Unidroit and Latin America

This chapter studies the relationship that Latin American Member States have had with Unidroit, focusing on the factors that have affected their association and advocating for a stronger future involvement with Unidroit’s work. It explores the role that Unidroit as an institution, has had and could have in its engagement with Latin American jurisdictions from a threefold analysis. First, the chapter looks at Unidroit’s influence at the institutional level within Latin American Member States. This involves two correlative aspects. On the one hand, it explains Unidroit’s diplomatic activities in the region to promote its instruments and to identify and incorporate the region’s specific regulatory needs in its harmonisation tools. On the other hand, it determines the function and weight that Member States’ representatives to Unidroit have within their own States and in Unidroit’s work. This section also includes a review of the enduring working and collaborative association that Unidroit has had with the Organization of American States and its Inter-American Juridical Committee. Second, the chapter explores the reception of Unidroit instruments in Latin American Member States and the influence that these jurisdictions have had in their development. On the one hand, it identifies the relevant Unidroit instruments that have been ratified or adopted by Latin American legal systems, exploring their reception not only at a legal or formal level but also in practice. On the other hand, it determines whether Latin American jurisdictions have had a role in the shaping of Unidroit’s instruments, in terms of providing legal expertise, suggesting research topics and participating in past and ongoing projects. Third and finally, the chapter assesses whether there are areas of interest and regional issues in Latin America that could benefit from Unidroit’s work and how to better channel the mutual relationship between Unidroitand Latin American countries in the future.