A New Treaty Against Corruption: What Role for Private International Law?

This panel, organized by Anti-Corruption Law Interest Group, will discuss the role of private international law in global anticorruption efforts. João Ribeiro-Bidaoui and Gifany Ten-Ten L. Tongohan will present their research and draft paper on the existing gap in the international legal framework of a convention concerning jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, and enforcement of judgments related to civil claims against corruption with transnational elements. The panel will also discuss whether there would be a practical need for such an instrument.

There is, at present, no recognized multilateral convention unifying the rules of private international law applicable to civil claims against corruption on a transnational scale. This is where the role of private international law comes in—to bridge the gap between existing domestic laws and national legal frameworks, and to establish a convention that can go beyond traditional remedies and the territorial limitations of criminal law prosecution and enforcement. This paper looks at commonly used conventions on corruption, their strengths and weaknesses, and discusses the importance of crafting a new convention that will specifically deal with issues of jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, and enforcement of judgments related to civil claims against corruption with transnational elements.

Speakers:

• João Ribeiro-Bidaoui – former First Secretary at Hague Conference on Private International Law, Visiting Professor of Transnational Commercial Litigation at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law (China) and at the University of Kobe (Japan)
• Gifany Ten-Ten L. Tongohan – Integrity Risk Counsel, International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group)

This session is organized by ASIL's Anti-Corruption Law Interest Group.