The Permanent Court of Arbitration, established under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 (Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes) concluded at the first and second Hague Peace Conference,was the first intergovernmental organization to provide a form for the resolution of disputes between States through arbitration and other peaceful means. As of February 2026, the PCA has 127 Contracting States. It seats at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The International Bureau provides administrative support to the daily activities of the PCA. The PCA opened its overseas offices in Mauritius, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Ha Noi, Vienna and other locations to provide administrative support to tribunals or commissions conducting PCA dispute settlement proceedings outside the Netherlands. The Administrative Council, composed of the Contracting States,decides all questions of administration which may arise with regard to the operations of the Court,e.g. Court’s budget, annual reports, and other necessary Regulations. Members of the Court are potential arbitrators appointed by Contracting State. Each Contracting State can select four persons at the most,of known competence in questions of international law, of the highest moral reputation and disposed to accept the duties of arbitrators. The Members of the Court from each Contracting State constitute a national group of that State, which is entitled to nominate candidates for the election to the International Court of Justice. Members of the Court are appointed for a term of six years and their appointment can be renewed.

Rather than arbitrating disputes by itself, the PCA provides administrative support, such as registry or secretariat services,to the dispute settlement activities including international arbitration, mediation and inquiry, and develops procedural rules for the parties to choose and apply. Since the 1990s, the PCA has adopted a series of Optional Protocols on arbitration rules to increase procedural flexibility and to allow non-State entities and individuals to opt for arbitration services administered by the PCA. The PCA Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to the Environment and/or Natural Resources (“Environmental Rules”) were adopted in 2001, pioneering specialized arbitration rules for environmental disputes at the international level. The PCA consolidated and updated existing rules to form the PCA Arbitration Rules 2012, which constitute the newest set of arbitration procedural rules. In 2024, the Administrative Council adopted optional protocols: (i) the PCA Optional Protocol on Emergency Interim Measures, (ii) the PCA Optional Protocol on Scrutiny of Awards, and (iii) the PCA Optional Protocol on Expedited Procedure,making progress of the system of arbitration rules.

In Qing Dynasty, the Government of China commissioned Yang Ru and Lu Zhengxiang, among others, to participate in the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 respectively, and ratified the two Conventions for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes in 1904 and 1910, making China one of the founding Contracting States of the PCA. The current Chinese Member of the Court includes Xue Hanqin, Liu Zhenmin, Liu Daqun, and Huang Jin. In 2015, the Chinese government concluded with the PCA the Host Country Agreement on the Conduct of Dispute Settlement Proceedings in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, providing facilities to the PCA arbitration and other activities in the HKSAR.