Paris 2023 General information

All delegates are responsible for complying with visa entry requirements for France; we strongly recommend you check on a regular basis for any change to the entry formalities into France.

Applications can take up to several months to process and delegatesmay have to apply for their visa in person at their local embassy. Please contact your local embassy for entry formalities and apply for any required visa well in advance.

For further information please visit the following website: www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/requesting-a-visa

All delegates who have registered and paid for the conference, social functions and membership fees in full by close of business on Friday 13 October will receive a voucher for the Fast-Track registration desk. The voucher is scheduled to be emailed on Wednesday 25 October to the email address supplied upon registration. Please bring this voucher to the registration desk either in hard copy or on your smartphone.

The registration desk will be located on level 1, Palais des Congrès.

Registration hours:

• Saturday: 1500 – 1800
• Sunday: 1000 – 1800
• Monday - Thursday: 0745 – 1730
• Friday: 0830 – 1430

For Conference delegates from jurisdictions where CPD/CLE is mandatory, the IBA will provide a Certificate of Attendance for the Conference. Subject to CPD/CLE requirements, Conference delegates can use this to obtain the relevant number of hours’ accreditation. The number of CPD/CLE hours available may vary depending on the rules applied by the members’ bar association/law society on time recording criteria. Certificates will be sent out, via email, to all attendees after the conference.

It is important that you inform the IBA upon registration (confs@int-bar.org) if you are a wheelchair user and/or have limited mobility as we will need to take this into account when planning transportation during the conference. The IBA selects, where at all possible, venues with little or no obstacles for those who have restricted mobility; the Palais des Congrès is fully accessible. However, Paris, as a city, is slightly more challenging with preserved and historic buildings where it has not been possible to adapt access.

The IBA aims to hold its social events in venues that have no access issues, however due to the extent of venues and restaurants where access is affected it is unlikely that all the venues chosen will be accessible, the most common difficulty being the locations of the bathrooms. Quite often these are located in basements or upstairs. Some venues do have lifts, however many lifts are very narrow and wheelchairs may not fit.

A multi-faith prayer room will be available for use at the conference during registration hours.

For security reasons, name badges must be always worn during the conference and at social functions. Your name badge is your ‘entry’ for the Opening Ceremony, Welcome Party and any IBA social events you have purchased place(s). Access to the IBA event space at the Palais des Congrès, once you have collected your registration documentation will be denied entry unless you are wearing the correct conference badge.

After initial collection of conference documentation, guests are limited to the Accommodation desk located outside the ground floor (level 0), Palais des Congrès. Guests are not permitted to attend, under any circumstance, working sessions or general delegate lunches, except for the Opening Ceremony and the Rule of Law Symposium. Security checks will be in place and staff will challenge delegates not wearing a valid conference badge. Proof of identity is required for replacement badges.

All name badges (both delegates and guests) will display a barcode. Badges operate in a similar way to e-tickets and will be scanned for delegates and guests before entry into all IBA official functions. To gain entry to a social function, delegates and guests must wear their badge and have previously purchased a place(s) for the event. We do not issue paper tickets for social functions.

IBA conferences provide unrivalled professional development and network-building opportunities for international legal practitioners and their professional associates. As representatives of the global legal profession, delegates and IBA members are expected to maintain the highest levels of propriety and behaviour. As representatives of their firms, companies and organisations, delegates are reminded that they should maintain the same high standards of behaviour that are required as a representative or employee of that organisation, when attending events as a conference delegate or member of the IBA. This includes adhering to any relevant code of conduct of the organisation that they are representing, or their regulating body, at the conference.

The IBA values the participation of every delegate and member of the IBA and wants all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all conference attendees are expected to show respect and courtesy to other attendees, IBA staff and those involved with hosting the events throughout the conference and at all conference events, receptions, and parties, whether officially organised by the IBA, or by others. All delegates, guests, attendees, speakers, exhibitors, staff and volunteers at any IBA event are required to conform to the IBA Harassment Policy. The IBA will enforce this Policy in relation to matters reported during or after the event, as appropriate.

The IBA is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, physical appearance, age, race, colour or nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership or other personal attributes. Harassment is unwanted physical verbal or non-verbal conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. The IBA does not tolerate harassment, bullying or attempted bullying of conference participants, delegates, guests, speakers, exhibitors, or staff in any form. Please be considerate to others and think about the effect your actions would have on others – a single incident could constitute harassment.

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience, including people of many different cultures, backgrounds, opinions and personal attributes. Please do not insult nor disparage other attendees, and please give consideration to topics that might be offensive to others. Behave professionally.

Remember that discriminatory, sexual or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate. Sexual language, imagery or behaviour are not appropriate. Any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature will constitute harassment.

Attendees violating this Policy may be asked, at the discretion of the conference organisers, to leave the conference, without a refund, and further action may be taken in accordance with the Harassment Policy. If members or delegates see or suspect any behaviour that may violate this policy, they should not be afraid to report it.

The full Harassment Policy can be found on the IBA website at www.ibanet.org/iba-harassment-policy

For reference also please see the IBA Inclusion and Diversity Policy at www.ibanet.org/Diversity-and-Inclusion-Council

Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly, and inclusive conference for all.

Contact emails:
Joe Bell, Operations Director – joe.bell@int-bar.org
Julie Elliott, Conferences Director – julie.elliott@int-bar.org

The IBA has contracted a limited number of bedrooms for delegates via the IBA’s accommodation agent Judy Lane ICS, for the nights of 28 October – 3 November (inclusive), at a number of hotels. Please visit the accommodation page to make a reservation.

All accommodation costs are the responsibility of the delegate and are required to be paid, in full, by the attendee upon departure. For late cancellations or ‘no shows’ the accommodation cost will be charged by the hotel to the credit card supplied at the time of booking.

It has been brought to our attention that there are multiple companies contacting past attendees, claiming to represent the IBA, offering ‘assistance’ with registration and hotel bookings.

They are operating by cold-calling and spamming companies whose names have appeared on previous List of Participants, Programmes and Sponsorship recognition. The only accommodation agent the IBA works with is Judy Lane ICS. Judy Lane ICS does not contact delegates on behalf of the IBA without delegates making initial contact. Please ignore any communication that does not come directly from the IBA or Judy Lane ICS.

The conference dress code is business suit for the working sessions and smart casual for social events, unless otherwise stated.