EU Trade Law

Module title	EU Trade Law
Module code	LAW2093
Academic year	2020/1
Credits	15
Module staff	(Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	35

Module description

The aim of the module is to provide you with a thorough understanding of EU trade law. You will be introduced to a variety of different EU policy fields that are part of the EU’s external trade relationships and the legal constitutional foundations of the EU’s external trade policy. The module EU Trade Law will be taught by a law-in-context approach. You will discuss issues relating to European trade law predominantly from a European legal perspective but you will also get accustomed to some of its practical implications and recent developments in order to develop a critical understanding of the EU as an international economic actor.

The combination of theoretical approaches with a discussion of recent EU trade law developments and their practical implications will be of particular interest to you if you intend to advice foreign ministries in trade related matters, if you are interested in a commercial legal career or if you are interested in the European Union as an international actor more generally.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the legal framework regulating external trade within the European legal order;
2. Demonstrate critical understanding of the legal relationship between European institutions and European member states in the context of trade;
3. Demonstrate critical understanding of the legal and political relationships between the EU and third parties in the context of trade;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of legal concepts, values, principles, institutions and procedures, and explain the relationships among them in the area of EU trade law;
5. Select and explain relevant information from primary and secondary legal sources using appropriate methods for investigating and evaluating them as well as appropriate interpretative techniques;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

6. Manage relevant learning resources/ information/learning strategies and developyour own arguments and opinions with some guidance;
7. Communicate effectively and accurately, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline/different contexts;
8. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources with some guidance;
9. Work independently and manage time efficiently in preparing for scheduled learning activities, exercises and assessments.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Constitutional Foundations:

Competence in matters of common commercial policy

Distribution of competences

Express and implied powers

The life-cycle of international agreements

Mixed agreements

Duty of loyal cooperation

Policies:

Common commercial policy, including

- Development of the Common Commercial Policy: the internal market and external trade

- Common customs tariff

- Generalised trade preferences

- General import regulations

- Export policy etc.

EU development policy and trade

- Human rights conditionality

- Preferential terms of trade

Foreign policy and trade

- EU sanctions

- Impact on third states

- Impact on EU states (banking sector etc.)

External dimension of the internal energy market

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
28	122	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	22	11 x 2 hour lectures
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	6	3 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	55	Individual reading and lecture preparation
Guided independent study	15	Seminar Preparation
Guided independent study	12	Formative Assessment Preparation
Guided Independent study	40	Summative Assessment Preparation

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	1000 words	1-9	Written and oral feedback from tutor

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	100	4000 words	1-9	Written and oral feedback
	0
	0
	0
	0
	0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay	Essay (4000 words)	1-9	August/September reassessment period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

P Eeckhout, EU External Relations Law (2^nd edn, Oxford University Press 2011)

B Van Vooren and RA Wessel, EU External Relations Law: Text Cases and Materials (Cambridge University Press 2014)

C Hillion and P Koutrakos, Mixed Agreements Revisited: The EU and its Member States in the World (Hart Publishing 2010)

G Villaalta Puig and B Al-Haddab, The Common Commercial Policy after Lisbon: An Analysis of the Reforms (2011) 36 European Law Review 289-301

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/

http://ec.europa.eu/trade/

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Opinion (C-1/94) (WTO Agreement)

Opinion (C-2/15) of 16 May 2017 (EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA))

Key words search

EU trade law, mixed agreements, common commercial policy, development policy, trade and sanctions, energy market

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	EU Law (15 credits)
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	23/01/2018