Geneva Securities Convention

The Unidroit convention on substantive rules for intermediated securities, also known as the Geneva Securities Convention, was adopted on 9 October 2009. So far (26 February 2012), it has been signed by only one of the 40 negotiating States (Bangladesh). The adoption of the official commentary is forecasted by December 2010. This convention adopted under the aegis of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit) complements the 'Hague Securities Convention' adopted on 17 January 2002 by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which has so far been signed and ratified by Switzerland and Mauritius. Their common American inspiration, although partially based on some of the most free-trade EU law instruments, explains the reluctance of institutions and Member States of the European Union to sign and ratify these conventions which are found guilty of not having taken enough into account the lessons drawn from the financial crisis of September 2008. If their signature and their ratification were to be limited to a very small number of contracting States, both conventions would probably start a new career as 'model laws'.