Dans le cadre de son cycle de conférences consacrées à l’UE en tant qu’acteur international, l’unité de recherche en droit de l’Université du Luxembourg invite Frank Hoffmeister, adjoint au chef de cabinet du commissaire au Commerce, Karel de Gucht, à parler des aspects institutionnels de la gouvernance du commerce international du point de vue de l’UE le 3 mars 2014 de 17 à 19 heures.

Frank Hoffmeister is Deputy Head in the Cabinet of Trade Commissioner de Gucht since 2010. In this position his field of work is the WTO and dispute settlement, G-20, Trade and Environment, Agriculture and Geographic Indications, Trade Defense Instruments, OECD and Public Procurement. Prior to that, he worked as a European Commission Official at DG Enlargement and at the Legal Service.

Frank Hoffmeister received his academic education in Germany and in Switzerland. He finishes his legal studies with the bar examen in Berlin ("with distinction"). After this he was a stagiaire in the German Federal Ministry of Justice, the German Foreign Office in Singapore and the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. In 1999 Frank Hoffmeister became an Academic Assistant at the Walter Hallstein-Institute for European Constitutional Law. Since 2006 Frank Hoffmeister also works as a Professor of Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels for International Economic Law (part time).

In this lecture, a closer look will be taken at the institutional aspects of global trade governance. In the first place, it will examine how decision-making functions in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and how WTO-related decisions are taken within the European Union. A similar inquiry is conducted for G20 decision-making. On that basis Prof Hoffmeister will explore whether the European Union can live up to its constitutional commitment to contribute to 'free and fair trade' as laid down in Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

Registration by e-mail to fdef-colloques@uni.lu (specifying name and institution)

Contact Nadja Risch : Tel: +352 46 66 44 6619