This course is aimed at both regular WU students (Bachelor Program in Business, Economics and Social Sciences and English Bachelor Program in Business and Economics, "BBE") as well as incoming international students. This course proposes an integrated study of EU law, which means that it puts an emphasis on the interplay of institutional and substantive EU law. This course also seeks to embed the legal analysis within the social and political context, in which the law emerges and operates. The course provides an insight into some of the core areas of EU economic law. The course introduces students to the EU's economic constitution as well as the foundations of internal market law (the fundamental freedoms), the essentials of EU competition law, the basics of WTO law, and the legal and institutional framework governing the EU's external economic relations.

PLEASE NOTE: While it is, in principle, possible to attend this course on a stand-alone basis, it builds on and further develops some of the topics discussed in "European Law and Economics", held by Dr. Katrin Forgó (#317 and #925, respectively). For regular WU students, both courses, taken together, form the elective module or specialisation "European Economic Law" (Wahlfach "Europäisches Wirtschaftsrecht"). As these courses take place consecutively, it is possible to attend both of them in the same term.

What is an elective subject?

Students of the Bachelor Program in Business, Economics and Social Science have to choose out of several "elective subjects" with "European Economic Law" being one of them.

What is a specialisation?

Students of the BBE Program choose from a variety of specializations in phase 3 of the bachelor’s program. BBE students have to complete specializations totalling 40 ECTS credits. The specialization “European Economic Law” is worth 10 ECTS credits in total (i.e. in order to complete the specialization students must attend the courses “European Law and Economics” and “Advanced Issues of European Business Law”). For further information on how to choose and combine your specializations, please visit the university’s website on specializations.

The overarching goal of the course is to further students' understanding of the legal and economic problems of regional integration based on the example of the EU. Course participants gain a deeper understanding of EU law in general and of the legal framework for cross-border business activities in particular:

1. Students acquire the ability to critically assess the EU's role as a player in international economic affairs.
2. Students acquire the ability to join current legal and policy debates on EU external action in international economic law.
3. Students develop an in-depth understanding of current controversies in EU external action.

Moreover, the course promotes the following more general skills:

1. Students develop the necessary skill set to read and analyse case law. They learn how to distil essential information and to write short case briefs.
2. Students improve their skills of legal reasoning by being provided guidance on solving cases in selected fields of EU economic law. This includes the ability to identify relevant legal sources and to both produce and defend a line of argument in writing (via the written exam) and orally (via active in-class participation and group work).
3. Students learn how to autonomously identify and effectively synthesise problems and to present adequate solutions.

This is a course with continuous assessment of student performance (prüfungsimmanent, PI). This means attendance is, in principle, mandatory. You may miss one class (i.e., 4 hrs) without providing any reasons. Absence in excess of one class will only be permissible exceptionally. Please get in touch with the lecturer as soon as possible and provide serious reasons for your absence in line with Section 3 para 7 of the university's Examination Regulations. Clashes in individual students' class schedules do not normally qualify as a serious reason within the meaning of the Examination Regulations.

Please note that you must not miss the first class. Should you be unable to attend, please get in touch with the lecturer before the first session. If you fail to contact your lecturer beforehand, you will be de-registered from the course.

The format of the course will combine lectures, case studies, guided self-study of selected textbook chapters, and student presentations.

Student performance is evaluated on the basis of three performance components:

1. active class participation (30%),
2. online questions (30%),
3. and a final exam (40%).

Grading scale:
100-87.5 % (points) = Sehr gut/very good/1
87-75 % (points) = Gut/good/2
74.5-63 % (points) = Befriedigend/satisfactory/3
62.5-50 % (points) = Genügend/sufficient/4
<50 % (points) = Nicht genügend/not sufficient/5

This course is aimed at both regular WU students as well as incoming international students.

For students of the Bachelor Program in Business, Economics and Social Sciences, there is no formal knowledge-based admission requirement. However, attention is drawn to the fact that students from both inside and outside the EU usually attend this course and therefore EU-related background knowledge may differ considerably. Especially those students who have not been in touch with "European issues" so far are thus advised to study  a general introductory textbook on European Law (e.g. Anthony Arnull, European Union law: a very short introduction [OUP  2017]).

For students of the BBE Program, there are the following admission requirements: Students need to complete 42 ECTS credits of the core courses and 12 ECTS of the introductory courses, before being able to register for this specialisation. This will most likely be the case at the end of semester 2 or in semester 3.

sophie.bohnert@wu.ac.at

Students will be required to access legal texts and scholarly articles, and will be asked to solve online question. Therefore, we advise students to bring along an electronic device, which they should be comfortable using.

If students wish to acquire a collection of the relevant legal texts, we recommend Blackstone’s EU Treaties & Legislation, or, in case students prefer a German language collection of legal texts, the Kodex Europarecht.