DROI8011-4

Duration

40h Th, 10h Pr

Number of credits

	Bachelor in law	5 crédits
	Master in law, professional focus in law and management	5 crédits
	Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...) (Faculté de Droit, de Sciences politique et de Criminologie)	5 crédits

Lecturer

Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

What does the European Union do? What legal techniques and methods do the Union's institutions use in order to implement, maintain and promote European integration as provided for in the founding treaties (the Treaty on European Union - TUE - and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - TFUE)? This course's goal is to introduce students to the content of EU law. It follows up on the course on European institutional law (2nd year of the bachelor in law), which covered European institutions (the European Union and the Council of the European Union), the decision-making processes and how EU law is implemented.
The course on substantive law mainly studies the legal implementation of the European Union's objectives. Among the many objectives defined in the founding treaties of the European Union, the establishment of an internal market has always been one of the most prominent. In order to understand the current scope and limits of European integration, it is necessary to first look at the legal foundations that govern the establishment of an internal market: a legal system that forbids Member States from impeding the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, and creating a special status for European citizens. Attention will also be given to the crises that have hit the European Union: the economic and banking crisis, and the humanitarian crisis. Finally, the course will present an introduction to European competition law and its implementation.
The European Court of Justice played a major part in the implementation of Europe's internal market: the Court is generally considered to be a driving force of European integration, and it has been able to provide a structure for the legal rules governing the internal market. In addition, European case law has also given us the principles that continue to govern the adoption of secondary legal instruments. The course will therefore focus on the inductive discovery of reasoning processes that characterise EU law, both in terms of case law (typical patterns of EU case law) and legislation (alignment, mutual recognition, administrative cooperation).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Skills that are specific to EU law: students who complete the course will know the essential rules that govern the internal market, and have the basic know-how necessary for their practical application. They will be familiar with the sources of EU law, and will know how to do a simple search through the EU's legislation or case law and how to identify, analyse and solve a hypothetical problem related to EU law. Transversal skills: the course also aims to develop transversal skills related to EU law. Four skills in particular are targeted: 1) the ability to identify the rules that can apply to a factual situation and that are relevant to achieve a given practical objective; 2) the ability to develop, then implement, the reasoning patterns implicitly used by EU jurisdictions; 3) the ability to write a detailed and argued legal opinion regarding a simple law problem related to the internal market; and 4) the ability to produce a written presentation, using a formal register and appropriate legal terminology, of the legal analysis of a real-world situation. Students who complete this course will be able to determine whether or not EU law is relevant to a given real-world situation. They will be able to solve simple problems related to one or several of the four basic freedoms, and develop typical EU law reasoning processes themselves in order to question the existence and legality of some national regulations from the perspective of EU law. In addition, they will be able to provide understandable explanations for an (imaginary) person to whom they are speaking, and who may not be a legal expert. They will be able to write a structured note covering the essential legal concepts from one or several decisions related to internal market law.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

European institutional law

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures will be offered online (ppt and other files with audio and video comments) and will be complemented by face-to-face practice sessions. See the course schedule below.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

A mix of online lectures and face-to-face practice sessions will be offered as a consequence of Covid-19. See the French version for more information.

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

From code orange onwards, face-to-face sessions will be replaced by online classes or podcasts. More information will be communicated via eCampus.
The open book exam will take place online, via eCampus. More specific instructions on downloading the exam questions and uploading the exam answers will be communicated via this platform.

Assessment methods and criteria

Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.

Any session :

- In-person

written exam ( open-ended questions )

- Remote

written exam ( open-ended questions )

- If evaluation in "hybrid"

preferred remote

Additional information:

The evaluation is a written, open-book exam, in both the first and second session. All written supporting materials may be used. It consists in three parts: theoretical questions, an essay question and a practical case. Depending on the conditions, the exam will be held on line (via eCampus) or on campus (classical written exam).

Students may also bring a monolingual and/or a bilingual dictionary.
The evaluation criteria are as the following:

accuracy of the student's legal knowledge,
quality of the essay's structure (logical order of arguments, links between sentences and paragraphs),
ability to select relevant knowledge in order to answer a given question or subject,
quality and adequacy of the justifications offered by the student to back their analysis or position,
adequate attention paid to the scope of European principles and rules,
correct identification of the legal rules applicable,
correct justification for choosing to apply a certain rule based on the practical objectives pursued,
strong logical reasoning,
accurate legal terminology.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Online classes and face-to-face practice sessions will be offered in the following way:

Online classes:
The online lectures (ppt, audio and, if applicable, video messages) will be posted at the beginning of each week indicated here.
Week of 21 September:

lecture 1: présentation du cours et de son contenu - les origines du marché intérieur
lecture 2: le marché intérieur comme projet juridique d'intégration économique
lecture 3: libre circulation des marchandises: champ d'application
lecture 4: libre circulation des marchandises: union douanière, interdiction des droits de douanes et de charges équivalentes

Week of 5 October:

lecture 5 : libre circulation des marchandises : interdiction de charges équivalentes (suite) et d'impositions intérieures discriminatoires
lecture 6 : libre circulation des marchandises : interdiction des restriction quantitatives et mesures ayant un effet équivalent + modalités de ventes
lecture 7 : libre circulation des marchandises : dérogations et justifications
lecture 8 : libre circulation des capitaux

Week of 19 October

lecture 9 : libre circulation des travailleurs
lecture 10 : de travailleur à citoyen
lecture 11 : citoyenneté européenne : développements récents
lecture 12 : la zone Schengen

Week of 2 November

lecture 13 : établissement et services : notions de base
lecture 14 : la directive services
lecture 15 : établissement et services : droit primaire
lecture 16 : établissement et services : dérogations et justifications

Week of 9 November

lecture 17 : récapitulatif des libertés de circulation et consignes concernant le choix d'une liberté pertinente
lecture 18 : aides d'Etat, politiques complémentaires et consignes d'examen

Face-to-face sessions:

Week of 28 September

Group A : lundi 28 septembre de 11h à 12h30
Group B : lundi 28 septembre de 11h à 12h30
Group C : jeudi 1 octobre de 13h à14h30
Group D : vendredi 2 octobre de 14h à 15h30

Week of 12 October

Group A : lundi 12 octobre de 11h à 12h30
Group B : lundi 12 octobre de 11h à 12h30
Group C : jeudi 15 octobre de 13h à14h30
Group D : vendredi 16 octobre de 14h à 15h30

Week of 26 October

Group A : lundi 26 octobre de 11h à 12h30
Group B : lundi 26 octobre de 11h à 12h30
Group C : jeudi 29 octobre de 13h à14h30
Group D : vendredi 30 octobre de 14h à 15h30