The Seventh Inter-American Specialized Conference OF Private International Law

After the completion of CIDIP-VI, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, through resolutions [AG/RES 1923 (XXXIII-0/03)] and [AG/RES 2033 (XXXIV-0/04)], convened the Seventh Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-VII) and instructed the Permanent Council to conduct consultations with the Member States concerning possible agenda topics.

To comply with this mandate, the Permanent Council’s Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs requested that Member States present proposals for the agenda. The delegations of Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and United States presented the following topics: Electronic Commerce, Consumer Protection, Migratory Flows of Persons, Extra-Contractual Civil Liability, Transportation, Cross-Border Insolvency, International Jurisdiction, Protection of Minors, and Degrees and Professions.

Although Member States proposed a total of eight formal topics (including various possible instrument variations and sub-topics), they agreed that CIDIP-VII should focus on a maximum of two. As a result, the Committee met with the Member States in both formal and informal sessions to reduce the number of topics, setting a final two-topic agenda consisting of Consumer Protection and Electronic Registries.

Based on these recommendations the General Assembly, through resolution [AG/RES 2065 (XXXV-0/05], formally approved the agenda for CIDIP-VII, as follows: (topic one) Consumer Protection, Including Applicable Law, Jurisdiction, and Monetary Redress (Conventions and Model Laws); and (topic two) Secured Transactions, Electronic Registry Implementation of the Model Inter-American Law on Secured Transactions. Having set the subject matter of the Conference, Resolution AG/RES 2065 then instructed the Permanent Council to establish a methodology for the preparatory work necessary to draft the Inter-American instruments to be considered by CIDIP-VII.

Having selected consumer protection and electronic registries as the topics for CIDIP-VII, Member States then designated Official Governmental Experts to participate in the preparatory work for drafting international instruments on these topics adopted by CIDIP-VII.

Experts designated by their respective countries have the authority to participate and negotiate draft texts pursuant to their government’s substantive and political directions. Each Member State was requested to designate at least one Government Expert for each CIDIP-VII topic. These experts should have substantive experience working with the selected topics and preferably have governmental authority for negotiating and implementing a draft convention or other instrument on the subject.

Member States were encouraged to designate private law experts, as well as officials from the domestic agencies/offices with governmental authority over the selected subjects – officials from local consumer protection agencies and officials from local commercial registries.

In addition to governmental experts, the General Assembly also requested the Inter-American Juridical Committee to contribute to the preparatory work for CIDIP-VII and request the General Secretariat to explore means of collaboration with international organizations with expertise on the topics. This includes the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others, involved in the process of drafting and promoting international instruments compatible with those developed in the CIDIP process.

The Groups of Experts, which can be conformed of both governmental and non-governmental experts, will conduct the preparatory work in close consultation with one another, as well as independent experts, international organizations, and representatives from the member state through the discussion forum and meet in preparatory meetings when necessary.

Once preparatory work on the instruments to be adopted by CIDIP-VII has concluded, Member States will select a host and date for the Conference. The Specialized Conference will take place to finalize the instruments and hold them open for approval for the member states.