3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 6016813FNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
No
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Law and Criminology
Department
International and European Law
Educational team
Harri Kalimo (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
7 contact hours Lecture
9 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
74 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course integrates substantive environmental law into EU environmental decision-making through a case study of the EU’s ordinary legislative procedure (OLP). The methodology of the course is a role play: each student is given a role in the OLP (Member of the European Parliament; representative of a Member State; official of the European Commission) and will participate in the drafting of a law on the protection of the environment. To ensure topicality, the law is chosen each year from amongst the proposals that are under preparation in the EU’s OLP at that time.

The course proceeds in three steps. First, advanced lectures on the specific environmental issue at stake, on the Ordinary Legislative Procedure as well as on negotiation skills are provided as preparation. Second, the students are given dedicated roles in the OLP, and they conduct background research on their respective roles, on the one hand, and on the environmental law topic at issue, on the other. The role play itself goes through the main steps of the OLP, where the legislative proposal is drafted, amended and finalised, requiring the students to present their positions on the draft law in writing and orally. By focusing on procedural and institutional law, the course will improve the students’ presentation and negotiation skills in an international context, while it deepens their knowledge on  topical issues of environmental law and develops their skills to apply their environmental law knowledge in practice.

Additional info

A detailed course outline of the exercise, the schedule and the mandatory reading material is distributed to the students and posted online (CANVAS). A reader containing a listing of and the electronic copies of the mandatory reading materials is also available at the beginning of the course on CANVAS. Students are expected to have read the required reading before the exercise starts.

The particular case to be explored in the role-play exercise will be prepared in advance by the course tutors. An introductory session explaining the contents and objectives of the course will be held, and each student will receive a “brief” outlining the issue to be negotiated and their particular role(s) in the exercise. The students will then need to prepare their position paper and negotiating strategy in advance of the role-play exercise, emulating to the extent possible the real-life role that they have been assigned.

Each student will submit a position paper before the start of the exercise. The students are to integrate any feedback into their position and strategy in preparation for the role play itself.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Knowledge: After the course, students will have gained

  • a thorough knowledge of the core aspects of the specific area of environmental law that is the topic of the course that year
  • a thorough knowledge of the main phases, roles, and points of leverage in the EU’s Ordinary Legislative Process
  • familiarity with the econo-political context within which the policy debate is taking place

Skills: On this basis, the students will be able to engage in their roles while

  • applying their environmental law knowledge and skills effectively and independently during the different phases of the OLP for the benefit of the position of their role
  • leveraging the different phases of the OLP process for the benefit of their environmental law related objectives
  • scanning, analysing and evaluating the larger legal, political and economic context (such as the current state and potential pathways of law on a specific issue; the positions of various stakeholders on pertinent legal issues; legal solutions to the challenges that the political process entails)
  • analysing and drafting documents independently and as a member of an inter-cultural group; negotiating and defending positions in a larger constellation of interests

Attitudes: During the course, the students gain an attitude of a responsible advocate, a critical participant and an open collaborator in developing the legal frameworks of a sustainable society.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
LEC Presentation determines 65% of the final mark.
LEC Paper determines 25% of the final mark.
Other determines 10% of the final mark.

Within the LEC Presentation category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Role Play with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 65% of the final mark.

    Note: Students are required to participate actively, write an individual memorandum and present their case during an oral hearing. Each student will present and defend his/her case at an oral hearing. Students will be graded by their tutor and professor Kalimo.

    The course tests the student’s ability to apply his/her skills in a practical, real-life simulating situation in a coherent and persuasive manner.

Within the LEC Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Memorandum with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 25% of the final mark.

    Note: Students are required to participate actively, write an individual memorandum and present their case during an oral hearing. Each student will present and defend his/her case at an oral hearing. Students will be graded by their tutor and professor Kalimo.

    The course tests the student’s ability to apply his/her skills in a practical, real-life simulating situation in a coherent and persuasive manner.

Within the Other category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Presentation and role play with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 10% of the final mark.

    Note: Studenten moeten actief deelnemen aan de hoorcolleges

Additional info regarding evaluation

Students will be evaluated as follows:

- stakeholder consultation (10%): number and substantive quality of the interventions; the soundness of the draft position and role;

- position paper (25%): quality of legal analysis and reasoning, accuracy of the legal substance, feasibility of the negotiation strategy; and,

- role play (65%): active participation in the role-play and in the drafting of the final agreement, accuracy of legal substance, quality of the legal analysis and reasoning of the substantive positions; implementation of the role and the negotiation strategy.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of International and European Law: Standaard traject