XIII - Private International Law

Summary

OVERVIEW

The United States has long been an active participant in the development of treaties, rules, and model laws addressing issues of private international law. Many recent initiatives in the commercial field that the United States has supported have focused on commercial contracts, banking, cross-border insolvency, electronic commerce, equipment financing, receivables financing, and project finance. In the field of family law, considerable attention has been paid to U.S. implementation of the intercountry adoption convention and the international child abduction convention. Yet perhaps the most important (and contentious) issue during 1999–2001 in this area was the attempt to negotiate under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law a convention on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments. While the United States helped launch this initiative, the complexity in finding a means of harmonizing the laws of national jurisdictions in a manner sufficient to allow for effective enforcement of judgments, yet without transgressing deeply embedded national rules, prevented a successful conclusion of the agreement by the end of 2001.

CONVENTIONS

U.S. Implementation of Intercountry Adoption Convention

Under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, several states concluded an intercountry adoption convention on May 29, 1993. The convention, which entered into force on May 1, 1995, after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, was signed by the United States on March 31, 1994.