26 October 2007 - On 23 October 2007, Dr. Luca Castellani, from the Vienna-based United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), conducted a briefing at the Department on two key UNCITRAL Conventions in close collaboration with UNIO and the Philippine Embassy in Vienna. Dr. Castellani, an UNCITRAL Legal Official, is on a regional Asian tour to promote the adoption of uniform laws on trade. He is responsible for UNCITRAL Working Groups on Insolvency and on Electronic Commerce. The two conventions covered were the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (E-Commerce Convention) and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 1980, (CISC).

Assistant Secretary Evan P. Garcia delivered brief opening remarks enjoining the participants to seize the opportunity to learn from the legal expert . He challenged the lawyers to make use of the briefing to strengthen the Philippine legal system and to facilitate commercial transactions that would allow the country to maximize the benefits from globalization. Participants in the briefing were mainly legal officers from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC), NEDA, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Integrated Bar of the Philippines, ACCRA Law Office and other private lawyers.

The briefing was an occasion to prepare the Philippines for the ratification process of the E-Commerce Convention, which Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Alberto G. Romulo, signed during the Treaty Event in New York on 25 September 2007. The Philippines is now the second ASEAN country, next to Singapore, which has acceded to the Convention.

On the other hand, the   briefing on   the   CISC Convention created awareness on the   possibility of simplifying commercial transactions, particularly dispute settlements, through a single convention, instead of going through a maze of international trade laws. END