Colloquium on “Harmonizing law in the age of digital trade and finance – digital assets and platforms”
Dates of Colloquium: Tuesday, 10 February 2026 - 10:00am to Friday, 13 February 2026 - 6:00pm
Venue: United Nations Headquarters, New York, Conference Room 2
At its fifty-eighth session (Vienna, 7–23 July 2025), the Commission requested the UNCITRAL secretariat (i) to continue exploratory work on secured transactions using new types of assets and (ii) to commence exploratory work on digital platforms and private law, and agreed to hold colloquiums on these topics.
In line with that request, the secretariat is organizing a four-day Colloquium at United Nations Headquarters in New York (10–13 February 2026). The Colloquium brings the two topics together under a common theme of digital trade and finance, reflecting that digital trade is increasingly characterized by new types of assets, new ways of trading and financing trade, and a shared dependence on data and digital ecosystems. It aims to foster dialogue across governments, international and regional organizations, academia and the private sector, and to draw out cross-cutting concepts and issues so as to support a coherent approach to possible future work by the Commission.
The Colloquium is organized in two consecutive streams:
Stream 1 – Digital assets and secured financing (10–11 February 2026)
Stream 1 focuses on legal issues arising from the use of digital assets as collateral in secured transactions, including questions around scope and classification under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions (MLST), and whether asset-specific solutions may be needed (notably for third-party effectiveness, priority, enforcement, and conflict-of-law rules).
Among other things, this stream will focus on:
- Treatment and categorization of digital assets as collateral (including tokenized assets, electronic documents of title and electronic negotiable instruments);
- Practical approaches to achieving third-party effectiveness and priority (including reliance on “control”);
- Enforcement of security rights in digital assets; and
- Cross-border challenges, including conflict-of-law rules.
Stream 2 – Digital platforms and private law (12–13 February 2026)
Stream 2 focuses on the private law frameworks that govern the operation of digital platforms, guided by the discussion paper prepared by the secretariat (annex to this note), which builds on the Commission’s discussions and the UAE–UNCITRAL Global Summit on Digital Trade and Digital Platforms (Dubai, 8–9 December 2025).
Among other things, this stream will focus on:
- Digital platforms in international trade (including the concept of “digital platform” and platforms significant for trade);
- Platform operators as a new actor in international trade and the different roles they may play;
- Contractual aspects of digital platforms; and
- The role of private law in balancing the rights and obligations of platform operators and users, including intersections with regulatory regimes.
The outcomes of the Colloquium, together with other exploratory work conducted by the secretariat, will be reported to the Commission in 2026 for consideration and guidance on possible next steps.
Programme
Speakers bio
Presentations
Panel 1 - Understanding digital assets: Concepts and global perspectives
- Ms. Louise GULLIFER, Professor, University of Cambridge (video)
- Mr. Manuel ALBA FERNÁNDEZ, Associate Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Mr. José GARRIDO
- Mr. Conner BROWN
Panel 2 - Secured transactions reforms: Updates from States and international organizations
- Ms. Elizabeth MELÉNDEZ LEÓN, Director of the Registry of Security Interests in Movable Property, El Salvador
- Mr. Marek DUBOVEC, Director of Law Reform Programs, International Law Institute
- Mr. Tamás PARTI, Legal expert, CNUE Futurology Forum
- Ms. Gérardine GOH ESCOLAR, Deputy Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)
- Mr. Charles W. MOONEY Jr., Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, on behalf of UNIDROIT
- Ms. Drew PROPSON, Head, Technology and Innovation in Financial Services, World Economic Forum
Panel 3 - Possible updates to the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions
- Mr. Neil B. COHEN, 1901 Distinguished Research Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
- Ms. Teresa RODRÍGUEZ DE LAS HERAS BALLELL, Full Professor of Commercial Law, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Mr. Orkun AKSELI, Professor of Law, University of Manchester Law School
Panel 4 - Control as a mechanism for third party effectiveness and priority in digital finance
- Mr. Alexander KUNZELMANN, Legal Officer, UNCITRAL secretariat
- Ms. Megumi HARA, Professor, Chuo University (video)
- Mr. Jean-François RIFFARD, Professor, Université Clermont Auvergne (video)
Panel 5 - Digital platforms for transactions and assets-based registries
- Mr. Stéphane GRABER, Director General, International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA)
- Mr. Bob TROJAN, Senior Advisor, International Law Institute
- Ms. Megha Shah, Enterprise Sales Director, USA Trademo
- Ms. Lidiya MIKHEEVA, Head, Private Law Research Centre (video)
Panel 6 - Enforcement of security rights and conflict of law issues in the digital context
- Ms. Caroline KLEINER, Professeur de droit privé, Unversité Paris Cité, Chair of the HCCH Experts’ Group on CBDCs
- Mr. Woo-Jung JON, Assistant Professor, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
- Mr. Neil B. COHEN, 1901 Distinguished Research Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, on behalf of UNIDROIT
- Mr. Shaun LEONG, Partner, Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) Singapore LLP (video)
- Ms. Catherine WALSH, Professor of Law, McGill University
- Mr. Spyridon BAZINAS, Consultant and Lecturer, Center for International Legal Studies
Panel 7 - Exploring other types of assets and transactions
- Ms. Clara GUERRA, Director, Office for Digital Innovation., Liechtenstein
- Mr. Ivor ISTUK, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice, World Bank Group
- Ms. Kiriakoula HATZIKIRIAKOS, Senior Manager-Legal Counsel, National Bank of Canada
- Mr. Juan Pablo RODRIGUEZ DELGADO, Associate Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Mr. Renato MANGANO, Professor, Department of Law, University of Palermo
- Mr. Richard KOHN, Founder and a Principal, Commercial Finance Group, Goldberg Kohn Ltd
Panel 8 – Digital platforms and international trade law: Scope, typology and mandate
- Ms. Teresa RODRÍGUEZ DE LAS HERAS BALLELL, Full Professor of Commercial Law, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- Ms. Gérardine GOH ESCOLAR, Deputy Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)
- Mr. Hasan AL KILANY, Senior Legal Advisor, UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism (video)
Panel 9 – Online marketplaces: Digital platforms for the supply of goods and services
- Mr. Jun XUE, Professor, Peking University
- Mr. Nikolay DMITRIK, Expert, International and Comparative Law Research Center
- Ms. Amira KARIM, Head of Public Policy, Payments & Financial Services, Amazon (video)
Panel 11 – Assets-based registries and data exchanges
Panel 12 – Private law tools to support platform operation: Contract architecture, duties, liability and remedies
- Ms. Eliza MIK, Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Mr. Ilias IOANNOU, Professor, University of Bristol
- Mr. Christopher ODINET, Professor, Texas A&M University
- Ms. Irene SHAN, Expert, China Society of Private International Law
- Ms. Aneta WIEWIÓROWSKA-DOMAGALSKA, Deputy Director, Ministry of Justice, Poland
- Mr. Christoph BUSCH, Professor, University of Osnabrück
- Mr. Mateusz GROCHOWSKI, Professor, Tulane University
- Ms. Florencia MAROTTA-WURGLER, Professor, New York University
- Mr. Christian TWIGG-FLESNER, Professor, University of Warwick (video)
Group picture
