Queen Mary-UNIDROIT Institute of Transnational Commercial Law

Description

The Queen Mary-UNIDROIT Institute of Transnational Commercial Law (Queen Mary-UNIDROIT ITCL) is a joint venture between Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), which is the intergovernmental organisation for the harmonisation of private international law, headquartered in Rome.

Transnational Commercial Law refers to principles and rules of commercial law which have force or influence transnationally, whether because they are common to a number of legal systems or because they are observed as a matter of course by commercial communities or networks which transcend national boundaries. It also refers to methods, instruments and institutions whose activities contribute to the unification of laws and regulations governing commerce or address related issues of comparative law and conflict of laws.

The Queen Mary-UNIDROIT ITCL has been established for the purpose of collaborating in and promoting:

• Through CCLS, research and scholarship into transnational commercial law as above defined, and its dissemination; and
• Through UNIDROIT, the design and promotion of instruments for international harmonisation of commercial law.

The activities of the Queen Mary-UNIDROIT ITCL will include the provision of postgraduate teaching, supervision and examination by CCLS of candidates in transnational commercial law and related fields; research, publication and other dissemination of knowledge in these fields, including through conferences, seminars and short courses; and collaboration in the promotion of UNIDROIT instruments in the field of transnational commercial law.

In common with CCLS’s other Institutes, it is intended that the Queen Mary-UNIDROIT ITCL is a leading centre of excellence in research, scholarship and promotion of the international harmonisation of commercial law.

The Institute runs the Advisory Board Lecture Series (from October 2025, continuing into 2027), has published the open-access Transnational Commercial Law Review, and organises conferences and policy events. Recent examples are the 2025 supply chain finance conference with ICC United Kingdom and the 2025 policy implementation meeting on bank liquidation with the Financial Stability Institute (FSI). The QM-UNIDROIT Institute’s Advisory Board Lecture Series brings members of the Institute’s Advisory Board to CCLS to speak on current questions in transnational commercial law. Speakers have included Professor Maria Chiara Malaguti, past President of UNIDROIT; Professor Ignacio Tirado, Secretary-General of UNIDROIT; and Professor Georges Affaki, who chaired the drafting of the ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees. The lectures are open to practitioners, policymakers and students.

Professor Sir Roy Goode and Professor Alberto Mazzoni, then President of UNIDROIT, founded the Institute in 2016 through a Concordat between Queen Mary and UNIDROIT. The original Concordat lapsed in 2021. The Institute was relaunched on 9 February 2023 under a Concordat Renewal Agreement for a further five-year term.

Currently active

Yes

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2016

Contact details

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Categorisation

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University affiliation(s)

Queen Mary, University of London
London

Additional Partnerships

ICC United Kingdom; International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), Italy