THE SWEDISH NETWORK FOR EUROPEAN LEGAL STUDIES HAS THE GREAT PLEASURE OF INVITING YOU TO OUR CONFERENCE ON: The General Principles of European Community Law in a Process of Development Friday March 23 to Saturday March 24, 2007 Venue: Hasselbacken on Djurgården, Stockholm Hazeliusbacken 20 100 55 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)8 517 343 00 Fax: +46 (0)8 517 343 11 E-mail: hasselbacken@scandic-hotels.com
In 1999 the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies arranged its first conference on the General principles of Community law in Malmö. The purpose was to give an overview of the general principles with a specific emphasis on their possible role in the creation of a jus commune europaeum. One of the major themes of the conference was to analyse the impact of these principles at the national level or, in other words, how they are travelling back from EU law to the national systems. The purpose was also to provide a framework of understanding of their creative process. Therefore, issues such as the judicial activism of the Court, use of the comparative methodology and the gap-filling function of the principles were taken into account. This year the Swedish Network aims to continue the path opened by the 1999 conference in light of the recent developments. During those seven years, we have been witnessing a constitutionalisation of the EU legal order through the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and also the passionate debate on the Constitutional Treaty. Interestingly, the general principles of Community Law appear to be crucial to this evolution. Indeed, it may be argued that the Charter of Fundamental Rights constitutes a codification of most of the general principles of Community law. Also, the Constitutional Treaty has relaunched many questions normally related to the general principles, such as the accession of the EU to the European Convention of Human Rights. Finally, it is worth remarking that the case-law of the ECJ has been particularly rich. New legal issues have been decided by the ECJ, such as the use of fundamental rights for derogating from the market freedoms. This is illustrated by the Schmidberger and Omega cases. Going further, even the boundaries of the general principles have been extended with the Pupino case. The developments mentioned above have raised a number of new issues which will be at the heart of this conference. Are there any general principles of EU law and, if so, what developments have we seen in recent case-law from the European Court of Justice? Hopefully the discussions in this conference will give fuel to further debate in the area. Thus, we want to invite you to this conference.
Conference Day 1 (March 23) 09.00 09.30 Arrival (coffee and sandwiches) 09.30 09.45 Welcome Opening speech by the Chairman of the Network Professor Lars Pehrson, Stockholm University 09.45 10.00 Introduction A brief summary of the aims of the conference Professor Ulf Bernitz, Stockholm University 10.00 12.00 What is a General Principle? Chair Professor Ulf Bernitz What is left of the general principles? by Dr. Leif Sevón, Former Judge of the European Court of Justice and Former President of the Supreme Court of Justice in Finland Article 10 EC, the Most Important General Principle in Community Law by Prof. Dr. John Temple Lang, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Professor, Trinity College, Dublin Is Direct Effect a General Principle of European Law? by Prof. Dr. Joxerramon Bengoetxea, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian and International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati General Principles and National Law - a continuing two-way process by Prof. Dr. John Usher, University of Exeter 12.00 13.30 Lunch
13.30 15.30 Discussions in working groups Human Rights and Constitutional Law This group will discuss democratic principles, the rule of law, standards of rights protection and external identity. Administrative Law Questions concerning access to justice and fair trial, the principle of transparency as well as the principle of good administration will be discussed Private Law Group discussions will concern invalidity in competition law, the acceptance of legal persons and article 295 Treaty of the European Union. New Perspectives on General Principles - Experiences Gained Since 1995 This group will focus its discussions on the recent developments within the Member States who have joined the EU in 1995 and 2004. It will also focus on the perspectives of future members of the EU. 15.30 16.00 Coffee 16.00 18.00 Continuance of discussions 18. 15 19.00 Reception (wine and snacks) 19.00 Conference dinner
Conference Day 2 (March 24) 10.00 12.00 Some Thoughts on General Principles Chair Professor Joakim Nergelius The Codifi cation of Human Rights Some Critical Remarks by Prof. Dr. AG Toth, University of Strathclyde The further development of General Principles of Law within Article 10 EC by Prof. Dr. Laurence Gormley, University of Groningen General Principles and the Individual: Judicial dialogues and monologues by Prof. Dr. Takis Tridimas, Queen Mary University of London 12.00 13.30 Lunch 13.30 15.30 Presentations by the working groups 15.30 16.00 Coffee 16.00 17.00 Discussion 17.00 18.30 Has there been any developments? Chair Professor Matthias Herdegen General Principles of EU law: the Methological Challenge by Prof. Dr. Matthias Herdegen, University of Bonn The Principles of Democracy and Accountability, Consistency and Convergence by Prof. Dr. Walter van Gerven, University of Leuven Concluding Remarks by Prof. Dr. Joakim Nergelius, Örebro University 18.30 19.00 Reception (wine and snacks) 19.00 Conference dinner
Notification of participation in: The General Principles of European Community Law in a Process of Development Please send your notification of attendance to the co-ordinator Ms Cecilia Cardner by either E-mail: nef@juridicum.su.se or fax: +46 8 612 41 09. You can also send it by post to: The Swedish Network for European Legal Studies Stockholm University Department of Law SE-106 91 Stockholm Name: Company: Address: Telephone: Fax: E-mail: If you wish to be added to the Networks mailing list (no charge) please fill in the square box and add your contact details above LAST DAY FOR NOTIFICATION IS MARCH 21!