HWG partner Kent Bressie was appointed as the International Cable Law Adviser (“ICLA”) for the International Cable Protection Committee (“ICPC”). Mr. Bressie, who will continue to practice at HWG while serving as the ICLA, was selected unanimously by the ICPC’s Executive Committee.
The ICPC is the world’s premier submarine cable protection organization. It was formed in 1958 to promote the protection of international submarine cables—the infrastructure of the Internet—against man-made and natural hazards. It engages with stakeholders and governments globally to promote submarine cable protection. The ICPC has over 180 members from over 60 nations, including cable operators, owners, manufacturers, industry service providers, and governments.
As ICLA, Mr. Bressie will guide the ICPC’s legal strategy to protect submarine cables from a variety of risks and protect freedoms codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Among other responsibilities, he will represent the ICPC in negotiations at the United Nations on a new oceans law treaty to protect marine biodiversity and before the International Seabed Authority to mitigate potential conflicts between deep seabed mining and submarine cables.
Mr. Bressie focuses his law practice at HWG on cross-border and national-security regulation of telecommunications networks, investment, and technology, and law-of-the-sea issues. For more than 20 years, he has worked extensively in the submarine cable sector on a wide variety of public international law, maritime, investment, national security, regulatory, and commercial matters on six continents.