The firm's Speaking engagementss

Presentations, conferences, or training sessions delivered by Maître Dr. Guillaume Loonis Quélen as a lead speaker on topics related to space law, maritime law, or international law.

4 juillet 2025

Journée Ripert de l'AFDM

Civil Maritime Nuclear – A New Legal Paradigm?

Many thanks to the French Maritime Law Association (AFDM) for organizing the 32nd RIPERT Conference, dedicated to the legal and technological challenges of maritime decarbonization.
I had the pleasure of speaking as Chair of the AFDM Energy Commission, in the panel on nuclear-powered maritime transport, with a presentation entitled:
👉 “Civil Maritime Nuclear – Legal Perspectives”
🔍 The topic now firmly stands on the international agenda. At its 110th session (June 2025), the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) acknowledged the urgent need to revise Chapter VIII of the SOLAS Convention and the Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships (res. A.491(XII)).
As early as 1959, the Comité Maritime International underlined that nuclear power at sea raised both:
• Public law issues, relating to international regulation, safety, and security of ships; and
• Private law issues, including civil liability, mandatory insurance, and jurisdictional conflicts.
This dual dimension remains more relevant than ever. Future work must integrate contemporary requirements, particularly those stemming from the IAEA framework:
⚛️ Safety, Security, and Safeguards – the “3S” – now central to any civil nuclear regulation.
🔧 The 1962 Brussels Convention on the Liability of Operators of Nuclear Ships – developed by the CMI – provides a historical foundation, but now calls for a thorough revision or even a complete overhaul.
📌 An ambitious undertaking lies ahead, at the intersection of the law of the sea, nuclear law, and private maritime law.


Warm thanks to all speakers and organizers for the richness of the discussions, and in particular to: Romain Cazzato; Marc Léger; Jose Esteve; Gaël Piette; Philippe Delebecque; Julien Raynaut; Andrew Tetley; Adam Kapella

Image reproduced with kind permission from Jianru CAI.

March 14, 2025

MEET 2050, Sea & Nuclear, Paris

Civil Maritime Nuclear – Legal Perspectives

As part of the MEET 2050 lecture series, I had the pleasure of presenting on the legal perspectives of civil maritime nuclear energy — an emerging topic at the intersection of the energy and maritime transitions.

In view of the challenges posed by the decarbonization of maritime transport and the pursuit of energy autonomy for certain coastal or remote regions, several States and industrial stakeholders are now considering the use of nuclear power at sea through two main applications:

  • Nuclear-powered vessels (NPVs);
  • Floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs).

However, this development raises significant legal questions that have so far received limited attention:

  • What international regulatory framework applies to these hybrid units, which function both as ships and as nuclear installations?
  • How can safety, liability, environmental protection, and international oversight be ensured for such facilities?
  • What coordination mechanisms should exist between the relevant organizations (IMO, IAEA, coastal States, flag States)?

The presentation provided a structured overview of applicable international instruments (SOLAS, MARPOL, Nuclear Safety Code, nuclear liability conventions), identified current gaps, and discussed recent work carried out within the IMO aimed at revising the Safety Code for Nuclear Merchant Ships.

This issue, lying at the crossroads of maritime law, nuclear law, and international law (environmental protection, non-proliferation, etc.), deserves particular attention in order to support innovation without undermining legal certainty or public trust.

December 5, 2024

Space for Inspiration, European Space Agency (ESA), Luxembourg

Export controls

Presentation of the legal issues of export controls in the space sector, during the ESA’s flagship event dedicated to innovation and the space economy. Focus on regulatory obligations and best practices for European operators, particularly in France. This is in the context of U.S. law and new Chinese legislation, both of which are extraterritorial.

June 20, 2024

Report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space – General Assembly, Space and Global Health Network Session, UNOOSA, Vienna

Personal proposal integrated into the official report A/AC.105/2024/CRP.18

Intervention within the framework of UN discussions on synergies between space technologies and global health. Result: item 4(g) of the final report presented to COPUOS.

April 18, 2023

New Space In Africa Conference, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Modernizing Space Law – The Example of Consolidating Maritime Instruments

This presentation offers a comparative analysis of the legal consolidation processes in the maritime and space sectors, aiming to identify concrete pathways for the sustainable development of space activities.

October 15, 2022

International Lunar Search and Rescue Conference, IAASS, Beijing, China (hybrid format)

Space Distress Communications: Interoperability, Frequencies, and Interference

Presentation on the technical and regulatory challenges of interoperability for distress communications in future lunar missions, within the framework of the global lunar search and rescue network.

June 20, 2022

Making Space Matter Summit, Friends of Europe, Brussels, Belgium

Satellite Communication Security – How can Europe stimulate the private sector whilst ensuring security?

Expert debate on finding the balance between the commercial growth of space telecommunications and the strategic security imperatives in Europe.

May 18, 2022

Simulations NATO & Friends of Europe, Brussels, Belgium

Europe in 2030: Strengthening Public-Private Cooperation in Hybrid Crises

Prospective crisis simulations on public-private cooperation in the face of hybrid threats, organized in partnership with NATO, to anticipate legal and operational responses to emerging risks.

November 22, 2019

Viva voce of the Ph.D. thesis of Guillaume LOONIS QUÉLEN – Doctoral School of Law of the Sorbonne – Legal Research Institute of the Sorbonne

Piracy & Armed Guards

What characterizes the present Doctoral thesis in Law is, first of all, its purpose of social utility. It is also a research focused on technical aspects along with an interdisciplinary perspective. Through the prisms of International Law and European Law, it is necessary to question the attractiveness of French Law in the face of contractual professional practices oriented towards arms control and globalized economic interests. The study provides accurate data on the incidence of maritime piracy as well as concrete information on private maritime security activities. It also the relevant institutions and relevant national and international regulations. Thereafter, it deals with pirates and armed guards while equating the regulated profession of armed guards with the status of seafarers. Lastly, the study deals with the most relevant minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship and the conditions of employment. This unpublished research required the author’s use of various casquettes including that of PhD candidate, legal consultant and UMMU president. The study has been presented at meetings organized by UNCTAD, NMIOTC, the French National Assembly, IRSEM and the European Association of Lawyers. It also required having access to the port of Galle in Sri Lanka, the IMB in Malaysia, the ILO, the IMO and the Representation of France to said organization, as well as to the Paris Court of Justice, the General Secretariat for the Sea, the CNAPS, the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and the MICA Center. The results of the study show in particular the following: France is the only State to recognize armed guards as seafarers; the absence of representation of such workers does not allow the emergence of social dialogue; the GUARDCON standard contract takes precedence over French Law, which is nevertheless applicable; Flag State and Port State controls would be difficult to achieve; in the field of social security, agents should be attached to French Law (law of the Flag State); in individual employment contract matters, conflict of laws and jurisdiction rules are difficult to apply; detection of drugs is feasible through the medical check-up and aboard the ship as part of the labor jurisprudence; by the end of 2020, France should have incorporated in its national legislation the concept of “armed robbery against a ship”. This study highlights the importance of eliminating zones of legal uncertainty, establishing a social dialogue among workers, employers and their government and respecting the legal and regulatory framework for the private armed vessel protection activity so that it extends efficiently from the struggle against piracy to that against terrorism.

June 7-9, 2016

Challenges to Maritime Security Derivated from Transnational Organized Crime at Sea – 7th NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC) Annual Conference

Labour law related to maritime private security companies

This presentation examined the legal framework applicable to personnel of private security companies embarked on board ships, focusing on maritime labor law. It addressed the ambiguous legal status of these armed guards, often considered “supernumeraries” and not as seafarers, except in certain states like France. It reviewed the minimum requirements for working at sea, including age, qualifications, identity documents, employment conditions, the captain’s responsibility, repatriation procedures, and certification standards. The presentation emphasized the obligations arising from the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), the ISPS Code, the ISO 28007 standard, and the standard GUARDCON contract. Legal risks, particularly in cases of disputes or serious incidents (e.g., the Seaman Guard Ohio case in India), were highlighted as reasons to strengthen the regulatory framework to prevent the activities of these actors from being confused with those of the pirates they fought against.