Programme at a glance

Time – Programme

12:00 – Networking lunch

13:00 – Welcome

13:15 – Keynote: Geopolitics – Europe’s uncomfortable position

A non-legal opening on the geopolitical reshaping that is squeezing European business between US technological leverage, Chinese economic dominance and Russian military pressure. Paul Verhagen – Senior Fellow at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, Strategic Liaison at the UvA Civic AI Lab and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam – examines how the global technology landscape is fracturing into competing US, Chinese and European blocs, and what this strategic shift means for European business across AI, critical infrastructure and trade. Drawing on the thesis of his forthcoming book, The Techtonic Shift: Power, Tech and the End of Nations.

14:00 – Panel 1: Is the EU a threat to commercial arbitration?

The tension between arbitration and EU law has rarely been more live. Intra-EU disputes, state aid, recent rulings from the CJEU and parallel developments in national courts have left practitioners with more questions than answers. A panel debate with diverging perspectives from across the partnering jurisdictions, including a Swiss counter-view on the post-Achmea / Komstroy landscape.

14:45 – Coffee break

15:15 – Parallel break-out sessions

Small-format sessions running in parallel, designed for substantive engagement rather than passive listening.

1. AI in Arbitration: Disclosure, the ICC Task Force and the EU AI Act

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how arbitrators work – but the rules governing its use are still being written. This session focuses on two concrete pressure points: the disclosure obligations arbitrators face when using AI tools, including the ongoing work of the ICC AI Task Force; and the implications of the EU AI Act for arbitrators seated in EU jurisdictions. Both issues are live now and affect practitioners across Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Less a survey of AI in arbitration, more a practical reckoning with obligations that already apply.

2. Drafting Arbitration Clauses for 2026: EPP and Highly Expedited Arbitration

The 2026 ICC Rules introduce the Highly Expedited Arbitration procedure – but opting in (or out) requires deliberate drafting choices that many standard clauses do not yet reflect. This session is designed for in-house counsel: what does the new procedure actually offer, where does it create risk, and how should arbitration clauses be drafted or revised to reflect it? Workshop format, with clause language under the microscope.

3. The 2026 ICC Rules: New Disclosure Obligations and What They Mean in Practice

The 2026 ICC Rules impose a new obligation on parties to identify and explain relevant entities – a change with real consequences for group structures, joint ventures and supply chains common in industrial and infrastructure projects. This session unpacks what the new obligation requires, how the updated Note to Parties interacts with it, and what in-house and external counsel should be doing now to prepare.

4. Preventing Disputes: Is the Mediation Window Friend or Foe?

Multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses are standard in complex projects – but does the mediation window actually prevent disputes, or does it merely delay and complicate them? This session examines the question from the perspective of industrial and infrastructure projects, where the stakes are high and relationships long. We will look at what works, what does not, and how the clause is drafted in practice across our partnering jurisdictions.

16:30 – Panel 2: View from the bench

A panel of senior judges from different jurisdictions on enforcement, set-aside and the EU-law interface. A genuinely „joint“ closing that ties back to Panel 1 and brings the day full circle.

17:00 – Networking drinks

19:00 – Dinner (central Amsterdam)