To reflect on illegal immigration in Portugal, its political, economic and social implications, both today and in the context of future European immigration policy, from the perspective of respect for human rights; To analyze the legal regime regarding the detention of foreigners in illegal situations in Portugal; to examine the United Nations guidelines – The Palermo Convention and the UNODC Manual for Justice Practitioners – concerning the investigation, gathering of evidence, indictment and trial of the crimes of facilitating illegal immigration and of trafficking in human beings, under the 2007 penal revision.

Language regime: Portuguese and English.

The course aims to provide a general overview of the changes that the Rome I Regulation (EC No 593/2008) and Rome II Regulation (EC No 864/2007) have brought into the Estonian and harmonized European private international law, i.e., their effect on the choice of law principles used to determine the applicable law in contractual and non-contractual obligations.

During the training course the participating judges are familiarized with the structure and contents of the said regulations. In addition, problems of compatibility of the European rules with the Estonian domestic law will be analyzed and possible characterization problems identified.

Language regime: Estonian and English.

Civil, criminal and administrative liability for environmental offences; lack of administrative decisions in the field of environmental law in coherence with specific criminal legislation, which demands fulfilling with administrative decisions, according to Supreme Court ruling; EU legislation on environmental issues; jurisprudence of national and EU Court of Justice.

Language regime: Slovenian and English.

Objective: 

To provide the participants with improved insight into the most important EU-law source-bases, as well as how to use these bases and their strengths and weaknesses.

Content:

The course introduces the participants to the principal EU-law bases. Through practical exercises the participants will be given insight into the possibilities the various bases provides for finding relevant EU-law sources. For instance where a judge needs to establish the construction of a directive provision and therefore has to find out whether, at some point, the specific provision has been interpreted by the European Court of Justice.

Language regime: Danish and English.

Objective: 

To provide the participants with a basic knowledge about the Union’s Charter on Fundamental Rights and its relevance for national judges.

Content:

The course examines the scope and content of the Charter. It first provides a general presentation of the Charter’s history and purpose upon which it will discuss typical situations where the Charter applies in a national case. It will then describe the important distinction in the Charter between rights that can be enforced in national courts and principles that are first and foremost directed to the Union legislator. Thereafter the course will examine in more depth various provisions of particular importance to the national legal order.

Language regime: Danish and English.

Objective: 

To provide the participants with a better understanding of the most central problems in relation to the ”four freedoms”. Hereby the participants will be better able to identify these aspects in a dispute and to assess their possible impact on the solution thereof; including assessing whether the dispute can be decided without making a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice.

Content: 

The course first provides a general presentation of the four freedoms (the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital). Thereafter there will, first, be an examination of what elements that the judge must be particularly conscious about and, second, the most important EU law principles will be considered. The course will be founded on classic dialogue-based teaching combined with certain small exercises.

Language regime: Danish and English.

Objective:

To provide the participants with a basic knowledge about the remedies that citizens and undertakings have in cases of breaches of EU law, be that by private parties or public authorities.

Content:

The course examines the relationship between national rules and EU law concerning the legal effects of violations of EU law. It discusses when a national case file has to be reopened, both on the administrative level and with regard to court decisions. It also analyses the extent to which national rules on prescription and other time limits apply in cases concerning breaches of EU law. In addition, attention is devoted to claims concerning restitution, including cases on repayment of illegal State aid and disputes regarding unduly levied taxes and charges. Finally, the course touches upon national procedural such as rules on standing and their interplay with EU law.

Language regime: Danish and English.

The objective of this Seminar is to analyse the offence of money laundering, the legal framework, typologies, investigation techniques and cooperation with law enforcement.

Format: Two days Seminar with the participation as speakers of Prosecutors from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office

Language regime: Spanish and English.

This course is open to experienced and specialised prosecutors in the practice of international cooperation in criminal matters.

The content of this course: Introduction to Europol, its role, coordination and dialogue. Additionally, the presentation of Eurojust and the European Judicial Network (RJE), the role of Eurojust and the instruments of international cooperation in criminal matters.

Language regime: Dutch and English

The incorporation of considerations regarding the minority status of certain applicants for international protection under the EU’s Common European Asylum System is a matter of great practical relevance.

The minority characteristics of these applicants are often determinative during the initial stages of the asylum process as well as at first and subsequent judicial instances. For example, the need to be cognisant of the minority background of an applicant in making a determination of the need of protection is crucial within the context of a fair and efficient regime for processing asylum claims.

This seminar will analyse the current state of EU legislation on the incorporation of minorities into the asylum application process. It will also reflect on the reform efforts of the main legislation in this area.

Key Topics:

• Minority status: Determination of ethnic minorities and the limits of EU anti-discrimination law
• Gender: asylum status determinations; gender specific harm and the limits of the Qualification Directive;
• The role of trafficking with respect to gender-specific asylum applications
• Sexual Orientation: the role of credibility assessments – practical considerations concerning the interview process; the use of country of origin information in the EU asylum process
• Unaccompanied Minors: Age determination and the protection of children and young people
• Reform: Latest developments concerning the EU’s recast proposals for the major Directives in this area.

Language regime: English and French.

The Summer School of Legal English will focus on training specific legal terminology used in the area of International and European Cooperation in Civil Matters. It is designed for participants with at least intermediate level of general English and with basic knowledge of English civil law terminology.

The impact will be given on training language skills and on deepening knowledge of specific civil law terminology in a comparative perspective.

Language regime: English.

The seminar is opened to judges specialised in criminal matters and to public prosecutors.

During the seminar the participants will be working with the key criminal law terminology provided for by EU Treaties and EU law secondary legislation trough several legal and language exercises conducted by legal experts and linguists.

The seminar will cover topics as:

• The European Arrest Warrant
• Mutual legal assistance
• Council Framework Decision 2006/783/JHA of 6 October 2006 on the   application of the principle of mutual recognition to confiscation orders
• Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings.

A special emphasis will be laid on interactive debates, free expression of opinions and the presentation of the national experience concerning each topic.

Language regime: English

• The sources of law in international cooperation in criminal proceedings;
• Preparation and expedition of applications for international mutual legal assistance;
• Performing activities with regards to mutual legal assistance on application from bodies entitled to prosecute in foreign countries;
• Institution of interception and transfer of prosecution with regards to Art. 21 of the European Convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal proceedings (Strasbourg, 20 April 1959), with an additional protocol of 17 March 1978, and Art.7 of the Convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters between Member States (29 May 2000);
• Cooperation with diplomatic posts, principles of cooperation with the use of temporary arrest with the citizens outside the EU; using the database of the Information System of Schengen for the needs of criminal proceedings;
• Legal affairs with foreign countries in light of the decree of the Minister of Justice of 24 March 201 “Regulations of the inner tenure of the common organizational institutions of the prosecution.

Language regime: Polish and English.

Implications of the Treaty of Lisbon on the national criminal jurisdiction; the rights of the accused and the victim. The role and tasks of Eurojust and the European Judicial Network (EJTN).

Language regime: German and English.

For some years civil judges have been progressively called upon to address issues of extreme social relevance which have an impact on the fundamental human rights, including more recently introduced values.

The solutions that have been offered have contributed to modifying the existing regulatory framework to the point of levying severe accusations in certain aspects of the legislation against the courts.

On the other hand, and from a different perspective, the achievements of regulatory legislation have been valued positively, while placing emphasis on the growing need to support written law with law in action, in which the fundamental principles would continuously provide strength to a jurisprudential response that is capable of nourishing and safeguarding the ever-changing dimension of the person. In this context, a very active role was played by the European Convention on the protection of human rights and, in general, by the international instruments that contain catalogues of rights. 

Objectives: the course thus aims to offer participants, on the one hand, a critical analysis of certain topics (heterologous insemination, crucifix, biological and existential damage, protection of property, right to a double surname, homosexual unions, right to self-determination, euthanasia, protection of the newborn, recently reformulated by Cassation 9700/2011, etc.) and finally tackles the delicate issue of the relationship between law and fundamental values – regardless of their origin (national or supranational) – and the role of interpretation, in an attempt to define content and limitations vis-à-vis the allegedly abnormal use of hermeneutical rules.

Structures and method: face-to-face presentations with afternoon sessions dedicated to the study of case-law.

Beneficiaries: judging and prosecuting civil magistrates. Private law practitioners to be selected by the Associazione Italiana Giovani Avvocati will participate in the course lectures.

Language regime: Italian and English.

A study of the Lisbon Treaty, which has been in force since 1 December 2009, and of Protocol n° 14 of the ECHR, which came into force on 1 June 2010, places European Union law and European institutions at the heart of radical change, namely with regards development in the protection of fundamental rights, the rules of which the French judge must master and understand the issues at stake.

The aim of this seminar is to provide the French judge with the main tools which will allow him or her to incorporate the principles and concepts of European Union law, become acquainted with Community institutions, understand the process of decision-making within the European Union, comprehend the different categories of Community standards and the conditions affecting their implementation in French law and think about the European Union’s ability to adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights. 

The seminar will also provide the opportunity to take stock of the relationship between constitutional law and community law, in view of the case law concerning priority preliminary rulings on the issue of constitutionality governed by article 61-1 of the Constitution and in force since 1 March 2010.

Teaching methods:
The expertise and experience of the guest speakers, together with the ensuing comments and questions from the floor will ensure the dynamics of this seminar.

Remarks:
This seminar is complementary with the training course at the European Courts of Justice or at the European Court of Human Rights.  It could also be studied alongside the seminar on “The European Convention on Human Rights: instruction manual” (HJC02) and the course specifically dedicated to the “priority preliminary rulings on the issue of constitutionality” (HJC03).

Language regime: French

This conference is targeted at criminal court judges and public prosecutors with previous experience in the area of legal assistance. Cooperation with Member States of the European Union is increasingly influenced by rules which result from the implementation of Framework Decisions (European Arrest Warrant, freezing, confiscation, execution of custodial sentences, including supervision of probation), the implementation of Council Decisions (Eurojust), the implementation of agreements between the EU and third countries (USA, Japan) and, in future, EU Directives (European Evidence Warrant).

The interplay between EU and national norms is to be explained on the basis of concrete examples. Discussions will provide a forum for the exchange and evaluation of experience. There will be a presentation of the support provided by Eurojust, as well an networks and information available on the Internet.

Language regime: German and English