On February 22, 2019 during its regular session held at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) approved the "Guide on the Law Applicable to International Commercial Contracts in the Americas." 

In 1994, the Organization of American States approved the Inter-American Convention on the Law Applicable to International Contracts. This treaty, known as “the Mexico Convention” was taken into consideration by the Hague Conference on Private International Law when drafting the 2015 Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts.  In 2015, shortly after the 20th anniversary of the Mexico Convention, given ongoing disparities among the laws of countries of the region in the law applicable to international commercial contracts, the CJI decided to undertake the elaboration of a Guide, which would incorporate recent advances such as those of the Hague Principles, promote legal harmonization in the region and thereby stimulate economic integration, growth and development in the hemisphere.  

One of the main purposes of the Guide is to assist legislators called to examine the internal legal system governing the law applicable to international commercial contracts, tribunals that settle disputes relating to such contracts, as well as contracting parties themselves.

The Guide is the result of hard work and a broad process of consultations among experts in the field, including academics, lawyers working in this field, as well as representatives of international organizations.

The CJI requested the rapporteur of the topic, with the support of the Department of International Law, Technical Secretariat of the CJI, to disseminate the Guide as widely as possible among interested stakeholders.