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Today Dr Christophe Bernasconi, former Deputy Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, has formally taken office as the Organisation's new Secretary General. He takes over from Mr Hans van Loon, who was Secretary General of the Hague Conference from 1996 until his retirement on 30 June 2013. Prior to becoming Secretary General, Mr Van Loon served as Secretary and First Secretary at the Hague Conference Permanent Bureau starting when he joined the Organisation in 1978.

Dr Bernasconi was born on 4 November 1964 in Basel (Switzerland) and is a Swiss citizen. He joined the Hague Conference in 1997 as Secretary, was appointed First Secretary in 2000 and became Deputy Secretary General in 2011. He holds a law degree from Fribourg University in Switzerland (magna cum laude), an LL.M. degree from McGill University in Montreal (Canada) in comparative law (with a Master's Thesis on Oligopolies in unfair competition law), and a doctoral degree from Fribourg University (summa cum laude).

A brief biography of Dr Bernasconi is available here.