86445 - European Union Internal Market Law (Italian - Spanish Law Individual Study Plan)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9232)

    Also valid for Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Law (cod. 9232)

Course contents

The programme will focus on the internal market law and most notably will cover the following topics: the principles governing the relationship between the EU and national legal systems; the concept of the ‘Internal Market’ and the forms of economic integration within which this concept is embedded; the regulatory techniques used by the EU with regard to the Internal Market; the free movement of goods, workers (employed and self-employed), services, and the freedom of establishment; and the rights related to EU citizenship. Specific attention will be devoted to the CJEU’s case law and to some topical issues, such as the so-called sharing economy, the relationship between fundamental freedoms and fundamental rights in the Internal Market, and the EU’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Case law seminars will be organised as part of the course. At these seminars, more specifically, students will be asked to read in advance some Court of Justice’s rulings before the lecture in order to be ready to engage with the Professor as well as with their colleagues.

With the aim of allowing students to plan their study activity in advance and going hand in hand with the course, the Professors will upload on the Virtuale platform the ‘Course Calendar’, which specifies the topics that will be covered in the various modules of which the course is composed.

Readings/Bibliography

C. Barnard, The Substantive Law of the EU. The Four Freedoms, Oxford University Press, 2019 (except pp. 477-557).

The textbook is available from the Sistema Bibliotecario di Ateneo dell’Università.

For students who have attended 80% of the lectures and seminars (‘attending students’), the book is optional. Indeed, for these students the programme will consist in the teaching and reading materials distributed or indicated during the lectures and seminars. These documents will be circulated to students via the Virtuale platform.

Some of these materials, shared with students in advance of the relevant classes, are specifically designed to enable their active participation, in accordance with what stated in the “Teaching methods” section.

For non-attending students, on the other hand, the examination will cover the entire programme as analysed in the textbook indicated above.

Teaching methods

The course will be highly interactive and will aim at creating a sort of ‘research community’ along with students on the topics covered during the course. Theoretical issues will be confronted with practical cases in order to allow the students to understand and verify how EU law is actually implemented.

Moreover, attending students will be asked to actively participate in class discussions on the topics covered during the classes as well as on the proposed case studies, and they will occasionally be asked to prepare in advance judgments or other reading materials uploaded on the Virtuale platform. The course will host national and foreign professors and experts (also via webinars). The dates and topics of the seminars will be timely communicated.

Assessment methods

The attending students’ learning will be constantly verified through discussions and debates.

The students attending the 80% of the seminars and case presentations organized in class will be evaluated on the basis of their research paper (max 1500 words; footnotes included; bibliography excluded) on a specific topic assigned in class. The assessment criteria used with regard to the final paper are mentioned below, and the mark gotten in the paper may be increased by up to 10% on the basis of the student’s participation during the course.

Students who have scored below 18/30 (in total) in the final paper and the non-attending students (i.e. who have not attended the 80% of the said activities) will be required to sit for a final oral exam on the full programme, as analyzed in the above-mentioned textbook.

As regards the final paper, the following criteria will be taken into account to assign the final mark, expressed in thirtieths:

- relevance of the paper with respect to the proposed topic and understanding of this latter as well as of the notions and principles underlying the subject (40%);

- use of own words (except when quoting directly from another source): ability to build upon the sources analysed and to provide an original perspective on the subject (15%);

- use of appropriate material (e.g. books, journal articles, case law, official EU documents) (15%);

- organisation of material into a coherent structure (introduction, argument and evidence, conclusion) (10%);

- appropriate use of technical and legal vocabulary and clarity of style (including accurate spelling, clear sentence construction and punctuation) (10%);

- correct use of references (i.e. notes to support the argument) and bibliography (10%).

As for the oral examination, the following assessment criteria will be taken into account to assign the final mark, which will be expressed in thirtieths too:

- knowledge and understanding of the notions and principles of the subject and of the legal concepts on which the questions focus, and ability to apply them to concrete cases (70%);

- Appropriate use of technical and legal vocabulary, ability to analyse and evaluate relevant sources and acquisition of the study and research method (30%).

Further requirements for Italian students. In order to sit for the exams, it is necessary to have passed the European Union law exam.

Students shall book themselves into the desired exam session via the AlmaEsami platform, in accordance with the conditions and deadlines set by the University. Further information on AlmaEsami here .

Teaching tools

Teaching materials for regular attenders (slides, documents, bibiographical references) will be made available through the Virtuale platform.

Students who, due to documented health reasons, experience difficulties in finding the course materials, in participating actively in the course itself, or in taking the examination in accordance with the modalities mentioned above, shall report these difficulties to the Professor by e-mail within the first two weeks of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Giacomo Di Federico

SDGs

Good health and well-being Quality education Industry, innovation and infrastructure

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.