property Protocol, and at the same time to advance the work of the Space Working Group, in particular by updating the then current working draft of the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol.

The meeting of the restricted informal group of experts was held in Rome on 18 and 19 October 2000. It was attended by experts designated by eight UNIDROIT member States, one intergovernmental Organisation and four international non-governmental Organisations and representatives of the international commercial aerospace and financial communities. It was chaired by Mr O. TELL (France). Mr N. HEDMAN (Sweden) was Deputy Chairman.

The Space Working Group met in Rome on 19 and 20 October 2000, under the chairman-ship of Mr P.D. NESGOS, co-ordinator of the Space Working Group, to consider the conclusions of the restricted informal group of experts and to organise future work on this subject. On that occasion, it was agreed that a revised working draft of the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol, taking account of the amendments introduced to the draft Convention and the draft Aircraft Protocol since the preparation of the previous working draft, would be prepared in time to be submitted for consideration by the Legal Subcommittee at its 40th session and that a further revised working draft, seeking to give effect to the proposals for amendments tabled during the meeting of the restricted informal group of experts, would be prepared in time for the next session of the Space Working Group, to be held in Los Angeles at the Space and Commu-ni-cations Headquarters of the Boeing Company on 23 and 24 April 2001.

Especial importance has always been attached by UNIDROIT to enhancing awareness of the benefits likely to inure under the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol among practitioners and the Institute has found particular support for its efforts in this direction from the European Space Agency, and in particular the European Centre for Space Law (E.C.S.L.) thereof. It was thus that the 2000 E.C.S.L. Practitioners Forum, held in Paris on 27 November 2000, was devoted to consideration of the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol. UNIDROIT was represented on this occasion by Mr KRONKE, Mr STANFORD and Mr DE FONTMICHEL. Mr Kronke and Mr Stanford illustrated the draft Convention and the preliminary draft Space Property Protocol and Mr F. BREGOLI, Deputy Divisional Director, Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A., Ms C. KESSEDJIAN, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and Ms S. MOYSAN, of the Aviation and Space Department of Marsh S.A., made critical appraisals of the proposed new international regimen for space property.

The Space Working Group intends submitting to UNIDROIT during 2001 a text ready for consideration by the UNIDROIT Governing Council at its 80^th session, to be held in Rome from 17 to 19 September 2001.

The draft Space Property Protocol will be one of the topics to be discussed by the panel on international law making and harmonisation of national laws at the Conference “Project 2001 – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space” to be held in Cologne (Germany) from 29 to 31 May 2001. The Secretary-General will represent the UNIDROIT Secretariat at that session.

I. – FIFTH SESSION OF STUDY GROUP AND CONVENING OF A GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS COMMITTEE (Rome, 25-29 June 2001)

On 7 December 2000, the UNIDROIT Study Group on Franchising met for the fifth, and last, time, to finalise the text and Explanatory Report of the draft Model Franchise Disclosure Law on which it had started to work in 1999. In addition to the members of the Study Group, the meeting was attended by representatives of the European Franchise Federation, the International Franchise Association, the World Franchise Council and the International Chamber of Commerce.

The draft was relatively uncontroversial within the Group: it concerns only pre-contractual disclosure, and the experience of the members of the Group as franchise lawyers made agreement on the information that a franchisor should disclose to a prospective franchisee comparatively easy. The Explanatory Report will offer a general explanation of each provision, including general considerations on how the provisions are to be interpreted, and explain, where necessary, why the Study Group opted for the solution adopted in the text.

As finalised by the Group, the text of the draft Model Law accompanied by the Explanatory Report will be submitted to a Committee of Governmental Experts to be held in Rome from 25 to 29 June 2001. The document containing the text of the Model Law and of the Explanatory Report may be found on the UNIDROIT website at http://www.unidroit.org/english/modellaws/2002franchise/main.htm.

II. – SEMINARS AND COLLOQUIA RELEVANT TO THE UNIDROIT DRAFT MODEL FRANCHISE DISCLOSURE LAW

The Committee on International Franchising of the International Bar Association Section of Business Law (Committee X) devoted a session of its programme at the IBA Conference to the draft Model Franchise Disclosure Law being prepared by UNIDROIT (Amsterdam, 21 September 2000). The meeting was chaired by Mr M. BRENNAN, member of the UNIDROIT Study Group, and the speakers were Mr P. HAMELBERG (the Netherlands), Mr M.S. SHAPIRO (USA) and Ms L. PETERS (UNIDROIT). The meeting was well-attended and although the observations of a couple of participants were critical, the majority of the participants demonstrated considerable interest.

On 24 November 2000 UNIDROIT organised a Conference on Franchising: Legislation and Practice Present and Future (“Franchising: Legislazione e Pratica Presente e Futuro”) in collaboration with “Promofranchising”, the franchise association that is an emanation of the Italian national association of retail traders (“Confesercenti”). Aimed primarily at an Italian public, the purpose of the Conference was to examine developments that are taking place both at national level, with the franchise law that was adopted by the Italian Senate in July 2000, and at international level with the new Vertical Restraints Block Exemption Regulation (Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2790/1999 on the Application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to Categories of Vertical Agreements and Concerted Practices) adopted by the European Union and the Model Franchise Disclosure Law that is being prepared by UNIDROIT. The Acts of the Conference will be published in the course of 2001.