NOV
26
2021
Commercial Applications of Public International Law 2021
Total Registrations: 26
Description
COURSE OVERVIEW
As transnational commercial activities increase at unprecedented levels, the demand for international standards also continues to grow. Many important components of these standards are derived from public international law, which impacts the operation of most businesses on a daily basis.
Commercial Applications of Public International Law (CAPIL) is a suite of four CPD accredited modules designed to update a participant's understanding of public international law from a commercial perspective. The modules demonstrate how international law may materially affect a business entity's commercial relationships, as well as its risk and compliance assessments.
Each of the four CAPIL modules will benefit legal practitioners and in-house counsel, as well as members of boards or investment committees, and corporate risk or compliance personnel. The modules cover the essentials of international law, how states may be liable to foreign businesses, how to transact with state-owned entities and international institutions, and how international law informs ESG issues.
COURSE CONTENT
MODULE ONE (26 Nov 2021, 2pm-3.30pm, Singapore Time)
Key Concepts of International Law: Module One presents the essentials, focusing on how international law is formed, where to find international instruments and soft law, how they are implemented through national law to become binding on business entities and how they are applied by domestic courts. Topics covered:
Introduction to CAPIL – the modern relevance of international law to business
Sources of international law – custom, treaties, general principles
Subsidiary means to determine international law – judicial decisions, work and resolutions of international organisations, the United Nations (UN) International Law Commission, and writings of publicists
How treaties are formed, interpreted and terminated – the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
How international law is incorporated into the Singapore legal system
Singapore court practice on interpretation and application of treaties
MODULE TWO (26 Nov 2021, 4pm-5.30pm, Singapore Time)
Responsibility of States Toward Foreign Business Entities: Module Two examines how international law may make states responsible for acts that cause loss or damage to foreign business entities, why states may be immune from liability in foreign jurisdictions, and how court or tribunal decisions may be enforced against foreign states. Topics covered:
State sovereignty
State responsibility – the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility
State-owned entities and attribution of state responsibility
State immunity – the Singapore State Immunity Act
Enforcement of court and tribunal decisions against foreign states
MODULE THREE (3 Dec 2021, 2pm-3.30pm, Singapore Time)
Contracting with Foreign States, State-owned Entities and International Organisations: Module Three focuses on the need-to-know international law principles when business entities deal with foreign state-owned entities and international organisations (including international financial institutions), particularly when they are a counterparty to a contract or a party to a dispute. It will also cover contractual provisions that may be necessary when contracting directly with foreign states or their ministries. Topics covered:
Foreign state-owned entities as parties to commercial contracts
International law as the governing law of a contract
Stabilization clauses, dispute resolution clauses, and other considerations when negotiating contracts with foreign states, state-owned entities and international organisations
MODULE FOUR (3 Dec 2021, 4pm-5.30pm, Singapore Time)
Environment, Social and Governance (ESG): Module Four demonstrates how international law plays a significant role in ESG management. It explores how international law and transnational soft law helps to inform the content of ESG criteria. Additionally, it provides a systematic navigation through multiple international conventions and instruments that relate to ESG. This Module also evaluates situations where stakeholders expect an entity's ESG commitments to go beyond the standards set by domestic law. In these circumstances, international law may provide a framework of authoritative guidance as to the standards that may satisfy stakeholder expectations. Topics covered:
The UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Development Goals
Environment – the Paris Accords, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
Social – Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Labour Organisation's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
Governance – UN Convention Against Corruption, UN Sanctions
MODULE REGISTRATION The course is designed to enable participants to register for any combination of the four Modules, or all four Modules, with a discount provided for the latter. Nevertheless, participants who are less familiar with international law concepts are encouraged to register for at least Modules One and Two. Key materials and a background briefing document will be provided in advance of each Module.
FEE STRUCTURE 1 to 3 Modules each at SGD 50 OR all 4 Modules at SGD 180
CLASS FORMAT The class will be conducted in Zoom Meeting format. Each module will have a unique Zoom link sent to you.
CPD ACCREDITATION
4 Public CPD Points | Practice Area: International Law | Training Category: General
Participants who wish to obtain CPD Points are reminded that they must comply strictly with the Attendance Policy set out in the CPD Guidelines. For this activity, this includes logging in at the start of the webinar and logging out at the conclusion of the webinar on each module of the activity, and not being away from any part of the webinar for more than 15 minutes on each module of the activity. Participants may obtain 1 Public CPD Point for each module of the event on which they comply strictly with the Attendance Policy. Participants who do not comply with the Attendance Policy will not be able to obtain CPD Points for attending the activity. Please refer to http://www.sileCPDcentre.sg for more information.
TRAINER
Dr Romesh Weeramantry is the Head of the International Dispute Resolution team at the Centre for International Law at NUS and an Adjunct Professor at the NUS Faculty of Law. In addition, he is a Senior Consultant at Clifford Chance in Singapore, specialising in international commercial arbitration and investor-State disputes. His career has included positions as a Legal Officer at the United Nations Compensation Commission (Geneva) and a Legal Advisor to the President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (The Hague). His publications include Treaty Interpretation in Investment Arbitration (Oxford University Press 2012). He is a General Editor of the Asian Dispute Review and a member of the Editorial Board of the ICSID Review.
Dr Weeramantry has significant experience teaching international law and dispute resolution. Most recently, he taught the NUS Faculty of Law module on Advanced Practicum in International Arbitration (with Lucy Reed in 2020; and Benjamin Hughes in 2021). In 2021, he was the Director of the Singapore International Arbitration Academy, a four-day virtual course for government lawyers and private practitioners.
ENQUIRIES Please email Ms Gerry Ng at cil.events@nus.edu.sg for enquiries.
Date and Time
Friday, 26th November 2021 2:00PM GMT+08:00
to
Friday, 3rd December 2021 5:30PM GMT+08:00
Organisation
Centre for International Law
Location
via Zoom hosted in Singapore