The globalization and transnationalization of commercial law, along with the existence and content of the new lex mercatoria, have been central themes in legal scholarship for over five decades.  However, the transnationalization of laws governing public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the emergence of the Lex PPP as a new transnational legal order in this field have received limited scholarly attention. This presentation seeks to address this gap in the legal literature by exploring the fundamental question: What is Lex PPP? To answer this, the speaker employs transnational law as a methodological framework, focusing on “actors, norms, and processes”. The speaker contends that there is growing evidence to support the emergence of Lex PPP as a new transnational legal order for PPPs and a specialized sub-branch of the New Lex Mercatoria. This legal order is reinforced by the formation of the so-called global PPP community, characterized by a shared transnational legal culture. The presentation suggests that the psychological impact of the above-mentioned non-state-created norms on stakeholder behaviour in the Kazakhstan case study provides compelling evidence for the existence of Lex PPP as a burgeoning transnational legal order rooted in social reality. To substantiate this claim, the author proposes a framework for understanding who can legitimately create, apply, and enforce Lex PPP.

About the Speaker:

Mr. Shaimerden Chikanayev, PhD Candidate, CUHK LAW.