The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization and a unique arbitral institution, not a conventional court with permanent judges. It was established in 1899 during the First Hague Peace Conference by the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. The PCA was created as the first global mechanism for the peaceful settlement of international disputes, addressing the problem of a lack of a permanent, readily available forum for arbitration between states. The founding Convention was revised at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907.
The PCA's permanent component is its secretariat, the International Bureau, which provides registry and logistical support for arbitral tribunals. It maintains a roster of potential arbitrators, known as the Members of the Court, designated by member states. When a dispute arises, the parties select arbitrators from this roster or elsewhere to form an ad hoc arbitral tribunal. Proceedings are governed by rules like the PCA Arbitration Rules 2012 or the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. The PCA's scope expanded from only inter-State disputes to include cases involving states, state entities, international organizations, and private parties, setting a precedent in 1934.
The PCA is housed at the Peace Palace in The Hague, alongside the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but is distinct from it, as the ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and hears cases only between states. A significant recent change was the consolidation and revision of its four sets of optional rules into the PCA Arbitration Rules 2012, which replaced older rules like the Optional Rules for Arbitrating Disputes between Two States (1992). The PCA is currently establishing an expert group to report on future development, with a final report due in 2026.