Professor Panos Koutrakos has advised:

• a multinational company based in an EU Member State on defence procurement issues in another EU Member State
• a machinery producer on the interpretation of EU rules on exports of dual-use items and technology
• on the compatibility of domestic export rules and restrictions with EU law
• a manufacturer of e-cigarettes
• on the interpretation of EU tobacco legislation on the application of EU standardisation rules.

Professor Koutrakos has also advised on and been involved in the judicial review in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (he acted for the plaintiff as junior counsel in Verica Tomanovic and others v EU and others [2019] EWHC 263 (QB)). He is currently representing private clients in judicial review before the General Court of the European Union.

Cases

Professor Panos Koutrakos is a leading authority on the relationship between EU law and international investment law. He has written widely on Bilateral Investment Treaties and the Energy Charter Treaty and their interactions with EU law, the EU law issues raised before arbitral tribunals, and the enforcement of arbitral awards before domestic courts. He has spoken about such issues at international conferences (amongst others, he has been invited to speak by the European Central Bank at its 2019 Legal Conference)

His recent publications in the area include ‘The Autonomy of EU law and International Investment Arbitration (2019) 88 Nordic Journal of International Law 41-64, and ‘Managing interlegality: conceptualizing the EU’s interactions with international investment law’ in J Klabbers and G Palombella (eds), The Challenge of Interlegality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019) 206-229.

Professor Panos Koutrakos is a leading authority in the areas where public international law, WTO law and international investment law meet EU law. He has advised on, amongst others, the post-Brexit status of international treaties that are binding on the UK pursuant to its EU membership. He has also given evidence on this topic at the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and Environmental Audit Committee.

Professor Koutrakos is the author of the leading work on the relationship between international law and EU law (EU International Relations Law, 2nd edition, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2015) and has written widely on Bilateral Investment Treaties and the Energy Charter Treaty and their interactions with EU law, the EU law issues raised before arbitral tribunals, and the enforcement of arbitral awards before domestic courts. His recent publications in the area include ‘The Autonomy of EU law and International Investment Arbitration (2019) 88 Nordic Journal of International Law 41-64, and ‘Managing interlegality: conceptualizing the EU’s interactions with international investment law’ in J Klabbers and G Palombella (eds), The Challenge of Interlegality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019) 206-229.

Professor Koutrakos has been active in the area of defence procurement. He has advised a multinational company based in an EU Member State on the consistency with EU law of offsets required under legislation in another Member State and has been involved in arbitration proceedings acting as expert witness.

He has written widely on defence procurement in the light of EU law (for instance, in books such as The EU Common Security and Defence Policy, Oxford University Press, 2013) and Trade, Foreign Policy and Defence in EU Constitutional Law (Hart Publishing 2001), as well as articles such as The application of EC law to defence-related industries—changing interpretations of Article 296 EC’ in Barnard and Odudu (eds), The Outer Limits of European Union Law (Hart Publishing, 2009) 307-3270.

Professor Koutrakos is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops around the work on topics of EU law. These include the following:

• King’s University London, 11 March 2016: Annual Conference on EU Law: paper on recent developments on EU external relations case-law.
• University of Vienna, 7 March 2016: conference on Intra-EU BITs and intra-EU disputes:  paper on relevance of EU law for arbitral awards.
• UK House of Commons, European Affairs Select Committee, 8 November 2015: invitation to give evidence on the implications of Brexit for the international treaties binding on the UK.
• European Parliament: Joint session of Constitutional Affairs and Foreign Affairs Committees 13 October 2015 (invitation to speak and answer questions about constitutional and institutional potential still unused in the Lisbon Treaty concerning external action).
• European Commission and Office of the National Assembly of Vietnam, 16-7 July 2015, Seminar on Legal Harmonisation in the Establishment of the ASEAN: Issues for Vietnam and Experiences from the EU (paper on harmonisation and EU law).
• Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 25 May 2015, workshop by invitation only addressed to legal advisers and diplomats: paper on the effects of international law within the EU’s legal order.
• University of Luxembourg, 24 November 2014, Conference on the legal order of the EU from the perspective of its external action: response to paper by Judge Miro Prek (of the EU’s General Court) on judicial review of international agreements.
• University of Cambridge, 4-5 July 2014, Conference on Governance and Globalisation: paper on the EU’s contribution to the global security architecture,
• University of Granada, Conference on EU External Action, 28-29 November 2013: paper on ‘EU Common Security and Defence Policy’
• Annual Institute of European Law Lecture 2013, University of Birmingham, 26 November 2013: ‘The European Union in the World: the limits of law and the constraints of politics’
• University of Helsinki, Martti Ahtisaari Academy Chair, 29-30 August 2013: Workshop on Controlling Global Governance
• Maastricht University, 30-31 May, 2013: Flexibility and Disintegration in the EU: paper on ‘Flexibility and the EU’s foreign policy’
• T.C. Beirne Law School, University of Queensland, March 2013: ‘A difficult child in an unhappy family: Europe’s security and defence policy’
• International Law Association Seminar, University of Nottingham, 5 December 2012: ‘A difficult child in an unhappy family: Europe’s security and defence policy’.
• University of Edinburgh, 8 December 2011, Workshop on The Principle of Market Access in EU Law.
• University of Copenhagen, Conference on The Legal Dimension of Global Governance: What Role for the EU? 13-14 October 2011 – paper on the law of the EU’s defence policy.
• University of Helsinki, Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights – Summer School on International Law: ‘The EU, Kadi and After: The EU in the Global Legal Order, 15-26 August 2011: four lectures on the EU’s Security and Defence Policy.
• Swedish Institute of European Policy Studies, Stockholm, 20-21 June 2011 – ‘The Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy in the light of the Lisbon Treaty’.
• Centre for the Law of EU External Relations, Brussels 27 May 2011 – ‘The Impact of EU Law on the International Role of the Member States’
• Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, 20-21 May 2010 – ‘Settlement of Property Disputes in the Cyprus conflict’.
• UCL Faculty of Laws, 29 April 2010 – ‘The EU’s Foreign Affairs After the Lisbon Treaty’.
• University of Sydney, St Paul’s College, 13 April 2010 – ‘The European Union on the International Scene’
• University of Cambridge, 18-19 December 2009– Conference on A Constitutional Order of States (in Honour of Professor Alan Dashwood CBE) – ‘The Common Security and Defence Policy’.
• European University Institute, Florence 29-30 May 2009 – Conference on Area of Freedom, Security and Justice – paper on interactions with other EU external policies (such as development and security).
• University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, 22-23 May 2009 – Conference on International Law as Law of the EU – paper on the effect of international treaties concluded by Member States under EU law.
• Free University of Amsterdam, 24-25 April 2009 – Conference on Necessity Across International Law – paper on the development of EU regulation on defence industries
• University of Sydney, 18 March 2009 – Public lecture on The International Role of the European Union.
• University of Rotterdam, 9 October 2009 – Public lecture on EU Sanctions and Human Rights.
• University of Oxford, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and Oxford Institute of  European and Comparative Law 3-4 October 2008 – Conference on ‘Prohibition of Abuse of Law – A New General Principle of EU Law? – paper on ‘Free movement of goods and the abuse of law test’.
• University of Birmingham, 3-4 July 2008 – Conference on ‘The Next 50 Years: The Future of European Law and Policy’ – paper on ‘The European Union on the International Scene’.
• University of Stockholm and Swedish Network for Research in European Law, 13-14 May 2008: Conference on ‘Multilateralism, Regionalism, Bilateralism and Fair World Trade – WTO and EU Perspectives’ – paper on ‘The position of WTO law in the EC legal order’.
• University of Leiden, 9-10 May: Conference on ‘Mixed Agreements Revisited’ – paper on ‘The interpretation of mixed agreements by the European Court of Justice’)
• University of Sydney, 9 April 2008: Public lecture on ‘The EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy: Trends and Prospects’.
• University of Cambridge, 21-22 September 2007: Roundtable Discussion on ‘The Outer Limits of the EC Treaty’ –paper entitled ‘The application of EC law to defence-related industries—changing interpretations of Article 296 EC’.
• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 10-12 September 2007: Seminar on  ‘Investigating and prosecuting offences related to the illegal export of dual-use goods from the EU Member States’ – paper entitled ‘The Commission’s proposals on exports of dual-use goods and reliance upon criminal sanctions’.
• University of Liverpool, 5-6 July 2007: Conference on ‘50 Years of the European Treaties: Looking Back and Thinking Forward’ –paper entitled  ‘Common Foreign and Security Policy: Thinking Forward’.
• British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 46th London-Leiden Meeting, 30 June 2007: invitation to act as a commentator on the topic of the relationship between UN Law and EU Law.
• University of Dundee, Srymgeour Seminar, 21 March 2007: ‘Common Foreign and Security Policy: between 50 years of integration and a moribund Constitution’.
• European University Institute, Florence, Italy – Workshop on EU Foreign Affairs (10-11 November 2006): ‘Legal basis and competence in EU external relations’ (to be published in 2007).
• Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London (February 2006): Participation in round table discussion on ‘EU law, international law and economic sanctions: The judiciary in distress?’.
• University of Iowa College of Law (USA) (May 2005): ‘Common Foreign and Security Policy of EU after the Constitutional Treaty’.
• Queen’s University Belfast, School of Politics and International Studies (May 2004): ‘International agreements concluded by Member States prior to the accession to the European Union’.
• University of Edinburgh (April 2004): ‘The external dimension of the internal market and the individual).
• University of Nottingham (October 2003): ‘The European Union as a defence actor’.
• H.G. Hart Workshop, London (June 2003): ‘When does diversity cease to be a weakness? The presence of the EU on the international scene’.
• University of Cambridge (June 2003): ‘Health Care as a Service: the Role of the European Court of Justice’.
• Queen’s University Belfast (March 2003): ‘The elusive quest for uniformity in EU external relations’.
• University of Gothenburg, Sweden (January, 2003): ‘Which Policy for Which Europe? A Lawyer’s View of the EU Role in the New European Security Architecture’.
• University of Cambridge (February 2002): ‘The elusive quest for uniformity in EC external relations’.
• University of Leeds (September 1999): ‘The constitutional role of the European of Court Justice within the European Union’ – Society of Public Law Teachers Annual Conference.
• University of Gothenburg, Sweden (April 1999): “Legal problems of the current regime on exports of dual-use goods”.