As women are under-represented in international arbitration tribunals for commercial disputes, the European Commission is announcing the launch of a recruitment drive to promote gender parity. Every trade agreement signed by the EU provides for a set of panellists and experts to be called upon in the event of a dispute. The European Commission is responsible for setting up two sub-lists of panellists in this context. To this end, it compiles a pool of individuals who can supply the panels.
Applications are open from 18 December to 1 February 2021 for two different categories of panellists: one for arbitrators in bilateral trade disputes, the other for experts in trade and sustainable development. The Commission is seeking candidates with expertise in law, international trade and sustainable development.
The Commission is committed to gender balance in its recruitment as well as geographical balance. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis also confirmed on 18 December the European Commission’s adherence to the Commitment to equal representation in arbitration in the settlement of commercial and investment disputes.
A third recruitment process will be opened in the coming months in the area of investment dispute settlement.
See the call for applications: https://bit.ly/2LGFEgI (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)