CELS Webinar: 'The EU and International Dispute Settlement'

Location: Online/Faculty of Law, G24

Title: 'The EU and International Dispute Settlement' 

Speaker: Dr Jed Odermatt, City University, London

Biography: 

Dr Jed Odermatt is a Lecturer at the City Law School, City, University of London where he is convenor of the International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) and member of the Institute for the Study of European Law (ISEL). He is also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the European Society of International Law (ESIL) Interest Group ‘The EU as a Global Actor’ and Co-rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Study Group on ‘The International Law of Regional Organisations’. Jed is the author of International Law and the European Union (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and editor (with R.A. Wessel) of Research Handbook on Research Handbook on The European Union and International Organizations (Edward Elgar, 2019). His research interests include public international law, the law of international organizations, and EU external relations law.

Abstract: 

One of the significant changes in the landscape of international law in recent decades has been the increase in the number of international courts and other forms of international dispute settlement. The EU has pushed for the inclusion of dispute settlement chapters in its trade and investment agreements, it has joined multilateral treaties that include dispute settlement mechanisms, and it has proposed the establishment of multilateral investment court. The Court of Justice of the European Union has shown a more guarded approach in recent years towards international dispute settlement. In cases such as Komstroy, Achmea and Opinion 2/13 the Court examined the EU’s relationship with external dispute settlement bodies primarily through the lens of EU autonomy. Arbitral tribunals, for their part, have shown little willingness to engage in dialogue with the CJEU, downplaying the effects of CJEU judgments and examining the relationship through public international law. In legal debates on the topic, EU law and international law scholars tend to talk past one another, repeating well-worn narratives and debates. Whereas earlier scholarship on the CJEU and other international courts examined the dialogue between jurisdictions, especially the way courts refer to one another’s case-law, contemporary debates tend to focus on the sources of conflict and confrontation between legal orders. Building on research published in the book International Law and the European Union (Cambridge University Press, 2021) this presentation explores the potential ways to address these sources of conflict and allow the CJEU to coincide with other international courts. It argues in favour of a conception of EU autonomy grounded, not only in EU law, but in public international law and the law of international organizations. Such a conception of EU autonomy would show a level of trust in the EU legal order to withstand the possibility of diverging legal interpretations by external dispute settlement bodies.

Jed will be delivering his talk live in G24**, but also via Zoom (link below).

**please note that those wishing to come along to this event in person are advised to take a lateral flow test at least 24hrs prior to attendance to ensure that they do not have covid. 

Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_v1Q_TNFOSRi3f6tgUKf3EQ