European and International Trade and Tax Law - Master's Programme

This track offers two sub specialisations:

• Contracts, trade and competition
• Intellectual property law
• Labour law and employers responsibility

The first track leads to a Master’s degree in European and international trade law and modules are possible to combine across the areas. The Trade track includes a possibility to specialize in general trade law as well as intellectual property rights, artificial intelligence and related topics. Within the scope of the Trade track, you may select courses on general aspects of trade and courses focused on artificial intelligence, digitalization and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.

Contracts, trade and competition specialisation

The first semester is divided into two courses, one dealing with international contract law and another dealing with trade, investment and sustainability.

The first course deals with the regulation of international trade in general. Important areas are sources of international law, international jurisdictions, courts and arbitration as well as different aspects on international sales of goods and services. The course also highlights the role of international contractual model laws such as the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts, the Principles of European Contract Law and the Draft Common Frame of Reference.

This course is followed by a more specialised course in investment law and sustainability where the area of study is international investment agreements to promote and protect foreign investments under EU and international law.

In the second semester, the students study competition policy and corruption. Competition policy, including regulation on state aid and public procurement, is an essential tool to create fair competition and combat corruption in European and international trade. The courses are adjusted every year depending on what issues that are topical.

Intellectual property law specialisation

The first semester is divided into two courses, one dealing with intellectual property, artificial intelligence and digitalization and one dealing with intellectual property and trade.

The course on intellectual property, digitalization and artificial intelligence deals with new challenges regarding ownership of works and inventions created by algorithms, infringement by machines and access to data.

The course in intellectual property and trade covers topics such as the importance of protection and enforcement of intellectual property in trade, the regulation of intellectual property protection in the WTO context via the TRIPS agreement, and regulation of intellectual property in free trade agreements.

In the second semester, you study intellectual property and sustainability. A range of issues relating to intellectual property rights role in social and economic development are addressed, in particular, intellectual property rights contribution to the implementation of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. The courses are adjusted every year depending on what issues that are topical.

Labour law and employers responsibility

The focus in this specialisation is on sustainability in relation to management when making and evaluating decisions where legal aspects are important and the law may be used as a strategic tool. 

The first semester is divided into two courses, one dealing with international contract law and another dealing with trade, investment and sustainability. The first course deals with the regulation of international trade in general. Important areas are sources of international law, international jurisdictions, courts and arbitration as well as different aspects on international sales of goods and services. This course is followed by a more specialised course in investment law and sustainability where the area of study is international investment agreements to promote and protect foreign investments under EU and international law. 

In the second semester, the students study the social dimension of European and international trade law, especially the development of social policy and labour law in the European Union and the emergence of economic human rights in the global context. The courses are adjusted every year depending onwhat issues that are topical. 

This track offers one specialisation on either:

• Direct taxation
• Indirect taxation

The track leads to a Master’s degree in European and international tax law.

In European and international tax law, the first semester is divided into two courses, one dealing with the fundamentals of European and international indirect taxation and one dealing with the fundamentals of European and international direct taxation. Both courses are structured around common themes and constitute vital building blocks for any master’s of European and International Tax Law graduate. In the second semester, students study a 15 credits specialised course in direct or indirect taxation. The focus is on the underlying issues surrounding cross-border establishment from a functional perspective, both from EU law and from double tax treaty law perspectives. Key VAT concepts, as clarified in the case law of the European Court of Justice, are put into the perspective of comparative law (other VAT systems) legal reports, the work of the European Commission and the OECD.  

The course is adjusted every year depending on what issues that are topical.