Workshop sheds light on complex ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ legal issues
24 Sep 2012
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Anna Tyler, Assistant Legal Advisor
This legal workshop, held in Aix-en-Provence, was an excellent opportunity to discuss the very complex issues related to the specific legal framework applicable to the project.
Last Friday 21 September, the Director-General of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and the President of Aix-Marseille University opened, together, the first ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Legal Workshop organized by CERIC (International and European Studies and Research Centre of the Faculty of Law of Aix-en-Provence) in collaboration with the Legal Affairs department of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ.
This legal workshop was organized around exchange between the academic world and practitioners involved in the everyday life of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ project; it was a great opportunity to discuss the very complex issues related to the specific legal framework applicable to the project.
Approaches of the academic world and of practitioners revealed to be complementary and fundamental, and this legal workshop enabled all participants to share and confront their experience and outlook for a better understanding of the law applicable to international organizations such as the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ.
It was also an opportunity to shed light on all the legal issues related to the creation of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and it helped to analyze ongoing and crucial legal issues the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ is confronted with on a daily basis. In particular, the discussions focused on the specificity of the law applicable to the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ (question of conciliation between the status of public international organization and the application of French law in certain fields such as nuclear safety, licensing and protection of the environment).
The morning session was devoted to presentations given by distinguished speakers concerning:
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ in the framework of international organizations
- The ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Project and international law
- The ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and the European Union
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and France.
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ in the framework of international organizations
- The ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Project and international law
- The ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and the European Union
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and France.
±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Legal Advisor Laetitia Grammatico, ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Deputy Director General Rich Hawryluk and Prof. Rostane Mehdi, chair of the morning session.
The afternoon was divided into three panels of discussion composed of ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ staff, scholars and practitioners concerning three different aspects of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ's legal framework:
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ staff privileges and immunities
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, nuclear and environmental aspects
- ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and intellectual property rights.
The proceedings of this workshop will be published in order to disseminate the fruitful information shared between all participants. This will be a very important step in writing the legal history of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ project and in spreading information relating to the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ legal framework.
Prior to the workshop, participants were given the opportunity to visit the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ site. They were able to see the tremendous progress on the construction and this enabled them to measure the scientific and legal stakes at play and the importance of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Legal Workshop for a better understanding of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Project.
The fact that the workshop was so successful shows the need for further collaboration between the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and Aix-Marseille University to explore together legal issues raised by the specific legal status of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ.