The Australian Institute of International Affairs and the Australian Branch of the International Law Association call for applications for the 2026 Peter Nygh Hague Conference Internship.
The following announcement was kindly shared with us by Fabienne Jault-Seseke
Created with the support of LexisNexis, the Review Perspectives contentieuses internationales (PCI) is a biannual academic journal dedicated to the globalization of international litigation in both its public and private aspects. Each issue features a thematic dossier, complemented by several articles outside the main topic (Varia), as well as brief focus pieces addressing current events relevant to political or regulatory developments impacting international disputes (Focus).
The editorial committee, which ensures the scientific and operational direction of the Review, is composed of Sandrine Clavel, Patrick Jacob, and Fabienne Jault-Seseke (professors at Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ).
Three issues have already been published and are available open access.
A new volume coming out of the Programme in European Private Law for Postgraduates (PEPP) has just been published as part of the Scritti di diritto privato europeo ed internazionale series.
The table of contents can be found here; the full volume is available open access here.
Conventions & Instruments
On 1 July 2025:
On 5 July 2025, the 1970 Evidence Convention entered into force for the Philippines. The Convention currently has 69 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.
On 24 July 2025, the Republic of Moldova acceded to the 1970 Evidence Convention. The Convention currently has 69 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.
Publications
On 22 July 2025, the Permanent Bureau announced the publication of the fifth editions of the Practical Handbooks on the Operation of the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions. Incorporating recent developments, court decisions, and practical examples provided by experts from around the world, as well as updates from the meeting of the Special Commission held in July 2024, the fifth editions of the Handbooks are essential resources for anyone involved in the implementation and operation of the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions. More information is available here.
Meetings & Events
On 10 July 2025, the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH and the Asian Business Law Institute co-hosted the webinar “Cross-border Commercial Dispute Resolution – Electronic Service of Documents and Remote Taking of Evidence”. More information is available here.
On 11 July 2025, the first meeting of the Working Group dedicated to the Model Forms for Chapter II of the 1970 Evidence Convention was held online, hosted by the Permanent Bureau. More information is available here.
Other Developments
On 9 July 2025, the premises of the HCCH’s Regional Office for Africa, hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco, were officially opened in Rabat. More information is available here.
On 10 July 2025, the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH announced several developments with regard to the HCCH’s International Child Abduction Database (INCADAT), including the launch of its new notification service. More information is available here.
These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.
We are delighted to announce that Wilson Lui will be joining our Editorial Board. Wilson holds degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong. He currently teaches at the University of Hong Kong while working towards his PhD at the University of Melbourne. His many publications include a comprehensive volume on the conflict of laws in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Private International Law (Hart 2025; together with Anselmo Reyes).
At the same time, we are sad to see Samuel Fulli-Lemaire (Université de Strasbourg), David P. Stewart (Georgetown University), and Marlene Wethmar-Lemmer (University of South Africa) retire from the blog after years of service to this project – we are all the more grateful for their contributions and wish them all the best.
Written by Hadrien Pauchard (assistant researcher and doctoral student at Sciences Po Law School)
The second issue of the Revue Critique de droit international privé of 2025 has just been released. It contains four articles, seven case notes and numerous book reviews. In line with the Revue Critique’s recent policy, the doctrinal part will soon be made available in English on the editor’s website (for registered users and institutions). Read more
Any student of German private international law will take delight in the news that a new textbook has just been published by our co-editor Susanne Goessl together with Florian Kienle. The book covers questions of both the applicable law (internationales Privatrecht) and of jurisdiction and foreign judgments (internationales Zivilverfahrensrecht), with a certain focus on the former area. As one might expect from a new text, it puts the European instruments of private international law (and the areas governed by them) into the centre (pp. 16–144) – without neglecting the areas that remain governed by domestic law (pp. 145–282).
Readers looking to familiarize themselves with German PIL will appreciate the concise introduction to the field (pp. 1–15), the comprehensive coverage of fundamental questions (such as renvoi, characterisation, etc.; starting at p. 157), and the revision questions provided at the end of each chapter. Above all else, however, they will notice the many topical examples used by the authors to explain the material, ranging from climate change and human rights litigation to Covid, the Volkswagen emissions scandal, and the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction by the Ever Given. The wealth of these examples alone makes the book a great read even for those who may consider themselves already well acquainted with German PIL (not least if they need to teach it).
More information on the book is available here.
Editors:
Dr Chukwuma Okoli, Dr Eghosa O. Ekhator, Professor Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, Professor Ralf Michaels, Hans van Loon
Originally sourced from Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law post on 22 July 2025, with slight amedments.
Recall, on 14 October 2024, we invited submissions to The Journal of Sustainable Development and Policy for a special issue focusing on “Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Africa.”
Make today matter! Under this motto, legal scholars from all over the world gathered at the University of Pretoria on July 8, 2025 to take part in the conference “Sustainable Development and Transnational Law in Africa”. The event was jointly organized by the Law Schools Global League and Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law with a view to fostering academic exchange across continents on today’s most pressing challenges.
“It was fantastic to see the breadth and depth of work done in and on Africa within the new field of sustainable development and private international law. Thanks are due also to our co-organizers at the Law Schools Global League ant the University of Pretoria; it is so important to hold conferences like this one outside of Europe,” says Max Planck Institute’s Director Ralf Michaels.
The conference program consisted of four panel discussions (for a report, see ? here). The last two panels brought together five of the participants in a current project titled “Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Africa”**:
Solomon Okorley (University of Johannesburg) spoke about International Child Abduction Jurisprudence in South Africa; Grihobou Roland Nombré (Thomas SANKARA University School of Law) discussed the implications of the rise of Nuclear Energy in Africa for Private International Law; Michael K. Quartey (University of Johannesburg) and Theophilus Edwin Coleman (University at Buffalo School of Law & University of Johannesburg) addressed Product Liability Disputes in Ghana from the perspective of sustainable development, and Panji Chirwa (University of Pretoria) looked at the Impact of the EU Directive 2024/1760 on African Sustainability Frameworks.
** The project “Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Africa” forms the African component of the broader initiative “The Private Side of Transforming our World – UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Role of Private International Law” (see ? here), led globally by Ralf Michaels (Max Planck Institute), Hans Van Loon (previously Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International), and Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (University of Edinburgh). The African initiative is spearheaded by Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli (University of Birmingham), in partnership with Eghosa Ekhator (University of Derby) and the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (Afe Babalola University, Nigeria), and works closely with the global project leaders.
The Permanent Bureau of the HCCH is pleased to announce that the fifth editions of the Practical Handbooks on the Operation of the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions are now available for purchase in both paper and e-book format.
The 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions establish uniform frameworks of cooperation mechanisms to streamline, respectively, the transmission of documents for service abroad and the taking of evidence abroad. The Service and Evidence Handbooks are intended to assist users of the Conventions, including Central Authorities, government officials, courts, counsel and legal practitioners, by providing practical guidance on their implementation and operation.
The Practical Handbook on the 1965 Service Convention is designed first and foremost to assist users with the operation of the main and alternative channels of transmission and the provisions regarding adequate protection of the defendant. As for the Practical Handbook on the 1970 Evidence Convention, it is designed to assist users with the operation of the two systems of taking evidence that are provided by the Convention, namely (1) Letters of Request and (2) Consuls and Commissioners. The Practical Handbooks also explain how information technology is and may be used to further enhance the operation of the Conventions, including by incorporating, for the 1970 Evidence Convention, relevant information from the HCCH Guide to Good Practice on the Use of Video-Link.
Incorporating recent developments, court decisions, and practical examples provided by experts from around the world, as well as updates from the meeting of the Special Commission held in July 2024, the fifth editions of the Handbooks are essential resources for anyone involved in the implementation and operation of the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions.
More information on how to purchase hard copies and/or e-book copies is available on the Publications section of the HCCH website (for the general public). Specific instructions for HCCH National and Contact Organs and Member Central Authorities designated under the Service and Evidence Conventions are also provided on the Publications section of the HCCH website.
This post is published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference of Private International Law (HCCH).
We have recently shared the call for papers by the Journal of Law, Market & Innovation (JLMI) for its first issue of 2026. The deadline has now been moved to 20 July 2025.
For further information, we are again referring to the editors who can be reached at editors.jlmi@iuse.it.
