Checking date: 05/05/2025 14:55:33


Course: 2025/2026

Transational Liability
(19734)
Master in International Advocacy (Plan: 370 - Estudio: 334)
EPD


Coordinating teacher: LASTIRI SANTIAGO, MONICA

Department assigned to the subject: Private Law Department

Type: Compulsory
ECTS Credits: 3.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:




Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)
International Private Law, Corporate Law
Learning Outcomes
Description of contents: programme
General Program 1.- Climate and environmental litigation 2.- Liability for trafficking and exploitation of people and dangerous working conditions 3.- Liability for economic and corporate crimes: corruption, market manipulation and money laundering 4.- Cybercrime liability SDGs and democratic principles and values related with the programme: Sustainability and climate change (1, 2), human rights and fundamental rights (1, 2, 4), gender equality (1, 2), equal treatment and non-discrimination (1, 2). Detailed Program 1. Introduction to Transnational Liability -Concept and foundations of transnational liability -Differences between civil and criminal liability -Basic principles of private international law and their relationship with transnational liability -Jurisdictions and conflict of laws in transnational cases 2. Transnational Civil Liability -Multinational corporations, global market, and human rights: the challenge -International Soft law on business and human rights: origin and history -The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights -The OEDC Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises -Interrelation between climate change/environment and human rights -Has soft law succeeded? 3.- Transnational Liability Human Rights and sustainability -Practical Cases of Transnational Companies and Human Rights: Labor Exploitation, Resource Depletion, and Humanitarian Crises. -International Human Rights Framework: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. -The Legalization of Transnational Obligations on Human Rights and the Environment. 4. Legal Framework of Transnational Responsibility -Emerging Trends in Transnational Obligations to Protect Human Rights and the Environment: EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products, and the Forced Labor Regulation Proposal. -Scope and Legal Nature of Transnational Obligations for Corporate Sustainability. -Implications and Challenges of Responsibilities in Transnational Supply Chains. 5. Transnational Criminal Liability -Introduction to transnational criminal liability. -Environmental crimes committed both in peacetime and during armed conflicts, and their criminal prosecution. -Extraterritorial jurisdiction and national laws. -International jurisdiction and the specific role of the International Criminal Court and other institutions. -Notable cases of criminal liability in the environmental context. 6. Strategic Issues in Transnational Responsibility: Economic Policies, Key Actors, and Climate Litigation. -The strategic context of transnational litigation -Economic and political implications of transnational litigation, with a focus on climate -related litigation. Policies and Multinational Corporation in Cross-Border Litigation -Interaction between key actors; NGO¿s, civil society and multinational corporations
Learning activities and methodology
LEARNING ACTIVITIES AF1 Theory lectures AF2 Practical lectures AF3 Theorico-practical lectures AF6 Group project AF7 Individual project METHODOLOGY MD1: Lectures by the teacher with the support of audiovisual and computerized means in which the basic concepts of the subject shall be explained and the basic bibliography shall be recommended to complete the students knowledge. MD2: Critical Reading of texts recommended by the teacher: newspapers articles, reports, handbooks and/or academic papers, for their discussion in class or to consolidate the knowledge on the subject. MD3: Solving cases, problems, etc. posed by the teacher individually or in groups. MD4: Briefing and discussion in class, moderated by the teacher, of matters related to the content of the subject, as well as practical cases. MD5: Preparation of individual or group papers and briefings. TUTORING: Students will have access to tutorials with the person responsible for coordinating the subject. With the tutoring it is intended to organize the teaching and learning processes that are based on the interaction between the student and the teacher in order to: (i) Guide the autonomous and group work of the students (ii) Deepen in different aspects of the subject (iii) Guide the academic and comprehensive training of the student. The tutorials will take place at the time and under the conditions determined by the teacher in Aula Global.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination/test 40
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 60




Basic Bibliography
  • AHERN. The Rome II Regulation on the Law Applicable to Non-Contractual Obligations: A New International Litigation Regime. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 2019
  • GAILHOFER et al. (eds.). Corporate Liability for Transboundary Environmental Harm: An International and Transnational Perspective. Springer. 2023
  • GIMPEL-HINTEREGGER. Environmental liability and ecological damage in European law. Cambridge University Press. 2008
  • GRUNER. Corporate Criminal Liability and Prevention. Law Journal Press. 2017
  • MACCHI. Business, Human Rights and the Environment: The Evolving Agenda. Springer. 2022
  • PIETH & IVORY. Corporate Criminal Liability. Emergence, Convergence, and Risk. Springer. 2011
  • PIETH & IVORY. Corporate Criminal Liability. Emergence, Convergence, and Risk. Springer. 2011
  • Peter T. Muchlinski. Multinational entreprises & the Law. The Oxford International Law Library. 2021
Additional Bibliography
  • GOBERT & PASCAL. European Developments in Corporate Criminal Liability. Routledge. 2011
  • MAGNUS (ed.). Brussels Ibis Regulation: Commentary. Otto Schmidt. 2016
  • Peter T. Muchlisnski. Multinational Enterprises & The Law. The Oxford International Law Library. 2021
  • SJAFJELL & BRUNER. The Cambridge Handbook of Corporate Law, Corporate Governance and Sustainability. Cambridge. 2019
  • TECHERA et al. (eds.). Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law. Routledge. 2021
  • WILDERSPIN. European Private International Law of Obligations. Sweet & Maxwell. 2023

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.