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The Permanent Court of Arbitration: Recent Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2009

Bette E. Shifmari
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Extract

In August 1993, this Journal devoted an entire special issue to the future of international arbitration in general, andthe Permanent Court of Arbitration in particular. Its editors viewed this special issue inter alia as a contribution to the UN Decade of International Law. It is not entirely coincidental that 1999, the final year of the Decade, will also mark the centennial of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). This commemorative link is expressly acknowledged in the UN Resolution initiating the Decade.

Keywords

arbitrationMembers of the Courtoptional rulesPermanent Court of Arbitrationsteering committee.
Type
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1995 , pp. 193 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 1995

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References

1. The Flame Rekindled: New Hopes for International Arbitration, 6 LJIL (Special Issue, 1993).

2. S. Muller & W. Mijs (Eds.), The Flame Rekindled, 6 LJIL 203 (1993).

3. UN Doc. A/RES/44/49 (1989): “[n]oting that, in the remaining decade of the twentieth century, important anniversaries will be celebrated that are related to the adoption of international legal documents, such as the centenary of the first International Peace Conference, held at The Hague in 1899, which adopted the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and created the Permanent Court of Arbitration”.

4. J.L. Bleich, A New Direction for the PCA, 6 LJIL 215 (1993).

5. Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, 29 July 1899, 32 Stat. 1799(hereinafter: 1899 Convention).

6. Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, 18 October 1907, 36 Stat.2199 (hereinafter: 1907 Convention).

7. Id., Art. 43. The International Bureau is headed by the Secretary-General and serves as an intermediary for the Contracting Powers and as registry for the Court. It has custody of the archives, and conducts all of the Court's day-to-day administrative business. It has its offices at the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands, and is ready at all times to put its staff and facilities at the disposal of the Contracting Powers for arbitration, conciliation, mediation, and fact finding. The Secretary-General is always available to provide information and advice that may behelpful to the parties in resolving their disputes by arbitration or other means.

8. Muller & Mijs, supra note 2, at 204; P. Sanders, Private Parties and the Permanent Court of Arbitation, 6 LJIL 289 (1993).

9. Bleich, supra note 4, at 218 and 224–25.

10. Id., at 228.

11. UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, adopted 28 April 1976. Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the Work of its Ninth Session, 31 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 17), at paras. 56–57, UN Doc. A/31/17 (1976), reproduced in 15 ILM 701 (1976).See, generally, H.M. Holtzmann, The History, Creation and Need for the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, in Stockholm Symposium on International Commercial Arbitration (1982).

12. See, generally, Bleich, supra note 4, at 229–235; and C. Hardenberg, New Rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, 1993 Intľ Bus. Law 457.

13. A similar suggestion was made earlier by the Working Group, see Bleich, supra note 4, at 227. The UN Secretary-General has a Trust Fund, established in 1986 to provide financial assistance to qualifying countries that are involved in proceedings before the International Court of Justice. See Terms of Reference, Guidelines and Rules of the Secretary-General's Trust Fund to Assist States in the Settlement of Disputes Through the International Court of Justice (1989).

14. The Administrative Council is the governing body of the PCA. It is composed of the diplomatic representatives of the 80 Contracting Powers accredited to The Hague. Its president is ex officio the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Council decides any questions of administration that may arise with regard to the operations of the Court, and oversees the functioning of the International Bureau.

15. A state may apply for financial assistance if it 1. is a state party to the Convention of 1899 or 1907, 2. has concluded an agreement for the purpose of submitting one or more disputes, whether existing or future, for settlement by any of the means administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and 3. at the time of requesting financial assistance from the Fund, is listed on the ‘DAC List of Aid Recipients’, prepared by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Permanent Court of Arbitration:Financial Assistance Fund for Settlement of International Disputes, Terms of Reference and Guidelines, approved by the Administrative Council on 3 October 1994, para. 5.

16. Id., paras. 8–15. The initial members of the Board of Trustees, approved by the Administrative Council at its meeting on 3 October 1994, are: Andrés Aguilar Mawdsley (Venezuela), Judge, International Court of Justice; Prince Bola Ajibola (Nigeria), Judge ad hoc, International Court of Justice; Gilbert Guillaume (France), Judge, International Court of Justice; Howard Holtzmann (USA), former member, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal;and Christopher Pinto (Sri Lanka), Secretary-General, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.

17. See Section 5, infra.

18. UN Charter, Statute of the International Court of Justice, Arts. 4–5.

19. A country's ‘national group’ consists of the Members of the Court appointed by it, see Section 3.2., supra.

20. See, eg., 1907 Convention, supra note 6.

21. UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, supra note 11.

22. Id., Arts. 6–7 and 38–39.

23. UN Doc. A/RES/48/3 (1993).

24. Mr Boutros-Ghali is also a Member of the Court, appointed by Egypt in 1990.

25. 1907 Convention, supra note 6, Art. 44. These are the criteria set forth in the Convention for designation of Members. See Section 3.2., supra.

26. See note 3, supra.