Organised by the Department of Law at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business, the first Zagreb International Conference on the Law of Obligations was held in Zagreb on December 12 - 13, 2019. The conference was organised in the framework of the celebrations of the UNCITRAL Secretariat for the fortieth anniversary of the CISG, and in cooperation with the ELI Global Private Law SIG.

The call for papers was issued in June and was open until October 1, 2019. Timely submitted proposals were under the consideration by the International Programme Committee which has chosen the papers to be presented in the conference according to the criteria of excellence and originality of the research and the success in addressing the central topics of the conference. The conference programme is available here.

At the opening of the conference, introductory speeches were given by prof. dr. sc. Jurica Pavičić, dean of the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business, prof. dr. sc. Igor Gliha, dean of the Zagreb Faculty of Law, Dr Albert Ruda-González, dean of the Girona Faculty of Law and co-chair of the Global Private Law SIG, and Mr Đuro Sessa, president of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia.

The keynote speech was given by Prof. Dr Erik Van den Haute of the Université Libre de Bruxelles on the topic “Reform and Restatement of the Law of Obligations: The ‘Slow Food’ of European Harmonisation of Private Law“. Dr Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary-General of UNCITRAL, has addressed the participants via video message on two occasions: at the end of the first day of the conference when she presented the work of UNCITRAL in the field of digital economy, and at the beginning of the second day of conference when she gave a speech on the upcoming 40th anniversary of the CISG. In the framework of the conference, a Members Meeting of the ELI Global Private Law SIG was held.

The conference gathered more than 80 speakers who have presented 71 paper in thirteen sessions dealing with topics of the new codifications of the law of obligations in Central and Southeast Europe, developments in EU contract law, and contemporary challenges to the law of obligations such as artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, while a separate session was devoted to CISG turning 40 in 2020. The papers in the conference were presented in English and in Croatian with a simultaneous translation to English.

At the closing of the conference, the second Zagreb International Conference on the Law of Obligations was announced for December 15 - 17, 2021.

The general sponsor of the conference was EUROHERC insurance d.d., while the conference was also organised with the sponsorship of KONČAR - Electrical Industry, Inc., and with support of Zagreb Tourist Board.

About the conference:

• EFZG Newsletter 12/2019, pp. 14 - 15

• European Law Institute Newsletter, November - December 2019, p. 15

• ELI Global Private Law SIG

• UNCITRAL: CISG@40 Events

• review by Tin Slovic in: Suvremena trgovina, vol. 45, no. 1, 2020, pp. 63 - 65

• review by David Borlinič Gačnik i Jure Jakšić, Mednarodna konferenca o obligacijskem pravu, in: Pravna praksa, no. 7, 20 February 2020, pp 28 - 29

• Laganini FM: Petica (December 17, 2019)