ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE 89th REGULAR SESSION OEA/Ser.Q October 3 to 14, 2016 CJI/doc. 521/16 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 13, 2016 Original: Spanish ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2016 General Secretariat Organization of the American States www.oas.org/cji [email protected] EXPLANATORY NOTE Until 1990, the OAS General Secretariat published the “Final Acts” and “Annual Reports of the Inter-American Juridical Committee” under the series classified as “Reports and Recommendations”. In 1997, the Department of International Law of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs began to publish those documents under the title “Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee to the General Assembly.” According to the “Classification Manual for the OAS official records series”, the Inter- American Juridical Committee is assigned the classification code OEA/Ser. Q, followed by CJI, to signify documents issued by this body (see attached lists of Resolutions and documents). iv v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXPLANATORY NOTE ................................................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................. v RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE .............................. vii DOCUMENTS INCLUDED IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT ............................................................................. viii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................. 5 1. The Inter-American Juridical Committee: its origin, legal bases, structure and purposes ................................ 7 2. Period Covered by the Annual Report of the Inter-American Juridical Committee ......................................... 8 A. Eighty-eight regular session ................................................................................................................. 8 B. Eighty-Ninth regular session ............................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................... 17 TOPICS DISCUSSED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE AT THE REGULAR SESSIONS HELD IN 2016 ............................................................................................................... 19 THEMES UNDER CONSIDERATION ............................................................................................................. 19 1. Immunity of States ............................................................................................................... 20 2. Immunity of international organizations ...................................................................................................... 25 3. Electronic warehouse receipts for agricultural products................................................................................ 33 4. Law applicable to international contracts................................................................................................... 46 5. Representative democracy ............................................................................................................... 53 6. International consumer protection .............................................................................................................. 90 7. Guide for the application of the principle of conventionality ...................................................................... 100 8. Principles and guidelines about public defense in the Americas ............................................................. 105 9. Protection of cutural heritage assets ......................................................................................................... 111 10. Conscious and effective regulation of business in the area of human rights 119 OTHER TOPICS ............................................................................................................. 119 1. Considerations reflection on the work of the Inter-American Juridical Committee: compilation of topics of Public and Private International Law .............................................................. 119 2. Privacy and data protection ............................................................................................................. 126 3. Guide for the protection of stateless persons in the Americas ..................................................................... 127 CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................. 133 OTHER ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE DURING 2016 ............................................................................................................. 135 A. Presentations of Members of Committee in other fora .............................................................................. 135 B. Course on International Law ............................................................................................................. 138 C. Relations and cooperation with other Inter-American bodies and with regional and global organizations ............................................................................................................. 142 INDEXES ............................................................................................................. 163 ONOMASTIC INDEX ............................................................................................................. 165 SUBJECT INDEX ............................................................................................................. 167 vii RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE Page CJI/RES. 217 (LXXXVII-O/15) AGENDA FOR THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGULAR SESSION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE (Washington, DC from 4- 8 April, 2016) ................................................................................................... 9 CJI/RES. 216 (LXXXVII-O/15) DATE AND VENUE OF THE EIGHTY-NINE REGULAR SESSION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE ................................................................................... 9 CJI/RES. 221 (LXXXVIII-O/16) AGENDA FOR THE EIGHTY-NINTH REGULAR SESSION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as of 3 October 2016) ......................................................................................... 11 CJI/RES. 228 (LXXXIX-O/16) DATE AND VENUE OF THE NINETIETH REGULAR SESSION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE ................................................................................. 12 CJI/RES. 229 (LXXXIX-O/16) AGENDA FOR THE NINETIETH REGULAR SESSION OF THE INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL COMMITTEE (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as of 6 March, 2017)........................................................................................... 12 CJI/RES. 225 (LXXXIX-O/16) BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES ........................................................ 13 CJI/RES. 222 (LXXXIX-O/16) TRIBUTE TO DOCTOR FABIÁN NOVAK TALAVERA .................................................................... 14 CJI/RES. 223 (LXXXIX-O/16) TRIBUTE TO DOCTOR DAVID P. STEWART .................................................................................... 15 CJI/RES. 224 (LXXXIX-O/16) HOMAGE TO DOCTOR GÉLIN IMANÈS COLLOT ........................................................................... 15 CJI/RES. 227 (LXXXIX-O/16) INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF CONSUMERS ........................................................................ 98 CJI/RES. 226 (LXXXIX-O/16) PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON PUBLIC DEFENSE IN THE AMERICAS............................ 110 viii DOCUMENTS INCLUDED IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT Page CJI/doc.499/16 IMMUNITIES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: SECOND REPORT..................................... 28 (Presented by Dr. Joel Hernández García) ..................................................................................................... 28 CJI/doc.497/16 ELECTRONIC WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS (Presented by Dr. David P. Stewart) .............................................................................................................. 36 CJI/doc.505/16 rev.2 INTER-AMERICAN JURIDICAL REPORT. ELECTRONIC WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS ............................................................................................................... 37 CJI/doc.501/16 REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN THE AMERICAS: SECOND REPORT (Presented by Dr. Hernán Salinas Burgos) .................................................................................................... 60 CJI/doc.506/16 REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN THE AMERICAS: THIRD REPORT ......................................... 69 (Presented by Dr. Hernán Salinas Burgos) .................................................................................................... 69 CJI/doc.498/16 PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW: CONSUMER PROTECTION (Presented by Dr. David P. Stewart) .............................................................................................................. 91 CJI/doc.504/16