PIL Issues of Resource Extraction in Antarctica, the Deep Seabed and Outer Space

On 20 August 2025, from 11 to 12 am UK time, the Aberdeen Centre for Private International Law and Transnational Governance will host a webinar featuring Caroline Rapatz (Kiel University) on Beyond State Borders, Beyond the Situs Rule? Private International Law Issues of Resource Extraction in Antarctica, the Deep Seabed, and Outer Space.

The webinar will explore how the traditional connecting factors of lex rei sitae in international property law and lex loci damni / lex loci delicti commissi in international torts law run into difficulties when applied to resource exploitation in extraterritorial regions such as Antarctica, the deep seabed and outer space.

Caroline Rapatz will address the urgent need for special conflict-of-laws rules suitable for these contexts – rules that could form part of a broader framework for internationally administered exploitation licenses, ensuring both sustainability and allocative fairness. The topic is particularly timely, given that international treaty law has so far largely overlooked the private international law dimensions of resource exploitation beyond state borders.

Registration is available here; for further information: michiel.poesen@abdn.ac.uk.