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