More Competences than You Knew? The Web of Health Competence for European Union Action in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak

To combat COVID-19, unlike its Member States, the Union may act“only within thelimits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attainthe objectives set out therein”.4As legal scholars, we understand why one may think thatthe Union has no power to act in ways that public health experts and others, such aseconomists and behavioural psychologists, suggest would be helpful. The Union’spowers in the health domain are traditionallyunderstood to be severely constrained:health law and policy are seen as matters for Member States.We propose an alternative to this standard legal analysis. The Union has more possiblelegal powers to create health law and policy in response to the COVID-19 outbreak than istraditionally understood, particularly if the different iterations of the protection andpromotion of public and human health throughout the Treaty on the Functioning of theEuropean Union (TFEU) are readin relation toone another. This alternativeinterpretation of the Union’s competence norms, the“legal bases”on which the Unioninstitutions act to adopt either binding legal rules or persuasive measures, suggests thatthere are legal options that permit the Union a wider range of actions than it has takento date, and that support–and go further than–the approaches that the EuropeanCommission (Commission) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Controlhave suggested in various policy documents, guidance and communications in Marchand April 2020.5In short, we are arguing thatlegalimpediments to Union action areless restrictive than is commonly understood

Options to Reform the European Union Legislation on GMOs: Scope and Definitions

We discuss options to reform the EU genetically modified organisms (GMO) regulatory framework, make risk assessment and decision-making more consistent with scientific principles, and lay the groundwork for international coherence. The first in a three-part series, this article focuses on reform options related to the scope of the legislation and the GMO definition

Legal linked data ecosystems and the rule of law

This chapter introduces the notions of meta-rule of law and socio-legal ecosystems to both foster and regulate linked democracy. It explores the way of stimulating innovative regulations and building a regulatory quadrant for the rule of law. The chapter summarises briefly (i) the notions of responsive, better and smart regulation; (ii) requirements for legal interchange languages (legal interoperability); (iii) and cognitive ecology approaches. It shows how the protections of the substantive rule of law can be embedded into the semantic languages of the web of data and reflects on the conditions that make possible their enactment and implementation as a socio-legal ecosystem. The chapter suggests in the end a reusable multi-levelled meta-model and four notions of legal validity: positive, composite, formal, and ecological

The Essential Elements of a Risk Governance Framework for Current and Future Nanotechnologies

Societies worldwide are investing considerable resources into the safe development and use of nanomaterials. Although each of these protective efforts is crucial for governing the risks of nanomaterials, they are insufficient in isolation. What is missing is a more integrative governance approach that goes beyond legislation. Development of this approach must b

The EU's Precautionary Principle in Food Law is an Information Tool!

The precautionary principle in EU food law is a tool primarily for regulatory agencies to acquire information on whether they can justify regulatory intervention under the principle that preventive action shall be taken. The precautionary principle is hence an information tool, while the principle that preventive action shall be taken is the basis for content-related regulation to directly further social goals in internal market regulation