On the occasion of the 30th anniversary celebration, the members of CELOS presented the following workshop discussions on current issues of European law in cooperation between the Faculty of Law of the University of Augsburg and the City of Augsburg on June 24, 2021.

Greetings by the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Dr. Arndt Koch and Mrs. Regina Völk from Europe Direct.

Professor Möllers gave a short summary of the 30-year history of the Institute.

In detail, the following made presentations:

Frau Professor Dr. Martina Benecke

Rufbereitschaft als Arbeitszeit - ein Feuerwehrmann aus Offenbach vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof

(On-call duty as working time - a firefighter from Offenbach before the European Court of Justice)

Herr Professor Dr. Michael Kort

Datenschutzverstöße können „wehtun“ – Sanktionen im europäischen Datenschutzrecht

(Data protection violations can "hurt" - Sanctions in European data protection law)

Herr Professor Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers

Green Deal, nachhaltige Finanzprodukte – können wir so die Umwelt retten?

(Green Deal, sustainable financial products - is this how we can save the environment?)

Herr Professor Dr. Christoph Becker

Europas Zivilgesetzbücher - kein Flickenteppich

(Europe's civil codes - not a patchwork quilt)

Frau Akad. Rätin a.Z. Dr. Carmen Freyler

Urlaub in Europa – Zwang zur Freizeit und Erholung für Erben?

(Vacation in Europe - compulsion for leisure and recreation for heirs?)

At the end of the two-hour event, a lively discussion ensued on the various presentations.

The individual presentations can be accessed as videos (in the German language).

May 2020

German-Polish seminar in Warszawa (Poland)

The fifth Polish-German comparative legal history seminar was planned for the summer semester 2020. From 27 to 30 May 2020, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker wanted to take a trip to Warsaw with Augsburg students and graduates. The group was to meet lecturers and fellow students from Poland as well as from Greece, Italy and the Czech Republic at the host institution of Prof. Dr. Bronisław Sitek (Warsaw University of Social and Human Sciences). The seminar topic was: "Legal handbook - A European perspective". The title aims at searching for similarities and differences in the system-defining developments of legal teaching, especially textbooks. The state measures taken to combat the Covid 19 pandemic prevented the encounter. It has been postponed to the summer semester 2021.

October 2019

Lecture tour to Palermo (Sicily)

At the invitation of Prof. Enrico Camilleri, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers visited the University of Palermo on 8 and 9 October 2019 and gave two lectures in English on "Legal Methods - A Comparison of the German and Italian Approach" and "The Legal Consequences of the Volkswagen Scandal - Better Enforcement of Private and Public Law".The university is one of the largest in Italy with about 50,000 students and 2,000 academic staff. Prof. Camilleri also participated this year as a lecturer in the Augsburg Summer Program.

October 2019

German-Turkish symposium in Istanbul (Turkey)

On 4 October 2019, a symposium on current developments in German and Turkish liability law took place at the Faculty of Law of the University of Istanbul. The participating CELOS members gave the following lectures:

- Prof. Dr. Thomas Möllers: Enforcement in Consumer Protection and Capital Markets Law - Current Developments in Germany and Europe

- Prof. Dr. Martina Benecke: The liability of the employer and the modern technique

- Prof. Dr. Michael Kort: Possibilities of limiting the seller's liability when buying a company

In addition to professors from the University of Augsburg, speakers from the host university also reported on current developments in Turkish tort law. After the lectures there was a lively discussion. In the conference room were about 120 participants, mainly consisting of students, assistants, lecturers, professors and lawyers from Istanbul. At the end of the symposium, both sides confirmed and emphasised that the symposium had certainly made a good contribution to the German-Turkish legal dialogue and friendship.

July 2019

European Cultural History Day

As a member of the Institute for European Cultural History at the University of Augsburg, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker was involved in the organisation of the interdisciplinary conference "Europe  -   Cultural Historical Horizons  - Day of European Cultural History". It took place on 1 July 2019 on the premises of the University of Augsburg. Prof. Dr. Becker gave a lecture on European legal history with the title "Augsburg in Europe -The Augsburg City Law of 1156 and Roman Law".

May 2019

Results of the Conference “Enforcing Consumer and Capital Markets Law in Europe”

The second INspiRE conference on "Private Enforcement of European Competition and State Aid Law: Current Challenges and the Way Forward" was held in Augsburg on 23 and 24 May 2019. The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence "European Integration - Rule of Law and Enforcement" (INspiRE), funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, deals with the enforcement of EU law in the Member States.

At the international conference "Enforcing Consumer and Capital Market Law in Europe", numerous experts discussed how the diesel emission scandal is being dealt with legally in different countries. It was shown that in the USA, Australia and Brazil public law sanctions and compensation of buyers are already being enforced much more successfully than in most European countries. Scientists, judges, but also representatives of supervisory authorities (BaFin and ESMA) and consumer associations intensively discussed how the respective law can be improved at national and European level to prevent future infringements. As in data protection law, European politicians should understand good law enforcement mechanisms not as an obstacle to location but as an economic advantage of location.

November 2018

Private Enforcement of European Competition and State Aid Law: Current Challenges and the Way Forward

On 22 and 23 November 2018, the first INspiRE conference on "Private Enforcement of European Competition and State Aid Law: Current Challenges and the Way Forward", organised by Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Wollenschläger and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wurmnest, took place in Augsburg.

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence "European Integration - Rule of Law and Enforcement" (INspiRE), funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, deals with the enforcement of EU law in the Member States.

The first of two conferences was devoted to private enforcement of European anti-trust and state aid law. On the first day, recent developments, in particular after the transposition of the so-called anti-trust damages directive, as well as remaining hurdles in the enforcement of Art. 101, 102 TFEU in different EU Member States were highlighted. After a presentation of the project by Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wurmnest, Prof. Dr. Wulf-Henning Roth (Bonn) and Dr. Johannes Holzwarth (DG Competition) looked at the European level. For the following country reports, Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Franck (Mannheim), Dr. Erik-Jan Zippro (Amsterdam) and Prof. Dr. Florian Wagner-von Papp (University College London) presented the situation in Germany, the Netherlands, England and Wales. Dr. Rafael Amaro (Paris Descartes) and Prof. Dr. Enrico Camilleri (Palermo) presented the legal situation in France and Italy. Prof. Florian Bien (Würzburg), Dr Tatjana Mühlbach and Dr Ingo Brinker (both Munich) chaired the subsequent discussions.

On the second day, European state aid law and the open questions of private enforcement were discussed. Dr. Fernando Pastor-Merchante (IE University Madrid) presented the European perspective, Luca Rossi the view of the European Commission. Country reports on the situation in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands were presented by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Unger (Bochum), Prof. Dr. François Lichère (Jean Moulin Lyon III), Prof. Dr. Roberto Caranta and Benedetta Biancardi (both Turin), Prof. Dr. Luis Arroyo Jiménez (Castilla-La Mancha), as well as Prof. Dr. Willemien den Ouden (Leiden) and Prof. Dr. Jacobine van den Brink (Amsterdam) and provided an insight into specific national problems. Dr. Ulrich Soltész, Stéphane Hautbourg (both Brussels) and Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Wollenschläger led the discussion. 

The conference proceedings will be published in the Kluwer International Competition Law Series. 

November 2018

German-Turkish symposium in Ankara (Turkey)

On 2 November 2018, a German-Turkish symposium on current developments in civil law was held in Ankara as part of a cooperation between TOBB University of Economics and Technology and the University of Augsburg. From the University of Augsburg, Prof. Dr. Martina Benecke, Prof. Dr. Raphael Koch, Prof. Dr. Michael Kort, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers and Dr. Erhan Temel attended the symposium. They gave lectures on consumer protection law, the law of business acquisitions and methodology.

October 2018

Lectures by Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers in Palermo

At the invitation of Prof. Enrico Camilleri, who himself taught at the University of Augsburg as part of the Summer Program 2018, Prof. Möllers gave two lectures at the Università degli Studi di Palermo in October 2018. The lecture on Tuesday, October 2nd, was entitled "The duty of direct-conform interpretation and the contra legem border" and took place in the Department of Law, Society and Sport. On the following day, a second event was held on the topic "How lawyers are thinking".

30 May 2018

German-Polish seminar in Poznan (Poland)

The fourth German-Polish comparative legal history seminar took place in the summer semester 2018. From 27 to 30 May 2018, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker took a trip to Poznań together with Augsburg students and graduates. There they met the host Prof. Dr. Wojciech Dajczak (Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań) and Prof. Dr. Bronisław Sitek (Social and Human Sciences University of Warsaw) with their students and graduates. The binational seminar held at Poznań was titled: "Legal reasoning and continuity of Roman law tradition".

Together, the speakers and participants in the discussion looked for similarities and differences in the standardisation of and arguments for the practical handling of civil-law issues relating to classical Roman law, European common law and modern codifications, with a particular focus on parallels in the development of the two neighbouring legal systems of Poland and Germany. A continuation is intended.

28 May 2018

Conference „Judicial legal training and its limits“

On 28 May 2018, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers took part in a conference organised by the University of Vienna 
and the Supreme Court (OGH) on the topic of "Judicial legal training and its limits". The venue was the banqueting hall of the Supreme Court at the Palace of Justice in Vienna. Prof. Dr. Möllers had been invited because of his relevant publications, such as his recent book on legal methodology. The conference dealt with the conditions and limits of judicial creation of law from the perspective of ordinary law, constitutional law and European law. The perspective of European law was examined by Prof. Dr. Möllers in his lecture "Judicial legal training and European law".
 

March 2018

Keynote speech at the workshop on innovation, competitiveness & internationalisation in Turin

At the invitation of the International University College of Turin and the Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Professor Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers travelled to Turin to take part in a workshop on the competitiveness of individual territorial production systems in the context of internationalisation and globalisation and the role of innovation and digitalisation within this context. He gave a keynote speech titled "Digitalization - Market Abuse by Short sell attacks and illegal research reports".

June 2017

Ius romanum, Polish law and German law in comparison

The Law Faculty of the University of Augsburg has maintained good connections to Poland for many years. For example, there is a connection with the Faculty of Law in Krakow; there are ERASMUS cooperations; and the Diocese of Augsburg supports stays of students from the University of Olsztyn (Allenstein) in Augsburg. These contacts inspired the idea of binational, historically comparative seminars. In the summer semester 2015, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker travelled with Augsburg students to Poznań (Poznan) to see Prof. Dr. Wojciech Dajczak and in 2016 he travelled to Warszawa (Warsaw) to see Prof. Dr. Bronisław Sitek. In June 2017, the third binational seminar took place in Augsburg with the lecturers and students from Poznań and Warszawa. These German-Polish encounters will be continued.

12 and 13 June 2017

Lectures by Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers in Palermo

As in the previous year, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers visited the Università degli Studi di Palermo at the invitation of Prof. Avv. Enrico Camilleri and gave two lectures on methodological work with legal principles and the constitution.

The lectures were held by Prof. Dr. Möllers within the context of the doctoral programme and titled "How to Work with the Constitution - the Perspective of a Private Lawyer" and "Hard Law - How to Work with Principles in Civil Law". Both lectures were met with broad interest among Italian students and academics.

June 2016

Binational seminar in Warsaw: Ius romanum and ius gentium, Polish law and German law - comparisons between old and present legal systems

Like in the summer of 2015, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker also organised a cross-border seminar on legal history and comparative law in the summer semester of 2016. The partner and host on the Polish side was Prof. Dr. Bronisław Sitek from the University of Social and Human Sciences in Warsaw. Following an introductory lecture by Prof. Dr. Becker, a total of 16 participants presented their seminar papers and dissertations on an intensive seminar day. The following day, the Augsburg travellers explored Warsaw and its institutions of importance for legal life, history, science and culture, starting with a visit to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland.

11 to 17 May 2016

Guest lectures in Palermo

At the invitation of Prof. Avv. Enrico Camilleri , Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers stayed at the Università degli Studi di Palermo from 11 to 17 May 2016. The University of Palermo is one of the largest universities in Italy with around 50,000 students and 2,000 academic staff. Prof. Camilleri has been a lecturer at the Augsburg Summer Program for many years.

In Palermo, Prof. Dr. Möllers gave two english lectures on "Experimental Legislation in European Capital Market Law" and "Chances and Risks of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)".

October 2015

9th Krakow-Augsburg Symposium

The 9th Krakow-Augsburg Symposium took place on 23 and 24 October at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The symposia are the heart of a well-established cooperation and friendship between the Law Faculties of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the University of Augsburg. They are based on an initiative of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jerzy Stelmach and Prof. em. Dr. Reiner Schmidt and take place every two years, alternating between Krakow and Augsburg.

They are always under a general theme. In 2015 the theme was "Creation of Standards".

A total of 18 participants examined the general topic from very different perspectives. Professor Möllers and Professor Becker from CELOS were involved and spoke about "Creation and enforcement of standards in European antitrust, company and capital market law" (Prof. Möllers) and "Systematic creation of civil codes" (Prof. Becker).The lectures will be published in an anthology in the "Krakauer-Augsburger Rechtsstudien".

June 2015

German-polish seminar in Poznań

For many years, the Augsburg faculty has maintained close relations with faculties in Poland, especially with Jagiellonian University in Krakow, but also with academics from Poznan and Warsaw. In June 2015, with the support of the Society of Friends of the University of Augsburg, a first meeting on a student level took place. At the invitation of Prof. Dr. Wojciech Dajczak, Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker travelled to the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan together with the participants of his seminar "Roman Law and the Codes of Poland and Germany". The topics of the seminar were centred around the principle of probity and were each discussed from the perspectives of contemporary Polish and German law. Prof. Franciszek Longchamps de Bérier (Cracow) and Prof. Rafał Wojciechowski (Wroclaw) also took part in the debates.

March 2015

Guest lectures at the Université Jean Moulin in Lyon

At the invitation of Prof. Dr. Frédérique Ferrand, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers stayed at the Université Jean Moulin III in Lyon as a guest professor from 3 to 12 March 2015. Prof. Dr. Ferrand has been a lecturer in the Augsburg Summer Program for many years. In Lyon Prof. Dr. Möllers gave the lecture "Introduction to German Civil Law (BGB)" for French third-year students. The lecture was particularly aimed at students who will participate in an exchange programme with a German university in the following winter semester. He also gave a lecture entitled "The German Constitutional Court's Role in the EU: Driving Force or Illegitimate Lawmakers?".

11 to 17 May 2016

Guest lectures in Palermo

At the invitation of Prof. Avv. Enrico Camilleri , Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers stayed at the Università degli Studi di Palermo from 11 to 17 May 2016. The University of Palermo is one of the largest universities in Italy with around 50,000 students and 2,000 academic staff. Prof. Camilleri has been a lecturer at the Augsburg Summer Program for many years.

In Palermo, Prof. Dr. Möllers gave two english lectures on "Experimental Legislation in European Capital Market Law" and "Chances and Risks of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)".

February 2013

Guest professorship and lecture at the Université Jean Moulin in Lyon

On 11 February, Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers gave a lecture titled "Regulation and Liability of Rating Agencies - More Efficient Law at European Level? - Regulation and Liability of Rating Agencies - A More Efficient European Law?" in the context of a guest professorship at the Université Jean Moulin III in France.