The bilateral Italian-German AIA/arbit/CAM/DIS Arbitration Group recently organised not one but two gatherings – on 12 June 2026 as a “DIS@IAD” side event to the Italian Arbitration Day in Rome and on 15 June 2026 in Berlin in collaboration with the Italian Center of the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin.
The event in the Eternal City lived up to its title: "Arbitration in Energy Disputes: The Users Meet the Practitioners." Cecilia Carrara (Legance) introduced the day's topics and welcomed participants on behalf of the Bilateral Italian-German Arbitration Group. The overarching theme of the conference was whether and to what extent users are reengineering arbitration to meet their needs.
Niuscha Bassiri (DIS Vice President, ArbBoutique) led a particularly lively debate among the first panel entitled "Substantive Disputes in the Energy Transition," composed of Florian Cahn (Framatome GmbH), Carlo Ottaviano (TenneT TSO GmbH) and Francesca Salerno (Enel). The panellists focused on energy disputes in the transition context and how best outcomes can be achieved. They also debated how to build infrastructure at scale while minimising disputes.
The second panel on "Procedural Innovation and Efficiency in Energy Arbitration" was expertly moderated by Florian Haugeneder (KNOETZL), who guided Eileen Khor (Siemens Energy), Giancarlo Capurro (Statkraft) and Gustav Flecke-Giammarco (Seven Summits Arbitration) through a tour d'horizon of salient procedural aspects in energy arbitration. The questions addressed by the panellists included: Do energy disputes require tailored procedural approaches? Is arbitration suited for disputes at the intersection between public and private law? What procedural innovations are available and how are they suited to energy disputes? Do expedited or even highly expedited proceedings address the specific needs of energy disputes?
After the substantive discussions concluded, all panellists and the audience stayed on for a meaningful networking session with Italian culinary delights kindly sponsored by Legance.
Riccardo Favaro and Elisa Bisi
