From the Co-Chairs - International Commerce and Distribution Committee, February 2020

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Dear colleagues,

Welcome to this IBA International Commerce and Distribution Committee e-bulletin, which comes on the heels of another successful IBA Annual Conference in Seoul. Our Committee led five sessions and supported another five on a variety of topics involving sales, distribution, supply chain management, government procurement and regulatory compliance – all with great attendance and lively interaction with our audience sharing experience and the practical dos and don’ts. We also held a very productive open business meeting for all members and gathered great topics for next year’s IBA Annual Conference in Miami. At that meeting, members spanning various jurisdictions expressed interest in getting more involved in our Committee as officers or collaborators, no doubt in light of the success of our sessions and projects – a sign of a healthy membership. Finally, no Annual Conference would be complete without the traditional Thursday evening Committee dinner where we celebrated in style and looked ahead to new leadership, with Chris Blake becoming Co-Chair effective as of this past 1 January, alongside George Ribeiro. 

Chris will be instrumental in putting together a showcase session in Miami on the global trade wars and their impact on international commerce and the rule of law at the specific request of IBA President Horacio Bernardes Neto. This is a significant sign of confidence in our Committee from the IBA leadership and we will certainly not disappoint.

We hope you will find in this e-bulletin a great variety of contributions touching upon various topics of interest to practitioners in cross-border sales of goods and services, including sanctions in Ukraine, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation and the research findings from our IBA Special Project on best practices in supply chains. This e-bulletin includes content published just this month, as well as some dating from 2018, so you can trace the historical developments in the law and practice.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and interest in the affairs of our International Commerce and Distribution Committee. It is our pleasure to chair the Committee together during 2020, and we take this opportunity to thank Alexander De Zordo, the immediate outgoing Co-Chair, for his dedication and arduous efforts to ensure the continued success of our Committee. 

Regards, 

George Ribeiro and Christopher Blake