Freya Baetens

Stefaan Van den Bogaert

The European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are becoming ever more important players on the international legal scene, as well as points of reference for the development and functioning of similar institutions elsewhere. Both institutions initially had a relatively small trade-focused mandate, which has been significantly expanded over the past decades so that there are few legal issues today that are not, in some way, affected by EU or, perhaps to a lesser extent, WTO law. Today, the EU and the WTO interact on a global scale as rule-makers and – enforcers, with repercussions for the entire world’s population. Nevertheless, they are currently experiencing a backlash. Both institutions are likely to undergo major reform in the next years: the book scrutinizes current proposals and makes an educated attempt at predicting upcoming changes in the EU and the WTO format. For this reason, the book takes a macro-approach looking at the EU and the WTO in a broader context as well as a micro-approach analysing specific high-profile issues, including: the EU, the WTO and Brexit; environmental sustainability in EU competition law and free trade agreements; the EU’s proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM); WTO safeguards and rules of origin in services; reform of WTO dispute settlement procedures and the Appellate Body; the WTO, the EU Green Deal and renewable energy investment; EU external relations with Mercosur, the EEA and Switzerland; EU human rights law and the freedom of artistic expression; and international trade law’s contribution to combatting pandemics. Contributors to the book are experts active in legal academia, international legal practice, or both, who wish to honour Marco Bronckers, upon his retirement from the Chair of WTO and EU Law at the University of Leiden. A variety of audiences stands to benefit from the book’s discussion and proposed solutions: legal practitioners, scholars and students of international and European law; as well as related disciplines, such as political science and economic theory.

Liber Amicorum Marco Bronckers

The EU and the WTO: Ever the Twain Shall Meet.

Sport is recreational, social, educational, healthful, and cultural. It has always been all of these things. Perhaps also it has always been political. In recent years, however, it has become something else besides: economic. Nowadays a lot of money is invested in sport, and sporting competitions often generate enormous amounts of revenue. This has entailed serious repercussions, especially for the relations between individual sportsmen/sportswomen and the sporting clubs and federations that act as brokers for their careers. Into this protected area for decades a closed shop now come the European institutions, especially the European Court of Justice and the European Commission, with the declared intention of ensuring respect for the exigencies of Community law while at the same time protecting the specificity and the integrity of sport. This important book presents an in-depth analysis of the viability under Community law of traditional sports regulations such as transfer rules and nationality clausesboth sets of rules seriously compromised by the Bosman case of 1995. The author asks in particular whether certain rules elaborated by sporting associations can withstand the test of compatibility with the free movement provisions of the EC Treaty. In the light of Bosman, he also rigorously investigates: whether valuable arguments exist for keeping certain sporting rules and practices entirely outside the scope of the EC Treaty; and whether the private nature of sporting clubs constitutes a stumbling block for the application of the relevant free movement rules. Practical Regulation of the Mobility of Sportsmen in the EU Post Bosman comes at a moment when clarification of where this complex and contentious matter currently lies is essential if we are to gauge where it is going. The topic is of special and increasing interest, as official declarations on sport were attached to the Treaties of both Amsterdam and Nice. And, if the draft Constitution for Europe actually enters into force, sport will even become an official area of Union policy. This trend confirms the value and significance of this ground-breaking book for practitioners, policymakers, and regulators in the burgeoning field of sports law. European Monographs 48

Stefaan Van den Bogaert

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