ISDA's Proposal To Offer Irish Law Derivatives Documentation

Derivatives are used by almost every large corporation and financial institution in the world to manage certain risks arising in their businesses. Such risks include, for example, risks arising from changes to currency exchange rates, interest rates and changes to commodity prices.

To facilitate the maintenance of efficient and liquid derivatives markets, participants in those markets tend to use standard form documentation to avoid the need for lengthy document negotiation. The standard form documentation used is published by a global industry body headquartered in New York, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (more commonly referred to as "ISDA"). For the past 25 years, ISDA's documentation has offered participants in cross-border derivatives markets a choice of two governing laws, English law or New York law. That choice determines, as between any two parties making the choice, whether English law or New York law principles of contract law