Harmonising International Law: UNIDROIT Coming to HK | Behind the Wig

Kim M Rooney

Barrister

For 100 years intergovernmental organisations such as the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), have been working to harmonise and update global laws in the areas of international trade and commercial law and private law (the laws which apply to relationships among individuals, partnerships, corporations and similar, such as the laws of contract, tort, property, family, and corporate, commercial and finance law). Hong Kong’s laws, being those of a global commercial, trade and dispute resolution centre, have drawn on such work.

UNIDROIT will soon have a direct Hong Kong connection, as it has announced that it is establishing an Asia-Pacific Liaison Office in Hong Kong in late 2026. This will be UNIDROIT’s first overseas and regional presence outside of its Rome headquarters. Its establishment is a recognition of the growing importance of the Asia-Pacific regional to global trade and commerce and the importance of China to this.

The work of three intergovernmental organisations UNIDROIT, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) particularly tends to complement one another.

Photo Credit: The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT)

HCCH, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, is an intergovernmental organisation the mandate of which is “the progressive unification of the rules of private international law” relevant to cross-border interactions by individuals and corporations as the differences between countries’ legal systems often leave gaps in the legal framework. Founded in 1893, it became a permanent intergovernmental organisation in 1955.

UNCITRAL is a United Nations body established in 1966. Its “business is the modernisation and harmonisation of rules on international business”. It has drafted conventions, model laws and rules and has a strong presence in Asia with a regional office in Incheon, South Korea. The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration was adopted by Hong Kong (with some minor amendments) by its 2011 Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609).

UNIDROIT was established in 1926, as an associated body of the then League of Nations. After the League of Nations ceased operating, UNIDROIT was re-established in 1940 by the UNIDROIT Statute; it is an independent intergovernmental body based in Rome, Italy. It has 65 member states from 5 continents which include China. UNIDROIT’s purpose is to study needs and methods for modernising, harmonising and co-ordinating private and in particular commercial law as between States and groups of States and to formulate uniform law instruments, principles and rules to achieve those objectives. Its active and new projects include the:

● UNIDROIT-FIDIC Joint Project on the Development of International Principles on Construction and Engineering Contracts;

● UNIDROIT-ICC Institute Principles and Model Clauses for International Investment Contracts: which is a joint initiative with the International Chamber of Commerce's Institute of World Business Law to modernise and standardise long-term investment contracts in sectors like energy, mining, and infrastructure;

● Investment-Based Crowdfunding (Debt and Equity) Project: concerning an increasingly important alternative finance mechanism for small and medium-sized enterprises;

● Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence in Global Value Chains: developing a guidance document with input from the European Law Institute;

● Legal Nature of Verified Carbon Credits: addressing legal certainty in environmental asset markets; and

● Treaty Project (Implementation of and Compliance with International Commercial Law Treaties): being conducted jointly with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law to publish a final guide in 2027.

UNIDROIT is celebrating its centenary in 2026 by a number of events and initiatives, including holding the UNIDROIT Centenary International Arbitration Conference in Rome on 22 and 23 October 2026 to which arbitral institutions and arbitrators from around the world have been invited to attend (including from Hong Kong and the Mainland). This has provided an opportunity to discuss the harmonisation and development of laws that may assist arbitration users.

The establishment of UNIDROIT’s first overseas Liaison Office in Hong Kong should add to Hong Kong’s status as a global international commercial, financial, trade and dispute resolution hub including to provide opportunities for those in Hong Kong (as well as in the broader region) to engage with an intergovernmental body at the heart of the harmonisation and development of international law.

Ms. Kim M Rooney is a Council Member of the Hong Kong Bar Association (“HKBA”). She also chairs the HKBA’s Arbitration Committee and is a Member of its Construction Law Committee and Standing Committee on AI and Ethics. She practises as an international arbitrator and barrister focusing on arbitration in the aviation, commercial, construction, energy, finance (including cryptocurrency), infrastructure, information, communications and technology, IPR, and investment sectors.

Kim M Rooney
Barrister

Photo: Hong Kong Bar Association

Behind the Wig is a weekly legal column written by practicing barristers specialising in criminal, civil, and commercial law.  Drawing on their legal expertise and practical experience, or sharing their observations and insights as barristers, they analyse social issues, encourage readers to interpret everyday matters through a legal mindset, and promote the spirit of the rule of law.　

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect TVB’s editorial stance.