Permanent Court of Arbitration enters into Host Country Agreement with Vietnam
On 23 June 2014, at a ceremony held at the Government Guest House in Hanoi, the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, H.E. Mr. Hugo Hans Siblesz, and the First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, H.E. Mr. Ho Xuan Son, signed a Host Country Agreement that would facilitate the PCA’s work in conducting arbitral proceedings within the country. The Agreement took effect immediately upon signing. At the ceremony, letters of cooperation between Viet Nam and the PCA were also exchanged.
(PCA Secretary-General, H.E. Hugo H. Siblesz, and Viet Nam’s First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ho Xuan Son, signing the Host Country Agreement in Hanoi on 23 June 2014. Senior Officials of Viet Nam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Justice observe the signing. Secretary-General Siblesz is assisted by PCA Senior Legal Counsel Aloysius Llamzon)
(PCA Secretary-General, H.E. Hugo H. Siblesz, and Viet Nam’s First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ho Xuan Son, exchange copies of the Host Country Agreement signed in Hanoi on 23 June 2014)
Upon signing of both instruments, Secretary-General Siblesz met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Viet Nam, H.E. Mr. Pham Binh Minh. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary-General discussed possible modalities of cooperation in implementation of the Host Country Agreement.
(PCA Secretary-General, H.E. Hugo H. Siblesz, meeting with Viet Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H.E. Pham Binh Minh, at the Government Guest House, Hanoi, 23 June 2014)
From the 1990s onward, the PCA has adopted a policy of concluding Host Country Agreements with its Member States with the goal of making its dispute resolution services more widely accessible to States throughout the world, not just at its headquarters at the Peace Palace in The Hague. Through such agreements, the host country and the PCA establish a legal framework within which PCA-administered proceedings (including arbitration, conciliation, and fact-finding boards of inquiry) can be conducted in the territory of the host country on an ad hoc basis under conditions similar to those guaranteed by the PCA’s Headquarters Agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Viet Nam-PCA Host Country Agreement secures the provision by Viet Nam of the facilities and services required for PCA-administered proceedings such as office and meeting space and secretarial services, which may be offered at no cost to the Parties. Importantly, the Agreement also sets out the privileges and immunities accorded to adjudicators and participants in PCA-administered cases.
Apart from Viet Nam, the PCA has also concluded Host Country Agreements with Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Mauritius, Singapore, and South Africa.