The PCA is not a tribunal in the traditional sense, but an administrative organization whose objective is to have permanent and easily accessible means to serve as a registry for international arbitration and other related proceedings, including commissions of inquiry and conciliation. [11] In 1937, the States Parties to the 1907 Convention agreed that the International Bureau of the PCA, acting as the Registry of the Court, should offer its services to other arbitration bodies. Subsequently, the International Bureau was empowered to provide its services in disputes between parties, only one of which is a State, while the Secretary-General of the PCA was given a dispute settlement role in the appointment of an arbitrator in an arbitration conducted in accordance with the Rules of International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Articles 30 to 57 of the 1899 Hague Convention set out the rules of arbitration. These rules are an adapted version of existing treaties between States. They were amended in 1907, with the creation of a summary procedure for simple cases being the most striking and relevant change in the rule-making of the International Court of Justice in the 1920s. Arbitration between two states takes place when two PCA member states decide to refer a dispute to a PCA tribunal for arbitration. The arbitral tribunal is composed of 5 arbitrators, two of whom are chosen by each party to the arbitration (one of whom may be a national of the party concerned). The four arbitrators elect the fifth arbitrator and the chairman.

[28] The PCA`s budget is determined by contributions from its members and income from arbitration. The distribution of the sums to be paid by each Member State is governed by the system of the Universal Postal Union. [12] Many free trade agreements provide for investor-state dispute settlement through so-called ISDS clauses. The PCA may act as the appointing authority for arbitrators in such proceedings by applying its Arbitration Rules or by assisting arbitration. [32] Although we are nominally referred to as a court, we do not make formal judgments on contentious issues. Instead, we exercise judicial review of arbitration. Our tasks include: The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization with 116 member states. Established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of state-to-state dispute settlement, the PCA has evolved into a modern and versatile arbitration institution that is now ideally situated at the interface between public and private international law to meet the rapidly evolving dispute settlement needs of the international community. Today, the PCA provides dispute resolution services involving various combinations of states, government agencies, intergovernmental organizations and private parties. The PCA Secretariat, the International Bureau headed by its Secretary-General, provides administrative support to tribunals and commissions. The International Bureau is the secretariat of the PCA and is headed by the Secretary-General.

It provides linguistic, scientific and administrative support to PCA arbitral tribunals. [14] Judges or arbitrators who hear cases are called members of the Court.