Petr Bříza spoke in Rome at an Unidroit seminar on the issue of cross-border assignment of claims

At the end of October, the Unidroit Nordic Law Centre held an expert seminar in Rome focusing on one of the most complex issues of private international law: determining the applicable law for assessing the priority of third-party rights in an assigned claim.

According to Professor Catherine Walsh, this area is among the “most confused and confusing” parts of conflict of laws. When the same receivable is assigned to different parties, for example, first to a bank and later to a factoring company, a fundamental question arises: who has priority, and under which law?

The European Union has long sought to establish a uniform solution, but without success. National approaches diverge, and the UNCITRAL Convention, which addresses the issue comprehensively, still has only two contracting states.

The seminar was also attended by Petr Bříza, who, together with other experts, discussed the differing national approaches and possible avenues for further harmonisation.