The new Uruguayan private international law: an open door to party autonomy in international contracts

Abstract

On 17 November 2020, the General Law on Private International Law (Law 19.920) was approved. This Law resulted from a process of hard work that took over two decades of discussions and debates.1 With this Law, Uruguay becomes one of a group of countries that have already carried out this kind of reform, particularly in regard to international commercial law and international contracts. The new Law 19.920 allows parties to choose the applicable law (State or non-State law) to regulate their international contractual obligations. This reform has a real disruptive imprint since Uruguay leaves behind its old and anachronistic regulation of the matter. This article provides a general analysis of the regulation of international commercial law under Law 19.920 (Articles 13 and 51) and the new regime applicable to international contracts, including the parties’ right to choose the applicable law (Article 45) (State or non-State law), which increases their autonomy in comparison with the previous regime.