PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION

Subject: International Organisations

Context: Cairn Energy Plc won a major relief on Wednesday as the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled that the Indian government’s retrospective tax demand against the global oil and gas major was “inconsistent” with the UK-India bilateral treaty.

Concept:

• The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization located at The Hague in the Netherlands.
• The PCA is not a court in the traditional sense but provides services of an arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise out of international agreements between member states, international organizations or private parties.
• The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.
• It was established in 1899 by the first Hague Peace Conference of 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. At the second Hague Peace Conference, the earlier Convention was revised by the 1907 Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.
• The organization is not a United Nations agency. But the PCA is an official United Nations Observer.

Membership of the PCA

• Parties to the Convention on the Pacific Settlement of disputes of 1899 (71 member states) and 1907 (101 member states) are automatically parties to the PCA.
• As 51 are parties to both conventions, the PCA has 121 member states: 119 members of the United Nations, as well as Kosovo and Palestine.
• India is a party of the PCA according to the Hague Convention of 1899.