European internal market

LWM13

This course aims to provide you with advanced knowledge and critical understanding of the rules and principles underpinning the EU internal markets. You’ll enjoy studying the law of the EU internal markets if you’re interested in trade law and you want to know how cross boarder trans-national markets function, if you have an interest in EU law and politics and if you’re interested in law beyond stereotypical classifications. This course presents a study of the most advanced and most successful trans-national legal framework concerning trade. It will help you identify and comprehend the foundations of the EU internal market as a distinct form of economic integration and the practical implications that arise from its existence

Study as an individual course

Module A: The scope of the ‘four freedoms’

LWM13A

Introduction to the four freedoms
Material scope: notion of economic activity
Wholly internal situations
Personal scope: public and private parties
Personal scope: third country nationals

Module B: Free movement 1 - Equal treatment and non-discrimination

LWM13B

Equal treatment and non-discrimination
Distinctly applicable/directly discriminatory rules
Indistinctly applicable/indirectly discriminatory rules
Amplifying/dampening non-discrimination claims: citizenship and fiscal sovereignty issues
Treaty-based limitations and exceptions to the market freedoms

Module C: Free movement 2 - Beyond discrimination

LWM13C

Restrictions on internal market freedoms
Mandatory requirements/overriding requirements of the general interest
Proportionality
Mandatory requirements and distinctly applicable/discriminatory measures
Procedural requirements applied to justifications and exceptions
The limits of a restrictions-based analysis

Module D: Regulation of the internal market

LWM13D

Creating and regulating the internal market – history and overview
Mutual recognition and co-ordination of national regulatory systems – harmonisation
Legal basis and legislative procedural issues relating to internal market legislation
Sectoral examples of harmonising legislation
Regulatory structures and actors: comitology and regulatory agencies – private and self-regulation

Assessment

Each module is assessed by a 45-minute unseen written exam.

Sequence

It is strongly recommended that you attempt Module A followed by module B.

How to apply

You can apply to study a module individually as a standalone unit or as part of a Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Master of Laws qualification. (In either scenario, they must be studied in order.)

These modules also contribute towards the following specialist pathways for Laws:

Commercial and Corporate Law
Economic Regulation
European Law
International Business Law
Public Law

Apply via Postgraduate Laws.

Dr Angelos Dimopoulos

Dr Angelos Dimopolous is the Course Convenor for Constitutional and Institutional Law of the European Union and European Internal Market. Angelos joined Queen Mary in September 2013 as a Lecturer in Law. Prior to joining the department, he was Assistant Professor at Tilburg University and Research Coordinator of the Tilburg Law and Economics Centre (TILEC). Dr Dimopolous obtained his PhD in Law at the European University Institute in 2010. During his doctoral studies he conducted research as a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School and Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (Cambridge) and taught EU law at the University of Utrecht. He holds degrees from the Universities of Cambridge (LLM), Hannover (MLE) and Thessaloniki (LLB) and he has qualified and practised as an attorney-at-law in Greece.