Weiterführende Informationen
About the Institute
The central focus of the European Legal Studies Institute lies on research concerning the law of the European Union, the laws of its Member States and the interactions between the two levels. The scope of research includes also public international law and conflicts of laws. The overarching aim is to understand the specific characteristics of this unique legal area, to promote its integration, to initiate new developments and to provide analytical expertise.
With its excellent scientific infrastructure, in particular the renowned research library, the European Legal Studies Institute is a focal point for scholars from all over Europe and beyond. A unique feature of the Institute is the great experience of its scholars in building European research networks. On the basis of comparative research, the working groups initiated by the Institute have elaborated important works of reference on European law, which have attracted attention beyond Europe.
As an independent research institution, the Institute makes its expertise available to public institutions in Germany and abroad. In particular, the Institute's researchers regularly advise the European Commission and the European Parliament on important legislative projects.
News
ELSI Lecture on 22.01.2025 with Prof. Vanessa Mak
The next ELSI Lecture will take place on 22.01.2025 at 18:00 Uhr with Professor Vanessa Mak on the topic of "Redefining Equality in European Contract Law. Protecting Consumer Interests in a Post-Consumer Society": Consumers have in law been defined as the weaker parties in a transaction. Contract laws have integrated consumer protection with a view to balancing the interests of the parties, ensuring equal bargaining power and to some extent substantive fairness in contractual relations. Rules of consumer protection have therefore, from a contract lawyer’s perspective, been construed as expressions of a general principle of equality. The principle of equality, conceived in this way, complements the general principle of autonomy underlying contract law, which embodies the idea that parties should have the capacity for self-realisation. Does this construction of consumer contract law still hold in EU consumer markets transformed by the rise of online platforms and the overall move towards an economy based on services and experiences rather than the sale of physical goods? Or do we need to redefine the ways in which the principle of equality is expressed in European contract law in order to correct for new inequalities arising between consumers and businesses?
The lecture will take place at the European Legal Studies Institute in room E03.
Conference on Enforcement of Rights in the Digital Space
The European Legal Studies Institute (ELSI) is pleased to announce a conference on Enforcement of Rights in the Digital Space at Osnabrück University on November 7th and 8th, 2024.
Legal Acts regulating the digital space in the European Union, such as the GDPR, the Data Act and the Digital Services Act, establish manyfold new rights and obligations, such as a duty to inform about data use and storage, rights of access to data or requests for interoperability. Yet, with regard to many of these rights and obligations it remains unclear whether and how private actors can enforce them. Speakers from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK address the commonalities, gaps and inconsistencies within the present system of enforcement of rights in the digital space and explore the different approaches academics throughout Europe take on these issues.
The conference is open to the public.
