- Vision [1]
- The Advisory Committee accomplishes its purpose by assisting the State Department to monitor domestic and international developments
in private international law, and provides information to assist in the development of United States positions for international
efforts to negotiate uniform rules of private law by treaty, model national laws, and other means. The interaction of national
legal systems in the expanding global system of markets and transborder contacts between private parties has made this function
increasingly important to U.S. interests. The Department of State through the Advisory Committee process ensures that American
statutory and judicial legal concepts and the concerns of private sector American interest groups are fully taken into account
at all stages of the work of such international bodies. The Committee will hold a general meeting in the first quarter 2006
on projects in the private law field and seek public comment thereon. The Committee did not hold meetings in 2005, but will
resume them in 2006 as indicated. The Committee normally holds four or more meetings per year, but federal staff have been
occupied in 2005 with the results of earlier meetings and in applying those results to positions adopted on various international
projects. As a result of State Department ACPIL meetings, a number of national and state law bodies and associations have
been holding their own meetings to assess the effect of ACPIL projects on their member' interests. The Committee will then
assess these viewpoints when it resumes its meetings in 2006. All meetings in 2006 are expected to be open to the public,
and the Committee will welcome Public participation. This Advisory Committee is the principal vehicle through which state
and private sector legal concerns are expressed with regard to this international process. This is essential, since the topics
addressed primarily affect the private sector and state and municipal interests. The Advisory Committee assists in identifying
subjects which the United States should propose or support as topics for international work, assessing the effects of proposed
international rules on U.S. interests, providing guidance for the formulation of United States positions, and making recommendations
on implementation oftreaties, model national laws or other international legal texts that result from such work. The Advisory
Committee will focus in 2006 on work undertaken or proposed for various international bodies, including the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Hague Conference on Private International Law; the International Institute
for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the Organization of American States (OAS), and others. The Committee will review
a convention negotiated in 2005 at the Hague Conference on enforcing party choice of forum in certain private law matters;
a convention negotiated at the Hague on Law Applicable to Securities Intermediaries; implementation measures for the UNIDROIT
Convention on mobile equipment finance and the UNIDROIT/ICAO Protocol on aircraft finance; the 2004 UNCITRAL legal guide to
cross-border insolvency law reform; the draft UNCITRAL legal guide to secured finance; recent efforts on implementation of
the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption; the draft UNCITRAL Convention on international transportation of goods; the
2005 UNCITRAL Convention on electronic commerce. In addition, the Committee will review developments in international family
law and provide guidance as to which initiatives may best obtain benefits for US residents and families with relationships
extending to other countries.
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