Comparative Law, Sustainability and Food Safety
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The course is part of the activities organized for the Jean Monnet Chair ENFASIS (European Novel Foods Agreement and Sustainable Intercultural Systems) and specifically addresses food-related problems in the framework of the different consumers' rights, such as those relating to food safety, cultural identities, religious freedoms, as well as those rights linked to the environment and eco-systems protection through sustainable consumption choices and inter-generational duties. The course aims to convey to the student the knowledge of the problems and possible solutions that emerge regarding food topics in the context of the European Union, without neglecting the demands and solutions offered by the different legal systems, as well as their comparison beyond a European vision of law. At the end of the course, the student will be able to analyze the most relevant aspects of global and comparative food law.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, thanks to the traditional lectures, group exercises and flipped classrooms, the student: a) will have acquired cultural, disciplinary and methodological skills; b) will have strengthened communication skills allowing him/her to master the issues related to sustainability and food safety, especially regarding to the novel foods (from insects to nanomaterials) and international spread of the same; c) will have developed a critical vision and an independent judgment of the legal phenomena linked to globalization of the food consumption sector and to international trade.
Lesson period: Third trimester
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Third trimester
Course syllabus
The following topics will be discussed in depth during the course: 1) The relationship between comparative law and global law; 2) The food legal systems; 3) The consumers' damage and consumers' safety in the agri-food supply chains; 4) The enforcement and effectiveness of the European consumer law and food safety in other legal systems; 5) The transplant of the European consumer law; 6) The legal tools for governing the food market and contractual rules; 7) The commercial practices in the agri-food chain and civil protection of the weaker party; 8) Culture identity and law: The food choices and the right to self-determination in European and comparative law; 9) The new ecological sensitivities: The food variety between bio-diversity needs and environmental sustainability; 10) The globalization of the food market, technological innovations and sustainable development.
Prerequisites for admission
The use for teaching purposes of documents in English and/or Spanish language (texts, cases and materials) requires a good knowledge of English and/or Spanish.
Teaching methods
It's an e-learning course to facilitate the broadest participation of students of the many Milan University Degree course according to the purposes of the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Actions. It will be realized some classroom exercises carried out by small groups of students. Practical cases will be dealt with during the lessons, also thanks to the involvement of Stakeholders and Colleagues of foreign Universities.
Teaching Resources
PDF essays and Cases will be made available through the Ariel site of the course.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Final oral exam according to the Faculty calendar of exam sessions. Attending students will have the opportunity to take one intermediate oral test with 3 open-ended questions.
The final oral exam is based on at least 2 questions for attending students who have successfully taken the intermediate oral test; instead it is carried out through at least 4 questions for non-attending students or for attending students who have an insufficient mark or decided to refuse the mark obtained. In both cases, the answers are evaluated with individual scores from 0 to 30 for each question. Attending students can be awarded 1 additional point for scheduled interventions carried out during the course or for the flipped classroom agreed with the teacher and carried out in a student-group.
The final mark expressed in thirtieths will take into consideration the numerous knowledge of comparative food law and the understanding of the legal topics of reference of the course.
The final oral exam is based on at least 2 questions for attending students who have successfully taken the intermediate oral test; instead it is carried out through at least 4 questions for non-attending students or for attending students who have an insufficient mark or decided to refuse the mark obtained. In both cases, the answers are evaluated with individual scores from 0 to 30 for each question. Attending students can be awarded 1 additional point for scheduled interventions carried out during the course or for the flipped classroom agreed with the teacher and carried out in a student-group.
The final mark expressed in thirtieths will take into consideration the numerous knowledge of comparative food law and the understanding of the legal topics of reference of the course.
Professor(s)
Reception:
Friday from 10.00 to 12.00. Students have to write 48 hours in advance an email.
Professor's room (room n. 1) or Microsoft Teams