Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Technological innovation has transformed the human condition significantly over the past fifty years. Having resulted in unprecedented growth and increases in people's living standards, technology is believed to have had a major impact on individuals and societies alike. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that the continuous promotion of technological innovation has become one of the key policy objectives of modern societies, which have adapted their legal frameworks accordingly.
The European Union is no exception in that regard. Although the EU institutions are clearly committed to technological innovation, maintaining and promoting such innovation can only take place against the background of existing EU law provisions and doctrines. As such, the desire to promote and sustain technological innovation and the specificities this process entails have to be reconciled with the protection of undistorted competition, the free movement within the EU internal market, and the fundamental right to privacy. As a result, both the EU institutions when acting in a legislative or regulatory capacity and the EU courts have been called upon to make careful and refined balances, reconciling the perceived need for technological innovation and the protection of the rule of law within the EU's legal order.
This course will allow students to explore how this balance has been struck throughout the substantive law of the European Union. It will question whether, and if so, to what extent, EU law takes technological innovation considerations explicitly or implicitly into account. Specific attention will be paid in that respect to the EU's desire to maintain 'technological neutrality' in the application of its regulatory framework.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The course aims to increase your knowledge, practical and critical reflection skills regarding the relationship between processes of technological innovation and European Union law.
In terms of knowledge,
- the course will expand your knowledge on the relationship between European Union law and technological innovation;
- you will better understand the links between different innovation-related policy fields and instruments of European Union law;
- you will study familiar fields of EU law from a specific innovation-centred point of view;
- you will understand how law and innovation interact in the specific context of the EU internal market, competition and data protection laws;
- you will learn legal terminology you are familiar with in your native language in an English context;
- you will learn how to read, interpret and understand judgments by the Court of Justice;
- you will contribute actively to discussions on the subject matter in English;
- you will learn how to phrase, in correct legal English, a clear argument in responding to a specific hypothesis offered in class;
- you will develop be able to take a reasoned position on EU law and technological innovation debates.
- you will learn to think critically about the role of the EU institutions in promoting, defining and shaping technological innovation;
- you will be able to read and critically assess points of view developed by legal scholars;
- you will develop your own point of view on the legal desirability of proposed solutions at the EU level;
- you will be able to put EU law debates in the perspective of more general political debates on the role and future of the European Union as an innovation Union.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Droit institutionnel européen; some basic knowledge of EU law is required.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
This course will not be taught in a classical ex cathedra manner. It will be organised rather as an intensive seminar, in which students will work autonomously under the close and frequent supervision of the professor throughout the different stages of writing and refining of the written work requirement. Following types of class sessions are foreseen:
- two ex cathedra sessions: the specific aim of those sessions is, in contrast to more introductory courses, not to offer all answers or a complete picture of the relationship between European Union law and technological innovation. They rather aim to stimulate reflections on the state of the law and to raise a number of questions that could be used as a starting point for independent written work requirements in the next stages of the course. As a result, the sessions will above all point to open issues and debates in this field of law;
- five individual feedback sessions: those sessions will enable students to have frequent individual or small group meetings with the professor to discuss their progress, both in terms of content and of writing style. The aim of those sessions is to offer a more individual and intensified supervision process;
- three presentation sessions in which students will present their papers and engage with their fellow students in an informed discussion;
- on top of the regular sessions, the professor will be available for supplementary feedback moments over the course of the semester, in order to make sure every student chooses a topic of their liking and succeeds in developing the topic in a clear and well-structured paper.
The main aim of this mode of delivery is to teach students how to reflect critically on a subject matter and how to take a position in debates surrounding that matter. Inspired by teaching seminars in the Netherlands (called a Privatissimum course, which the professor previously taught at Leiden University), the course above all wants to increase writing and presentation skills of students, better preparing them for the challenges of the professional world.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
This course proposes a semester-long individualised supervision to students preparing a paper on the subject-matter of this course.
Students will be requested to write a 3000 words paper on a theme covered by the course.
Recommended or required readings
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Assessment methods and criteria
In terms of evaluation, the acquisition of skills necessary for any lawyer (identifying the problem, drafting a written outline, offering comments on developments) will be emphasised. The ex cathedra sessions are limited and replaced by an individual supervision and evaluation system focused on preparing and presenting a written paper.
Every student will be required to prepare a paper on a subject related to the course theme. The paper, which may not be longer than 3000 words (7 to 8 pages), will offer an autonomous analysis of one of the questions/problems touched upon by this course. To that extent, students will first identify a research question, come up with a plan and write a first draft, on which they will receive comments by the professor. The different steps will be evaluated, overall counting for 70% of the final grade in this class.
Every student will also present his work orally in front of other students. Presentations take place in the two weeks following the Spring break. Students not presenting are expected to take part in a discussion on the paper that has been presented. The presentation and discussion participation will count for 30% of the final grade.
Retake papers will have to be of the same length, to be submitted by August 20 at the latest
No exam will be organised during the exam period.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The course will take the format of an intensive academic seminar spread out over the course of the semester:
28/09/2018: introductory course: themes and research directions in European Union law and technological innovation
05/10/2018: Lecture by Sheila Jasanoff (Harvard University): An Invisible Constitution: Law, Science, and Technology in Late Modernity, Salle académique 14h30-16h30 (compulsory participation in case of no other course)
12/10/2018: Individual discussion of subjects, approach and research question (register via eCampus)
16/10/2018: submission of research question via eCampus, at 11h00 at the latest
19/10/2018: research question- individual feedback, list via eCampus
23/10/2018: submission of a detailed research plan via eCampus, at 11h00 at the latest
26/10/2018: research plan - individual feedback, list via eCampus
9/11/2018: optional feedback session - burning questions encountered when writing your paper
15/11/2018: submission of a first draft of your written work via eCampus, at 11h00 at the latest
16/11/2018: paper presentations - list via eCampus
Week of 19/11: individual feedback on the first draft of your written work
23/11/2018: paper presentations - list via eCampus
30/11/2018: paper presentations - list via eCampus
7/12/2018: Inaugural lectures of new professors appointed at ULiège Law School: theme: EU law and new technologies - attendance is compulsory
15/12/2018 : submission of final paper, via eCampus at 11h00 at the latest - a paper version has to be submitted at 12h30 at the latest, at the office of Mme Caroline Langevin, B33, 2nd floor
Contacts
Professor: Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel, pieter.vancleynenbreugel@uliege.be