The Conference was organised by the Department of Law at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business, in cooperation with the Global Private Law SIG, and in the framework of the celebrations of the UNCITRAL Secretariat for the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It gathered more than 80 speakers, among them several ELI Fellows, who presented 71 paper in 13 sessions dealing with topics of the new codifications of the law of obligations in Central and Southeast Europe, developments in EU contract law, and contemporary challenges to the law of obligations such as artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, while a separate session was devoted to the CISG turning 40 next year.

At the opening of the Conference on 12 December, introductory speeches were given by Dr Jurica Pavičić, Dean of the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business, Dr Igor Gliha, Dean of the Zagreb Faculty of Law, Dr Albert Ruda-González, Dean of the Girona Faculty of Law and Co-Chair of the Global Private Law SIG, and Mr Đuro Sessa, President of the Croatian Supreme Court. In his opening speech, Dr Ruda-González introduced ELI and its core tasks to Conference participants and announced the Global Private Law SIG Members meeting, which was held later that day.

Among the highlights of the Conference was a keynote speech given by Dr Erik Van den Haute of the Université Libre de Bruxelles on the topic ‘Reform and Restatement of the Law of Obligations: The "Slow Food" of European Harmonisation of Private Law’, while Dr Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary of UNCITRAL, addressed participants via video message on two occasions: at the end of the first day of the Conference when she presented the work of UNCITRAL in the field of digital economy, and at the beginning of the second day of Conference when she gave a speech on the upcoming 40th anniversary of the CISG. Among renowned legal scholars who have presented their papers were Dr Attila Menyhárd, Dr Paula Gilliker, Dr Ewa Bagińska, Dr Christian Witting, Dr Mateja Djurovic, Dr Nancy S Kim, Dr Damjan Možina, and many others. At the closing of the Conference, Dr Ivan Tot announced that the second Zagreb International Conference on the Law of Obligations which will be held on 15–17 December 2021 at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business. More information on the follow-up Conference is available on the Conference website.