The White Paper on Digital Product Passports and Critical Raw Materials for Batteries: Legal Conflicts and Principles for Cross-Border Cooperation

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The White Paper on “Digital Product Passports and Critical Raw Materials for Batteries: Legal Conflicts and Principles for Cross-Border Cooperation” is now formally published on the UNECE website!

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe White Paper identifies and analyses the critical legal challenges in implementing Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), including cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel. These materials are essential for Energy Transition, for example, electric vehicles.

Yet, tracing their journey from mines to markets to recycling is legally complex and globally inconsistent. This fragmentation hinders sustainability and transition to circular economy.

The White Paper provides policymakers and businesses with:  An analysis of conflicting legal frameworks in implementing DPPs; Guiding principles for cross-border cooperation in CRM-Battery value chains.

Read the full White Paper here.

AMEDIP’s upcoming webinar: A radical change in German Private International Law, the example of the naming law (in Spanish)

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The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on Thursday 25 September 2025 at 14:30 (Mexico City time – CST), 22:30 (CEST time). The topic of the webinar is: A radical change in German Private International Law, the example of the naming law, which will be presented by Prof. Dr. Karl August von Sachsen Gessaphe (in Spanish).

Read more

Giustizia consensuale No 1/2025: Abstracts

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The first issue of 2025 of Giustizia consensuale (published by Editoriale Scientifica) has been released, and it features:

Cesare Cavallini (Professor at Bocconi University, Milan), L’arbitrato come processo e giustizia consensuale (Arbitration as a Process and Consensual Justice; in Italian).

The essay aims to analyze the phenomenon of private autonomy and consensual justice in arbitration as it has evolved through various reforms. The goal is to highlight arbitration as a process and a form of consensual justice that is alternative yet distinct from ordinary judicial proceedings and fully aligned with constitutional principles. This objective becomes even more significant when compared to the very different and controversial issues discussed in American legal doctrine, which instead point to an unceasing erosion of rights through a blending of public interferences in arbitration and private ones in ordinary justice, raising concerns about the legitimacy of private autonomy within the framework of civil protections under constitutional scrutiny. Read more

Call for abstracts on the Succession Regulation (EU) 650/2012

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The private international law experts from the University Rovira i Virgili (URV-Tarragona) and the University of Lleida (UdL) together with the Notarial Association of Catalonia, are organizing I INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE REVIEW OF REGULATION (EU) 650/2012 AFTER TEN YEARS OF APPLICATION.

– The deadline for receiving abstracts has been extended until 29 September 29 2025.
– The scientific committee will decide on the acceptance on 14 October 2025.
– The conference will take place in Barcelona, on 11 and 12 of November 2025.

The call is open for any of the main thematic areas: scope, definitions, jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, enforceability and enforcement of decisions and documents, the European Certificate of Succession and other complementary provisions. Communications accepted will be presented in person during the seminar for approximately five or seven minutes each. Applications to present a communication proposal must meet the following requirements: identification of the author and his/her academic category, the subject to which the paper belongs, the title of the communication, an abstract of the communication, which should be between 300 and 500 words in length.

The application should be sent to: reglamentosucesiones@urv.cat

Communications will be selected according to their relevance in terms of the chosen thematic area; quality in the treatment of the topic and originality.
This Conference is part of the research project: “The review of Regulation 650/2012, in matters of succession: application assessment and proposals for amendments”, which is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (reference PID2023-149454NB-I00). The duration of the project is four years (2024-2028) and this Conference is the first international scientific meeting planned among the project activities.

More information i available at the official web page.

Advance Article for Issue Three of the Uniform Law Review for 2025

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An advanced article on conflict of laws for issue three of 2025 for Uniform Law Review was recently published.

Cayetana Santaolalla Montoya, “The challenges of blockchain arbitration from a private international law perspective”

This article aims to explore the emergence of blockchain arbitration and the legal challenges it poses from a private international law perspective. It examines the legal implications of this new type of arbitration and its feasibility under international regulatory frameworks (including the European Union, the USA, and the 1958 New York Convention), and it assesses leading decentralized justice platforms such as Kleros, Aragon, and Jur. The study highlights the fundamental differences between blockchain arbitration and traditional arbitration, identifying challenges such as the absence of a seat, the anonymity of parties and arbitrators, and the tension between decentralization and legal oversight. Finally, it explores future trends and proposes recommendations to adapt existing regulatory frameworks, concluding that, while blockchain arbitration will not replace classical arbitration in the short term, it could establish itself as a valuable complement to resolve disputes in the global digital economy.

First View Articles on the Third Issue of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly for 2025

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The first view article of the third issue of the ICLQ for 2025 was published yesterday. It contains the following article on conflict of laws:

 

Ardavan Arzandeh, “Anti-Suit Injunctions in Support of Foreign Dispute-Resolution Clauses”

Courts in England ordinarily grant anti-suit injunctions when proceedings are (or will soon be) initiated in a foreign court in breach of clauses which subject disputes to the exclusive jurisdiction of courts, or refer them to arbitration, in England. Would they, however, grant such relief in support of foreign dispute-resolution clauses? In UniCredit Bank v RusChemAlliance, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom answered this question in the affirmative, thus expanding the English courts’ power to issue anti-suit injunctions. This article seeks to assess the likely extent of this expansion and the future implications it could have for the law on anti-suit injunctions in England. The article also examines the Supreme Court’s pronouncements on the other significant issue in the case concerning the law governing arbitration agreements and their potential effect following the enactment of the Arbitration Act 2025.

Recent report on the Netherlands Commercial Court

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Readers of this blog who are keen on the theme of commercial courts might be interested in the recent report ‘An interim assessment during the start-up phase of the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC)’. This document is authored by T. Geurts, Y.N. Overvelde & M.P.C. Scheepmaker. The authors conducted an empirical study for the Research and Data Centre (WODC), an independent knowledge agency of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security.

Along with the full report in Dutch, a summary in English and a helpful accompanying post are available online.

The report provides several insights, including information on the NCC’s caseload in the past years, the countries where the litigating parties were domiciled, and the legal practitioners’ familiarity with the NCC’s work. Furthermore, the authors reflect on the future perspectives of the NCC.

Earlier posts on commercial posts are available here, with further links.

Call for Abstracts: Special Issue of the Italian-Spanish Journal of Procedural Law: “From Gavel to Grid: Reimagining Civil Justice in the Digital Era”

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Gina Gioia, Jordi Nieva-Fenoll, and Seyedeh Sajedeh Salehi are inviting submissions for a Special Issue of the Italian-Spanish Journal of Procedural Law, which will be published under the title “From Gavel to Grid: Reimagining Civil Justice in the Digital Era”.

The details can be found in the attached Call for Papers.

Call for Abstracts: European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2026

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We are happy to share the attached Call for Abstracts from the European Yearbook of International Economic Law for its 2026 volume, which will be dedicated on the “Reconstruction of International and European Economic Law”.

Abstracts can be submitted until 30 November 2025.

Virtual Early-Career Conference: ‘Global Harm, Local Justice | The Future of Cross-Border Torts’ (University of Groningen, 6 Feb 2026)

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We are delighted to share the Call for Papers for a virtual early-career conference on ‘Global Harm, Local Justice | The Future of Cross-Border Torts’, hosted by K.C. (Kirsten) Henckel and M.A.S. (Martin) Bulla from the University of Groningen on 6 February 2026.

Abstracts of 300–500 words must be submitted by 1 December 2025.