Conferences & Seminars
P.R.I.M.E Finance 9th Annual Conference
The Hague, February 3-4 2020
On 3 and 4 February 2020, the PCA participated in the P.R.I.M.E. Finance 9th Annual Conference, held at the Peace Palace. The conference discussed issues at the intersection of financial markets and dispute resolution, this year with particular attention to climate change and sustainable finance, new challenges in dispute resolution and benchmarking, among other topics. The PCA’s Secretary-General, Mr. Hugo Siblesz, delivered a welcome address presenting the PCA’s activities in 2019 and addressing a range of recent developments of interest to the financial sector, and PCA Senior Legal Counsel Martin Doe chaired a panel on third party funding.
The conference programme is available here.
Launch symposium for the Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration
The Hague, 12 December 2019
On 12 December 2019, the Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration were launched at a symposium hosted by the PCA at the Peace Palace. Developed by a Drafting Team led by Judge Bruno Simma with the support of the Center for International Legal Cooperation, the City of The Hague, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hague Rules provide a set of arbitration procedures tailored for disputes relating to the impact of business activities on human rights. They are based on the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules with modifications to address particular issues that arise in such disputes.
The symposium programme is available here.
The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights are available here.
Annual Energy Charter Treaty Forum
Singapore, 20 November 2019
On 20 November 2019, the PCA co-hosted the Energy Charter Treaty Forum 2019 at Maxwell Chambers in Singapore, together with the Energy Charter Secretariat, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, and the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. The annual Forum centers on discussion of the evolution and management of energy and natural resources disputes across multiple dispute resolution mechanisms. Secretary-General Hugo Siblesz presented a keynote address themed “The Promise of Arbitration – Enhancing International Peace, Cooperation and Sustainability through Dispute Settlement”. The four panel discussions focused on the Energy Charter Conference’s 2018 Model Instrument on Management of Investment Disputes in practice; treaty- and contract-based arbitration of Asian infrastructure investments; emerging fields for inter-State arbitration, mediation and conciliation of energy and natural resources disputes, and forms of stakeholder participation in such disputes.
The forum programme is available here.
Conference on the means for the settlement of cultural property disputes
Florence, 25 October 2019
The conference “Cultural Property: What Means for the Settlement of International Disputes”, co-organized by the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Florence Chamber of Commerce, was held in Florence on 25 October 2019.
The one-day event attracted close to 200 participants including lawyers and art world stakeholders. The morning session featured speeches addressing successful cultural diplomacy and the means for the resolution of international cultural property disputes that cannot be resolved through diplomacy. The speeches were followed by a roundtable discussion of the experience of stakeholders such as museums, antiquarians and police units for the protection of cultural heritage. The afternoon session, which included two roundtables, was dedicated to a detailed analysis of arbitration, mediation and negotiation as means for the resolution of cultural property disputes.
The conference materials are available here:
- the program;
- the introductory speech delivered by Professor Attila M. Tanzi in the morning session on the means for the settlement of international cultural property disputes; and
- PowerPoint presentations.
The conference was organized pursuant to a Cooperation Agreement between the PCA and the Florence Chamber of Commerce, which also enables the PCA to make use of the Chambers’ facilities at Piazza dei Guidici in Florence for arbitration hearings.
For the PCA, this conference marks a return to an important topic previously addressed in its Seventh International Law Seminar in 2003, the proceedings of which were published in the Peace Palace Papers series. It was noted at the conference that, at a time when dialogue regarding the return of cultural property acquired in colonial times is evolving, but cultural property continues to be put in jeopardy on a daily basis by armed conflict and illicit trade, it remains essential to discuss avenues for the appropriate and effective resolution of cross-border disputes in this field.
18th International Arbitration Conference of the Brazilian Arbitration Committee
Brasília, 22-24 August 2019
From 22 to 24 August 2019, the PCA served as a supporting organization for the Brazilian Arbitration Committee’s (“CBAr”) 18th International Arbitration Conference in Brasília, Brazil. The event promoted discussions on a range of topics relating to public administration and arbitration. Senior Legal Counsel Martin Doe Rodríguez intervened in a panel on “The evolution of arbitration involving public entities”, together with PCA Members of the Court Professor Eduardo Grebler and Professor Nádia de Araújo.
The conference programme is available here.
3rd Residential Retreat for Judges on international arbitration
Balaclava, Mauritius, 8-9 August 2019
On 8 and 9 August 2019, in Balaclava, Mauritius, the PCA, along with the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies of Mauritius, the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre, and the Supreme Court of Mauritius, organized the 3rd Residential Retreat for Judges, entitled “International Arbitration”. The Retreat was attended by 32 participants, including justices of the Mauritius Supreme Court, other members of the Judiciary, and Legal Research officers of the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies. PCA Senior Legal Counsel Fedelma Smith and Legal Counsel Susan Kimani and Túlio Di Giacomo Toledo conducted a number of Judicial Training Sessions on international arbitration, enforcement of arbitral awards, the Mauritius Arbitration Project, and the International Arbitration Act of 2008.
A report on the residential retreat is available here.
P.R.I.M.E Finance 8th Annual Conference
The Hague, February 4-5 2019
On 4 and 5 February 2019, the PCA served as a supporting organization of the P.R.I.M.E. Finance 8th Annual Conference, held at the Peace Palace. The conference discussed issues at the intersection of financial markets and dispute resolution, this year with particular attention to the implications of Brexit for financial markets, new trends in financial litigation, and the rise of commercial courts around the world, among other topics. The PCA’s Secretary-General, Mr. Hugo Siblesz, delivered a welcome address presenting the PCA’s activities in 2018. The PCA entered into a Cooperation Agreement with P.R.I.M.E. Finance in 2015, As a result, arbitrations and mediations under the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Arbitration and Mediation Rules are administered by the PCA.
The conference programme is available here.
2nd PCA India Conference in New Delhi
27 October 2018
The PCA, together with the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, organised the second PCA India Conference in New Delhi on 27 October 2018. The objective of the conference was to discuss emerging issues in interstate arbitration, investor-state arbitration, and contract-based claims. The speakers of the conference included representatives of the Indian judiciary and government, eminent practitioners of international dispute resolution from India and abroad, and members of the International Bureau of the PCA. The second PCA India Conference built on the success of the first edition of this event, which took place in October 2017. A full program of the conference can be found here.
The second PCA India Conference was followed by a workshop on 28 October 2018, also jointly organised by the PCA and the Ministry of External Affairs. The workshop included lectures by distinguished faculty on various aspects of investment arbitration.
International Energy Charter Forum on “Mobilising Investments for a Sustainable Energy Future”
Brussels, 12 May 2017
The forum aimed to deliver cutting-edge thinking and debate on policy, legal and regulatory aspects concerning the undergoing transition towards a sustainable energy model. The global energy architecture needs to build on stable and transparent frameworks to mobilise huge investment to enable the low-carbon energy transition. From different and complementary angles, the five institutions that co-organised the forum participated in the promotion and protection of energy investment and in the analysis and policy dialogue on energy markets.
The first morning session dealt with the necessity of stable investment conditions to implement the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals on universal energy access. The second session focused on best practices in regulatory reform to attract investment while minimising disputes.
The policy-oriented, preventive and ex-ante regulatory presentations of the morning, were complemented in the afternoon with an ex-post legal approach related to dispute settlement. The third session tackled the concept of investment protection standards, which are ultimately interpreted by arbitral tribunals in actual investor-state disputes. The fourth and last session reviewed the work in progress in investment dispute settlement.
The event was jointly organised by the International Energy Charter, the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
The agenda is available here.
The Hague Energy Charter Legal Forum on the “Resolution of International Energy Disputes: Peace, Stability and Security”
Peace Palace, The Hague, May 22, 2015
On 22 May 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration hosted The Hague Energy Charter Legal Forum on the “Resolution of International Energy Disputes: Peace, Stability and Security”, organized in cooperation with the Energy Charter Secretariat. The forum followed the signing of the International Energy Charter, a political declaration that maps out common principles for international cooperation in the field of energy. The forum provided a setting for representatives from governments and energy companies to discuss energy dispute resolution. It featured two panels, moderated by Mr. Michael Polkinghorne, partner at White & Case LLP (Paris), and Dr. Sabine Konrad, McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Frankfurt), respectively. Speakers comprised the following governmental representatives: Mr. Bayaornibè Dabire, ECOWAS Director of Energy; Ms. Alisa Newman Hood, Senior Advisor, Energy Resources Bureau, US Department of State; Ms. Marie Talašová, Head of International Arbitration Department, Ministry of Finance, Czech Republic; Mr. Cornelis van der Bom, Associate General Counsel (Upstream Activities), Shell; Mr. Michael McIlwrath, Global Chief Litigation Counsel, GE Oil & Gas; Dr. Zangar Nogaibay, Executive Director, Association “Kazenergy”; Dr. Sun Xiansheng, President, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Economics & Technology Research Institute; and Ms. Masako Takahata, General Counsel, Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation.
Third Mauritius International Arbitration Conference
Flic en Flac, Mauritius, December 15-16, 2014
The PCA is one of the six arbitral institutions which supported the Mauritius International Arbitration Conference (MIAC) 2014, along with the ICC, ICCA, ICSID, the LCIA, and UNCITRAL. The third in a biennial series hosted by the Government of Mauritius, MIAC 2014 took place on December 15-16, 2014, in Flic en Flac, Mauritius. The theme was “The Litmus Test: Challenges to Awards and Enforcement of Awards in Africa”. High-profile speakers on panels chaired by each of the six co-hosting institutions addressed the issues of “challenges to arbitral awards at the seat” and “the recognition and enforcement of awards”. As well as panel presentations, the programme included workshops in the form of mock tribunal hearings and panel-led discussions in the format adopted by the LCIA at its Tylney Hall conferences. The full conference programme, list of speakers, and details of other events in this series are available here.
PCA Peace Palace Centenary Seminar
Peace Palace, The Hague, October 11, 2013
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the Peace Palace, the Permanent Court of Arbitration held a commemorative seminar for Members of the Court, representatives of PCA Member States, and other invited guests on October 11, 2013. The one-day event featured presentations from PCA legal staff outlining recent developments at the PCA and a seminar on the theme Confronting Global Challenges: From Gunboat Diplomacy to Investor-State Arbitration. Following the keynote address by Professor Jan Paulsson and the seminar featured a panel composed of Professor James Crawford SC AC, Professor Brigitte Stern, and H.E. Judge Christopher Greenwood, under the chairmanship of H.E. Judge Peter Tomka, then President of the ICJ. The panelists addressed current issues relating to three themes: the challenge of arbitrators; Most Favoured Nation clauses; and sovereign regulatory freedom. Photographs and selected excerpts from the event are available here.
Second Mauritius International Arbitration Conference
Balaclava, Mauritius, December 10-11, 2012
The PCA is one of the six arbitral institutions which supported the Mauritius International Arbitration Conference (MIAC) 2012, along with the ICC, ICCA, ICSID, the LCIA, and UNCITRAL. The second in a biennial series hosted by the Government of Mauritius, MIAC 2012 took place on December 10-11, 2012 in Balaclava, Mauritius. The theme was “An African Seat for the Twenty-First Century?”. High-profile speakers on panels chaired by each of the six co-hosting institutions addressed current and emerging issues in international commercial and investment arbitration, including inter alia the court’s duty to stay court proceedings in favour of arbitration. The full conference programme and list of speakers are available here.
The conference papers of MIAC 2012, edited by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, are available for download here.
International Law Seminars
The PCA hosted seven International Law Seminars between 1999 to 2003, with the proceedings of each published in the seven-volume Peace Palace Papers series.