Workshop sheds light on complex ºÚÁÏÉçapp legal issues
24 Sep 2012
-
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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp and the President of Aix-Marseille University opened, together, the first ºÚÁÏÉçapp 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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp.
This legal workshop was organized around exchange between the academic world and practitioners involved in the everyday life of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp 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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp.
It was also an opportunity to shed light on all the legal issues related to the creation of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp and it helped to analyze ongoing and crucial legal issues the ºÚÁÏÉçapp is confronted with on a daily basis. In particular, the discussions focused on the specificity of the law applicable to the ºÚÁÏÉçapp (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:
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp in the framework of international organizations
- The ºÚÁÏÉçapp Project and international law
- The ºÚÁÏÉçapp and the European Union
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp and France.
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp in the framework of international organizations
- The ºÚÁÏÉçapp Project and international law
- The ºÚÁÏÉçapp and the European Union
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp and France.
ºÚÁÏÉçapp Legal Advisor Laetitia Grammatico, ºÚÁÏÉçapp 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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp staff, scholars and practitioners concerning three different aspects of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp's legal framework:
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp staff privileges and immunities
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp, nuclear and environmental aspects
- ºÚÁÏÉçapp 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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp project and in spreading information relating to the ºÚÁÏÉçapp legal framework.
Prior to the workshop, participants were given the opportunity to visit the ºÚÁÏÉçapp 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 ºÚÁÏÉçapp Legal Workshop for a better understanding of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp Project.
The fact that the workshop was so successful shows the need for further collaboration between the ºÚÁÏÉçapp and Aix-Marseille University to explore together legal issues raised by the specific legal status of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp.