ISDA has published a number of articles examining issues of legal and regulatory uncertainty as market participants seek to apply new technologies such as smart contracts and DLT to derivatives trading. This page contains links to each of these articles. The documents also highlight potential challenges in identifying the exact location of digital assets, which could lead to uncertainty about which jurisdiction laws would apply. In response, it is recommended that the parties agree on a uniform choice of law that governs all transactions carried out on the DLT platform. “We strongly believe that DLT technology will improve the efficiency of executing and operating derivatives transactions, but the legal issues at stake require further consideration as market participants want to deploy this new technology in Japan. We hope this white paper will serve as a guide and spark interest and discussion on this topic in Japan,” said Motoyasu Fujita, Partner at Linklaters, Tokyo. ISDA and R3 have partnered with Clifford Chance, Jones Day, Linklaters and McCann FitzGerald to publish four new white papers that analyze legal issues related to the use of smart derivative contracts on distributed ledger technology (DLT). This page will be updated as new articles and documents are published. Nikki Lu, ISDA Hong Kong, +852 2200 5901, nlu@isda.org You can access all IsDA smart contract documents here. A set of legal guidelines for smart derivative contracts designed to explain the fundamentals of ISDA documentation and raise awareness of important legal terms that should be maintained when a technological solution is applied to derivatives trading.

“We strongly believe that new technologies will bring significant benefits to derivatives markets, but it is important that the legal treatment of derivatives traded on DLT platforms is studied and understood as clearly as possible. These documents examine key issues from the perspective of applicable laws and jurisdictions typically used in ISDA documentation,” said Katherine Tew Darras, Isda General Counsel. Christopher Faimali, ISDA London, +44 20 3808 9736, cfaimali@isda.org “If we want to create a viable legal framework for smart contracts and DLT platforms, we need to know which laws apply. These documents answer that question,” said David Felsenthal, a partner at Clifford Chance. If you have any questions or comments about any of these documents, please contact ISDALegal@ISDA.org Nick Sawyer, ISDA London, +44 20 3808 9740, nsawyer@isda.org Lauren Dobbs, ISDA New York, +1 212 901 6019, ldobbs@isda.org The Smart Contract Guidelines for Interest Rate Derivatives provide high-level general information about the interest rate derivatives market and describe ISDA`s strategy to develop and provide a plus great standardization and digitization of legal documentation used by trade. Interest rate derivatives. These guidelines also identify the possibilities for the possible application of smart contract technology to interest rate derivatives and highlight important aspects that technology developers should consider when developing technological solutions for the trading and processing of interest rate derivatives and related processes. While the intent of this document is not to specify or recommend a particular approach or to address a particular application or technology project, these guidelines suggest steps to be taken to ensure that the design and implementation of new technological solutions comply with existing legal and regulatory standards. These guidelines also identify areas where increased industry collaboration will be needed to identify existing areas of legal and regulatory uncertainty and develop solutions. While the intent of this document is not to specify or recommend a particular approach or to address a particular application or technology project, these guidelines are intended to ensure that the design and implementation of new technology solutions comply with existing legal and regulatory standards. These guidelines also identify areas where increased industry collaboration will be needed to identify existing areas of legal and regulatory uncertainty and develop solutions.

ISDA has published the seventh in a series of legal guidelines for smart derivative contracts designed to help technology developers, lawyers and other key stakeholders develop smart derivative contracts and other technological solutions in the foreign exchange market. These guidelines: The Smart Contract Guidelines for the Equity Derivatives Market provide an overview of equity derivatives trading and different types of products. They explain how equity derivative transactions are documented under the 2002 and 2011 isda share definitions, and examine how smart derivative contracts could be constructed and delivered within the framework established by the 2011 ISDA stock definitions. While the intent of this document is not to specify or recommend any particular application or technology project, it does contain recommendations on the steps the industry should now take to further standardize and digitize equity derivatives documentation to achieve greater automation of the equity derivatives market. This document also contains information on how members can contribute to this work. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) says a platform it has developed with law firm Linklaters to automate derivative trading can help companies introduce smart contracts for OTC derivatives trading. ISDA has published the fourth and fifth parts of a series of legal guidelines for smart derivative contracts. These guidelines are designed to help technology developers, lawyers and other key stakeholders develop smart derivative contracts and other technology solutions in the interest rate and equity derivatives markets. In January, ISDA, in collaboration with Clifford Chance, R3, and the Singapore Law Academy, also published a joint white paper on the private law aspects of smart derivative contracts using distributed ledger technology, or DLT.

The following articles on French, Japanese, Irish and New York law are available here. The four papers examine these issues from a French, Irish, Japanese and New York legal perspective. A previous article published in January examined the issue from the perspective of English and Singaporean law. Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved. The use of new technologies has the potential to significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs for derivatives market participants, but trading derivatives on a DLT platform raises a number of issues from the perspective of private international law. In particular, uncertainty about the location of data, assets and counterparties in a DLT environment means that it is necessary to understand what law would be applicable in each case and what would happen if there were legal conflicts. .