Views
“Towards an EU Law on International Commercial Arbitration?” A Sorbonne Law School Research Project
Written by Dr. Nima Nasrollahi-Shahri (Sorbonne Law School) and Vincent Bassani-Winckler (PhD Candidate, Sorbonne Law School), both authors participated in the Working Group.
A few days ago, the Sorbonne Law School released the final report of a collective research project chaired by Professors Mathias Audit and Sylvain Bollée, entitled “Towards an EU Law on International Commercial Arbitration?”.
Conducted within the IRJS (Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne), and more specifically its research group on private international law, SERPI (Sorbonne – Étude des Relations Privées Internationales), this project sets out to examine whether and how to improve the relationship between commercial arbitration and EU law.
Civil Personal Status Law in the UAE and the Paradox of the Application of Foreign Law: A Legal Trap?
I. Introduction (*)
(*) For the sake of simplicity, reference will be made only to Federal Decree-Law No. 41/2022 of 2 October 2022 on Civil Personal Status. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has enacted a separate law that addresses similar matters at the local level. For a comparison of the various applicable legal frameworks in family law in the UAE, see Béligh Elbalti, “The Personal Status Regimes in the UAE — What’s New and What Are the Implications for Private International Law? A Brief Critical Appraisal”.
There is no doubt that the introduction of the Civil Personal Status Law (CPSL) in the United Arab Emirates marks a significant turning point in the region’s legal landscape, particularly in areas traditionally governed by religious norms. The CPSL refers to the special law adopted at the federal level, which allows family law disputes involving non-Muslims (both foreigners and UAE citizens) to be resolved under a legal framework, that is intended to be modern, flexible, based on “rules of justice and fairness” and “the best international practices from comparative legal systems” (cf. article 19 of the Cabinet Resolution Concerning the Executive Regulation of Federal Decree-Law on the Civil Personal Status). However, the incorporation of the CPSL into the existing legal frameworks in the UAE has raised several issues. These include, among others, the articulation of the CPSL with the other applicable legal frameworks, and more importantly, the extent to which parties may opt out of this “modern” regime in favor of applying their own national laws (for a general overview, see Elbalti, op. cit.). Read more
Report on the ABLI/HCCH 4th Joint Webinar on “Cross-Border Commercial Dispute Resolution – Electronic Service of Documents and Remote Taking of Evidence“
by Achim Czubaiko-Güntgen, Research Fellow („Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter“) and PhD Candidate, supported by the German Scholarship Foundation, Institute for German and International Civil Procedural Law, University of Bonn.
With the fourth instalment in their ongoing webinar series on “Cross-Border Commercial Dispute Resolution”, the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) returned to the topic of “Electronic Service of Documents and Remote Taking of Evidence”. Contrary to the first webinar in 2021, this session focussed not solely on the HCCH 1970 Evidence but equally on the HCCH 1965 Service Convention. Having finally overcome the immediate constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic, this time the renowned speakers were able to elaborate more on the long-term development and visions in the practice of the two legal instruments with regard to their respective areas of law.
News
Registration open: Australasian Association of Private International Law Conference, Sydney, 16-17 April 2026
Registrations for the 2026 AAPrIL Conference, to be held on 16 and 17 Apriil 2026, are now open!
VENUE: Ashurst Lawyers
Level 8, 39 Martin Place
Sydney, New South Wales 2000
AUSTRALIA
PANELS AND SESSIONS:
- Jurisdiction
- Private International Law and Digitalisation
- Regional and International Cooperation
- Arbitration
- Applicable Law
Attendance at conference sessions can be used for CPD; you will need to check local requirements.
REGISTRATION FEES:
If you are coming for both days, please select Friday.
Non-member 2 days: $160
Non-member 1 day: $90
AAPrIL member 2 days: $120
AAPrIL member 1 day: $70
Student: Free to attend the conference only
Conference dinner: $110 for dinner and a selection of drinks
REGISTRATION INCLUDES:
Access to all conference sessions
Morning tea and coffee, morning teas and lunches
Access to purchase a conference dinner ticket at an additional cost of $110
ELI-Webinar “Enhancing Child Protection” (Int’l Filiation Law)
As already announced in another post, there will be a Webinar organized by the European Law Institute (ELI) on March 12 to present and discuss the Project Report of the ELI Project “Enhancing Child Protection: Private International Law on Filiation and the European Commission’s Proposal COM/2022/695 final”
Call for Papers: 11th Journal of Private International Law Conference (Zurich, 1–3 April 2027)
The following Call for Papers has been kindly shared with us by Christiane von Bary (University of Zurich):
Following the 20th Anniversary Conference in London (2025), we are pleased to announce that the Journal of Private International Law will be holding its 11th Conference at the University of Zurich from 1 to 3 April 2027.
We are now inviting the submission of paper proposals for the conference. Please submit an abstract if you would like to make a presentation at the conference and you are willing to produce a final paper that you will submit for publication in the Journal. Abstracts should be up to 500 words in length and should clearly state the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s). Participants are also welcome to propose collective panels. If the proposal is for a panel, it should include the names and affiliations of all proposed participants.
Presentations can be on any subject matter that falls within the scope of the Journal and can be offered by people at any stage of their career, including postgraduate students and practitioners. Presentation at the conference will depend on whether your abstract is selected by the Editors of the Journal (Professor Jonathan Harris KC, King’s College, London and Professor Paul Beaumont FRSE, University of Stirling) and the conference organisers (Professors Tanja Domej and Christiane von Bary, University of Zurich). The subsequent article should be submitted to either of the editors of the Journal before the end of 2027. Publication in the Journal will be subject to the usual system of peer review.
The Conference will be held at the University of Zurich. There will be a mixture of plenary and parallel panel sessions. Speakers will not be expected to pay a conference fee but will be expected to pay for their own expenses in relation to their attendance at the conference in Zurich. Non-speakers will be expected to pay a conference fee. A conference dinner will be held on Friday (2 April 2027), at additional cost and with limited places. Details about registration, the conference dinner and options for accommodation will be made available on the conference webpage: https://t.uzh.ch/1WV.
Please send your proposal to the following e-mail address by Tuesday, 30 June 2026:
We look forward to receiving your proposals, and to welcoming you to Zurich in April 2027!