European substantive law

Duration

40h Th, 10h Pr

Number of credits

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? How do its rules and legal norms contribute to implementing, maintaining and promoting European integration envisaged in the founding treaties (the Treaty on European Union - TEU- and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - TFEU)? What is their impact on the regulatory powers still held by the Member States?

This course follows up on the course on European institutional law (2nd year of the bachelor in law), which covered European Union institutions, the decision-making processes and how EU law is implemented.

The course on substantive law principally covers 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.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has 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, its 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 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 Courts; 3) the ability to write an 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 internal market fundamental 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 justify how EU law can contribute to the resolution of a dispute or to the disapplication of national legal norms that go against the objectives of European integration.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

European institutional law

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures will be offered face-to-face and will be complemented by face-to-face practice sessions. See the course schedule below.

ATTENTION: course sessions will no longer be recorded - coming to class is highly recommended

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

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

In principle, all classes will take place in face-to-face modus. See the French version for more information.

Recommended or required readings

The coursebook for this course will be P. Van Cleynenbreugel, "Droit matériel de l'Union européenne - Libertés de circulation et marché intérieur", 2nd edition, Brussels, Larcier, 2023, 526 p.

The textbook, completely revised and restructured in 2023, can be bought at the Presses Universitaires shop at Sart-Tilman.

A collection of reading materials for this course, along with a series of questions will also be made available.

ATTENTION: the second edition of the coursebook (published in 2023)  is fundamentally different from the previous version published in 2017. The first edition of the coursebook is no longer useful to the course as it will be taught as of 2023 and cannot therefore be relied on as reading material anymore. Students are vividly encouraged to obtain the 2023 edition when taking this course.

The e-Campus platform also features a section dedicated to the course. There, students will find the course calendar, the slides used during lectures and optional reading materials.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( open-ended questions )

- Remote

written exam ( open-ended questions )


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 two parts: theoretical questions taking the format of multiple choice reasoning questions (10 pts) a practical case (10pts).


The evaluation criteria are as the following:

• accuracy of the student's legal knowledge,
• quality of the written answer to the practical case (logical order of arguments, links between sentences and paragraphs),
• ability to select relevant knowledge in order to answer a given question or subject,
• adequate attention paid to the scope of EU 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)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Classes will be held on Mondays and Thursdays:



- Mondays from 11h00 to 13h00 in classroom De Méan (B31)

- Thursdays from 8h30 to 10h30 in classroom Durkheim (B31)

Classes start on 18 September.

1. Introduction au cours - récapitulatif du principes de droit institutionnel et introduction au marché intérieur (18/09, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

2. Récapitulatif du droit institutionnel de l'Union européenne (sources du droit de l'Union, effet direct, primauté et principes de base du contentieux) (21/9, 8h30 à 10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman ; séance dispensée par Mme Anita Kovacs, assistante) 

3. Introduction au droit du marché intérieur : structure juridique du marché intérieur à la lumière d'autres formats d'intégration économique (25/9, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

4. Libre circulation des marchandises : champ d'application et volet tarifaire/fiscal : introduction au régime douanier (28/09, 08h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

5. Libre circulation des marchandises : volet tarifaire (droits de douane, charges d'effet équivalent, impositions intérieures) - (2/10, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

6. Libre circulation des marchandises : restrictions quantitatives et MEERQ à l'importation : cadre général (5/10, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman

7. Séance de cas pratiques (I) - libre circulation des marchandises - volet tarifaire (9/10, 11h00 - 13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

8.Libre circulation des marchandises : MEERQ à l'importation : suite et MEERQ à l'exportation (12/10, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

9. Libre circulation des marchandises : MEERQ : récapitulatif et régime juridique des justifications - droit dérivé (16/10, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

10. Libre circulation des capitaux (19/10, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

11. Séance de cas pratiques (II) - libre circulation des marchandises/capitaux (23/10, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

12. Récapitulatif libertés de circulation des marchandises et capitaux - libre circulation des travailleurs : champ d'application (26/10, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

Vacances

13. Libre circulation des travailleurs : restrictions et justifications (6/11, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

14. Liberté d'établissement et libre prestation de services : la notion de prestation économique indépendante comme point de départ commun - champ d'application de la liberté d'établissement (9/11, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

15. Liberté d'établissement : régime de droit primaire (13/11, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

16. Liberté de prestation de services : champ d'application et régime de droit primaire (16/11, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

17. Libertés d'établissement et de prestation de services : droit dérivé - directive Services (20/11, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

18. Séance de cas pratiques (III) : travailleurs, établissement et services (23/11, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

19. Articulation des libertés de circulation (27/11, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

20. Séance de cas pratiques (IV) : casus intégré et articulation des libertés de circulation (30/11, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

21. Citoyenneté de l'Union européenne : introduction et directive 2004/38 (4/12, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

22. Citoyenneté de l'Union européenne : directive 2004/38 et droit primaire (7/12, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

23. Citoyenneté de l'Union européenne : droit primaire et l'espace Schengen (11/12, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

24. Séance de cas pratiques (V) : casus intégré (examen précédent) et articulation des libertés de circulation (14/12, 8h30-10h30, Durkheim, B31, Sart-Tilman)

25. Dernier cours : récapitulatif + Q&A - consignes de l'examen + séance de cas pratiques (VI) : préparation à la partie QCM de l'examen (18/12, 11h00-13h00, De Méan, B31, Sart-Tilman)

 

Contacts

Professor: Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel (contact at pieter.vancleynenbreugel@uliege.be)

Assistants: Anita Kovacs, Valérian Fabry (vfabry@uliege.be), Cyril Fischer (cyril.fischer@uliège.be)

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online