UCL FACULTY OF LAWS

UCL Laws Semester in London

Where modules run over two terms as a 30 credit module, SIL students will attend and be assessed on the contents of term 1. Please note that some modules reflect this with an additional "A" in their module code, but this is not the case for all of them due to special assessment arrangements for SIL students.
All assessments are graded on a pass/fail basis.

THE EU AS AN INTERNATIONAL ACTOR (LAWSG126)
Credit value: 15 credits (6 ECTS)
Module Convenor:
Professor Piet Eeckhout
Intercollegiate teaching: No
Teaching Method: 10 x two-hour lectures
Who may enrol: LLM students, SIL students, Other UCL Masters students
Prerequisites: None
Barred module combinations: None
Core module for specialism: European Union Law, International Law
Assessment
Practice Assessment: to be confirmed
Assessment method for Masters students: two-hour unseen written examination
Assessment method for SIL students: two-hour unseen written examination
Module Overview

Module summary

The EU's international role continues to grow and to become more diverse. This module focuses on the core legal rules and principles governing the conduct of the EU's international relations - in Eurospeak the EU's "external action". It studies what are in effect important constitutional chapters in EU law, primarily the EU's external competences and the interaction between international law and EU law. Abstract as those subjects may sound, they are part of the EU's everyday international life, and determine the outcome of concrete issues. Examples are what kind of treaties the EU may conclude; which international organizations it may become a member of; whether it is possible to challenge its airline emissions policy on the basis of international conventions such as the Chicago Convention; or whether a person in Saudi Arabia suspected of supporting Al Qaeda may rely on EU human rights law in the face of a UN Security Council Resolution requiring all his assets to be frozen. The module reviews this fast-evolving area of EU law, focusing both on general concepts and specific/recent developments.

Module syllabus

1. Introduction
2. Competence in trade policy matters
3. Implied powers
4. Mixed agreements and membership of international organizations
5. Mixity and duty of cooperation: case-studies
6. Common Foreign and Security Policy – Unified external action after Lisbon?
7. Legal Effects of International Agreements - Overview
8. Case Studies: UNCLOS and air transport
9-10. Case study: UN Security Council Resolutions

Recommended materials

There are two leading texts on EU external relations law. We will be using:
P Eeckhout, EU External Relations Law (2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 2011)

Students are also referred to P Koutrakos, EU International Relations Law (Hart Publishing 2006)

Further general texts include:

M Cremona and B de Witte (eds), EU Foreign Relations Law – Constitutional Fundamentals (Hart, 2008)
M Cremona (ed), Developments in EU External Relations Law (OUP 2008)
A Dashwood and M Maresceau (eds), Law and Practice of EU External Relations (CUP 2008)
G De Baere, Constitutional Principles of EU External Relations (OUP 2008)
R Holdgaard, External Relations Law of the European Community (Wolters Kluwer 2008)

You will need to refer to the EU Treaties and EU legislation (e.g. Foster, Blackstone EU Treaties and Legislation 2012-2013, OUP, 2012) and to the case-law of the ECJ and GC (see http://curia.europa.eu/).

You find further reading on EU external relations law in EU law journals, in particular:

European Foreign Affairs Review
Common Market Law Review
Yearbook of European Law
European Law Review
Journal of European Law
European Journal of International Law


Preliminary reading

Seminar hand-outs and other material will be provided electronically via Moodle (virtual learning environment) at the start of the academic year. Moodle cannot be accessed until enrolment in September.
Other information: N/A
Prizes for this module: There are currently no prizes available for this module.