On 20 and 21 February 2025, UNIDROIT participated in a Colloquium on “Navigating the New Era of Digital Finance”, organised by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the two-day event focused on the emergence of new types of assets that could be used as collateral in international finance and their relationship with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions. During the Colloquium, UNIDROIT Secretary-General Prof. Ignacio Tirado chaired a panel on climate change finance, which discussed UNIDROIT’s ongoing project on the Legal nature of Verified Carbon Credits. UNIDROIT Senior Legal Officer Mr William Brydie-Watson also presented the UNIDROIT Model Law on Factoring as part of a panel on “Secured Transactions Reforms by States and International Organisations”. Throughout the Colloquium, a number of other UNIDROIT instruments and projects were discussed, including the Cape Town Convention and its Protocols, the UNIDROIT Model Law on Leasing, the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law, the UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts and its Guide to Enactment, as well as the ongoing projects on the UNIDROIT Model Law on Factoring Guide to Enactment. The agenda and materials from the Colloquium are available on the event website.
UNIDROIT and UNCITRAL cooperate on secured transactions reform through the Joint Network for Coordinating and Supporting Secured Transactions Reforms. Information on UNIDROIT’s work in the field of access to credit is available on the UNIDROIT website.