The opening day of the Conference will focus on the discourse between public and private actors regarding the questions when, where and what kind of public supervision on private international regulation is desirable.

The seminar on New International Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the Financial Markets will focus on aspects of international financial regulation and harmonisation of contracts. Furthermore, the seminar will try to answer the question regarding possible types and procedural aspects of an international financial dispute resolution body. Participants will be involved in a discussion on the necessity of establishing these new instruments. The parallel seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility will cover the issue of international regulation of private business conduct in the fields of human rights and environment. Participants will try to come to a conclusion whether corporate social responsibility can be ‘hardened’ into concrete international standards that will establish criteria for responsibility of private companies. Furthermore, this seminar will discuss the prospects of an international dispute resolution mechanism for business and human rights.

Confirmed speakers are a.o.: o Sir William Blair (Commercial Court Judge), o Mr. Bernard Bot (former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs) o Mr. Peter Dengate-Trush (ICANN Chairman), o Ms Elaine Dorward-King (Rio Tinto Global Head HSE), o Mr. Jeffrey Golden (Special U.S. Counsel at Allen & Overy), o Mr. Beat Hess (Shell Group Legal Director), o Mr. Ruud Lubbers (former Dutch Prime-Minister), o Ms Caroline Rees (Advisor to the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Business and Human Rights), o Mr. Renaud Sorieul (Secretary-General UNCITRAL), o Ms Meg Taylor (World Bank Vice-President and Ombudsman)