Abstract

This article introduces the principal project of the Research Centre for Private International Law in Emerging Countries at the University of Johannesburg, namely the drafting of the envisaged African Principles of Commercial Private International Law. The various sets of Principles could be utilised by national legislators on the continent and by African economic integration organisations, particularly the African Union ("AU"), in, respectively, domestic legislation and regional or supranational laws of a soft or binding nature. Particular attention is paid to the infusion of conflicts law with references to international substantive law, partially inspired by the Mexico City Convention and the views of the German-American academic Prof FK Juenger and the Indonesian author Dr B Hardjowahono. The CISG and the UPICC will play an important role in the context of the substantive-law references in the African private international law instruments.