INTRODUCTION

Professor Kaddous's presentation will examine how the EU AI Act is changing the regulation of artificial intelligence within the European Union and influencing legal approaches beyond it. The lecture will explain the Act's scope, risk-based obligations, institutional enforcement and interaction with EU fundamental rights, data protection, product regulation and internal market law. It will also consider how rules applying to providers and deployers outside the Union give the EU framework wider cross-border significance.

The presentation will then place the EU framework within international law. It will address jurisdiction over cross-border AI systems, human rights duties, state responsibility, international economic law, technical standards and the relationship between regional regulation and multilateral processes. Particular attention will be given to the external relations of the European Union and to how differing national and regional systems can cooperate without weakening rights, accountability or public oversight.

A short section will consider Switzerland as a non-EU European state closely connected to the EU legal and economic order. It may address the implications of EU rules for Swiss institutions, businesses and research, together with opportunities for EU-Switzerland cooperation on AI governance.

The lecture will conclude by considering the Geneva AI Summit 2027 as a neutral forum where European institutions, Switzerland, international organisations and states from different regions can compare regulatory approaches and identify shared legal principles. Its role could be to connect the EU's regulatory experience with wider international-law discussions, broaden participation by Asian and developing states and identify areas for cooperation on rights protection, compatibility between regulatory systems, institutional capacity, research and sustainable AI governance.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Christine Kaddous | Professor of Law, University of Geneva | Director, Centre for European Legal Studies (CEJE) | Director, MEIG Programme

Christine Kaddous has been a Full Professor at the University of Geneva since 2002. She has served as a visiting professor at Montesquieu University Bordeaux, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas and the College of Europe. She is Director of the Centre d'études juridiques européennes, a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, and Director of the Master of Advanced Studies in European and International Governance (MEIG Programme). She holds a Jean Monnet Chair ad personam.

Professor Kaddous pursued her legal studies in Switzerland, where she obtained a BA and PhD from the University of Neuchâtel; in the United Kingdom, where she obtained an MA in Law and an LLM (Cantab) from the University of Cambridge; and in Belgium, where she obtained an MA in European Studies from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She was admitted to the Bar and practised commercial law for several years, first in Neuchâtel and then in Geneva.

Her teaching and research cover EU law, international law, dispute settlement, the external relations of the European Union, EU-WTO relations and bilateral agreements between the European Union and Switzerland.

Professor Kaddous has served as President of the Swiss Society of International Law since 2008. She is Vice-President of the Swiss Association for European Law, a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Association for the Study of European Integration and a member of the Steering Committee of the European Centre for Culture. She is also a member of national and international associations in her fields of expertise, including the French Society of International Law, the International Law Association, the European Society of International Law, the Commission for the Study of the European Communities and the Swiss Arbitration Association.

Since 2001, she has edited the collection 'Dossiers de droit européen', currently published by Schulthess/LGDJ in Zurich and Paris. She also serves on scientific review committees, including those of the Swiss Review of International and European Law, the Journal du droit européen and the Austrian Journal of Public and International Law. She is currently involved in research projects concerning EU-Switzerland bilateral relations, international trade and the free movement of persons and services.

Areas of Expertise | EU law; international law; European and international dispute settlement; international economic law, including investment law; international agreements concluded by the European Union; EU-WTO relations; EU-Switzerland relations; free movement of goods, persons, services and capital; air and land transport; public procurement; technical obstacles to trade; environmental law; and health protection.

SILE ACCREDITED CPD ACTIVITY

1.5 Public CPD Points (To be Confirmed)
Practice Area: International Law
Training Category: General

Participants who wish to obtain CPD Points are reminded that they must comply strictly with the Attendance Policy set out in the CPD Guidelines. For this activity, this includes signing in on arrival and signing out at the conclusion of the activity in the manner required by the organiser, and not being absent from the entire activity for more than 15 minutes. Participants who do not comply with the Attendance Policy will not be able to obtain CPD Points for attending the activity. Please refer to http://www.sileCPDcentre.sg for more information.