"Le droit international privé dans le labyrinthe des plateformes digitales" (ISDC, 28 juin 2018)

"Le droit international privé dans le labyrinthe des plateformes digitales"

Institut suisse de droit comparé

Trentième journée de Droit International Privé

28 juin 2018

To celebrate its 30th Private International Law Day, the SICL is holding a conference devoted to the new challenges of what is sometimes described as the “collaborative” or “sharing” economy. It will take place in Lausanne on 28th June 2018.

The concept of economy includes crowdfunding, “Uberisation” and all other intermediary activities using a digital platform. These mass phenomena, witnessed on a global scale, put in question the very notion of the territorial division of state borders. Is the digital space in which these platforms operate a true space, capable of being delineated and regulated at the national level, and which falls into the territorial scope of application of a law? Or is it rather a volatile cloud, globalised, delocalised, incapable of being pinned down on such a territorial basis? Is it still possible for nation states to guarantee their citizens and/or residents legal protection with regard to the intermediaries who employ them or who offer them their services? Or has it not become essential, even urgent, that a supranational law be devised and placed in the same cloudy skies in which the platform operates? Further still: is it possible to require platforms and their operators to be measured against the particular requirements of a state, notably those concerning the protection of workers and consumers? What role can contemporary private international law play in this regard?

All these questions present a challenge to the supposed neutrality sought by private international law and bring to the fore its potential political and protective role. In this respect, the state can use private international law in order to guarantee cross border protection to the weakest actors in the marketplace – notably, workers and consumers – who reside within its territory (and/or its citizens). On the other hand, however, it may be argued that state interference aimed at constraining those who operate in the digital economy may lead to harmful distortions of the global market. In this regard, what guarantees should be afforded to the freedom of the internet and, at the same time, to that of workers, whose decisions to join and work with a digital platform are made of their own free will? These considerations therefore demand that we draw on the traditional principles of party autonomy and decisional harmony. Speakers include Janine Berg, ILO Genève, Andrea Bonomi, Université de Lausanne, Miriam Cherry, University of St. Louis, Valerio De Stefano, KU Leuven, Marie-Cécile Escande Varniol, Université Lumière, Lyon II, Pietro Franzina, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Ljupcho Grozdanovski, Université de Genève, Florence Guillaume, Université de Neuchâtel, Tobias Lutzi, University of Oxford, Anne Meier, MSS Law, Edmondo Mostacci, Università Bocconi, Etienne Pataut, Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Ilaria Pretelli, Institut suisse de droit comparé, Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Gian Paolo Romano, Université de Genève, et Gerald Spindler, Georg-August-Universität.

9h00 Mot de Bienvenue

Christina Schmid, Institut Suisse de droit comparé

1ère partie

9h10 Les contrats internationaux entre espace physique et espace numérique

Ilaria Pretelli, Institut Suisse de droit comparé

9h20 Electronic Platforms: New Regulatory Challenges

Gerald Spindler, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Allemagne

9h50 La déterritorialisation des relations internationales de travail: l’exemple des compagnies aériennes Low Cost

Etienne Pataut, Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France

10h20 Questions et réponses

10h40 Pause-café

11h10 Rules for Electronic Platforms : the Role of Platforms and Intermediaries in the Digital Economy : A Case for Harmonization

Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Espagne

11h40 Questions et réponses

12h00 Repas… digital (finger food)

2e partie

13h15 Des nouvelles perspectives pour le droit international privé

Lukas Heckendorn Urscheler, Institut Suisse de droit comparé

13h25 Faut-il prévoir des règles impératives pour la protection des parties faibles dans les relations internationales de travail?

Table ronde sous la présidence de Janine Berg, ILO Genève

• Miriam Cherry, University of St. Louis, Etats-Unis
• Valerio De Stefano, KU Leuven, Belgique
• Marie-Cécile Escande Varniol, Université Lumière, Lyon II, France
• Ljupcho Grozdanovski, Université de Genève
• Anne Meier, MSS Law, Genève
• Edmondo Mostacci, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italie

14h30 Pause-café

15h00 Private Ordering, the Platform Economy, and the Regulatory Potential of Private International Law

Tobias Lutzi, University of Oxford, Royaume-Uni

15h30 Impérativité et autonomie dans les relations inégales en droit international privé 

Table ronde sous la présidence de Andrea Bonomi, Université de Lausanne

• Pietro Franzina, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Italie
• Florence Guillaume, Université de Neuchâtel
• Alexander R. Markus, Universität Bern
• Gian Paolo Romano, Université de Genève

16h40 Résumé et clôture

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