This book explores the legal foundations of the single market project in Europe and examines the legal concepts underpinning its operation.

In light of the EU's commitment to making the Single Market fit for the digital age, leading scholars analyse new and urgent issues in the field of contract, data protection, copyright and private international law.

While the internal market has been at the heart of the European project from the very beginning, it has rarely been the subject of sustained and comprehensive scholarly examination in its entirety. In the face of profound legal, political and policy pressures, this timely Research Handbook reflects on the cutting-edge issues, horizontal themes and the big questions which illuminate the shape of the internal market. It places the law and policy of the internal market within the context of the financial crisis and the existential questions this has raised for future European integration.

This book examines what the single market actually entails and looks at the other issues and implications of the Single Europe Act. It considers the economic, fiscal, social and political dimensions of European unification.

Efforts to tackle the trade impeding effects of divergent standards and regulations are at the core of European economic relations. This volume draws on literature from several disciplines to develop a comprehensive account of the regulatory strategies and institutional arrangements adopted by the EU in promoting the single market in goods. It provides a historical overview and detailed cases studies of the various policy initiatives that have altered the boundaries between the public and private sector in fostering market integration. Tackling interstate barriers to trade has relied heavily on European law to shape the framework of relations between states, and trade liberalization has been facilitated by legal rulings resolving territorial conflicts over regulatory jurisdiction and authority. The European Court of Justice has actively shaped markets, acting as a 'free trade umpire' in balancing the goals of market liberalization and market regulation while fostering market compliance. Although markets are absolutely dependent on public authority, the institutional innovation of the EU has been to use the private sector in an ancillary role to the state. By delegating responsibility to set standards for market access, the EU has chosen to draw on the resources of private actors, resulting in a system of governance that is a distinctive, hybrid model of regulation composed of state and non-state actors. Though the "outsourcing" of public sector regulatory activity was expected to be more effective than the process of regulatory harmonization, progress has been difficult. The current deficit in setting standards for European-wide market access raises concerns about the efficiency and effectiveness of such a regulatory regime. Egan provides a detailed evaluation of that process, highlighting regulatory gaps in the single market and the need to focus not only on the process of market integration, but also its outcome and impact on European business. Comparisons with American efforts to create a national market are made throughout to demonstrate the difficulties of constructing and maintaining a single market. American and European efforts to devise a uniform market for commerce and trade have involved both public and private authorities, though with different degrees of coordination and centralization, as many of the strategies undertaken by the EU echo earlier American market-building efforts.

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.