CBS LAW
Research Projects
Ongoing research projects
Current PhD Projects
Marianne Buffat works on a PhD project that explores how data privacy regulations impact and drive data commodification business strategies in Europe and whether it is viable to promote alternate compliance models based on incentivising self-adhesion to rights-based values in order to supplement a struggling regulatory system.
Amalie Toft Bentsen works on a PhD thesis in climate law and economics. The interdisciplinary thesis assesses the contact surface between EU climate law and the treaty provisions for the internal market in the EU. The purpose of the thesis' analysis is to figure out how EU climate law affects the internal market in the move to a green transition as well as to identify the frictions that may occur between these two regimes.
Former research projects
Juridisk Institut ved CBS indgår sammen med otte andre forskningsinstitutter i Norden i et samarbejde om EU og Arbejdsret. Der samarbejdes systematisk og langsigtet om at samordne, udvikle og udnytte nordiske resurser inden for området EU-arbejdsret. Samarbejdsaftalen kan ses her (pdf): samarbejdsaftale 2011-2014. Som led i samarbejdet udgives nyhedsbrevet EU & Arbetsrätt: http://arbetsratt.juridicum.su.se/euarb/10-1/default.asp og samarbejdet driver Arbetsrättsportalen hvor forskere og praktikere mødes
Henriette Schleimanns Ph.d. projekt analyserer muligheden for en effektivisering af kontrakter i den maritime sektor, da det burde resultere i et øget samarbejde mellem parterne, som derved kan blive mere innovative. Det er fortrinsvis i forhold til sager, hvor skibsredere moderniserer. På nuværende tidspunkt mangler skibsrederne en forståelse for de individuelle komponenter, og som konsekvens vælger de overvejende den hurtigste og billigste løsning. Imidlertid besidder leverandører denne viden og har muligheden for at differentiere produkterne fra hinanden, men de formår ikke at overdrage denne differentiering til skibsrederne.
I forbindelse med min afhandling vil der blive forsket i samarbejdet og brugen heraf i forhold til maritime kontrakter. Resultater fra byggeindustrien og medicinalindustrien viser, at samarbejdet sikrer en optimering af begge parters værdi, når de indgår et reelt samarbejde hvori både risici og overskud er fordelt. Dette skaber optimerede projekter. Formålet er at forsøge at implementere samarbejdskonceptet til den maritime sektor for at øge samarbejdet mellem parterne og dermed få parterne til at sikre en vidensdeling, hvilket skulle sikre en optimering af kontrakterne.
See Louise Hauberg Wilhelmsens PhD Project
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Abstract:
One of the key changes in societal trends and lifestyles witnessed over the past few years has been the move on-line of many consumers and the way they have become increasingly sophisticated in their media consumption habits. Have these recent changes to consumer and commercial practices developed in such a way that consumers are (in) voluntarily signing away their fundamental right to privacy?
This project (CONSENT) seeks to examine how consumer behaviour and commercial practices are changing the role of consent in the processing of personal data. While consumer consent is a fundamental value on which the European market economy is based, the way consumer consent is obtained is questionable in popular user-generative/user-generated (UGC) online services (including sites like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook), whose commercial success depends to a large extent on the disclosure by their users of substantial amounts of personal data. There is an urgent need to study and analyse the changes in consumption behaviour and consumer culture arising from the emergence of UGC online services and how contractual, commercial and technical practices and other factors affect consumer choice and attitudes toward personal privacy in the digital economy.
CONSENT's multidisciplinary team intends to carry out a status quo analysis of commercial practices, legal position and consumer attitudes, identifying criteria for fairness and best practices, and then create a toolkit for policy makers and corporate counsel which will enable them to address problem identified in the analysis. CONSENT will advance the knowledge base that underpins the formulation and implementation of policies and corporate procedures in the area of privacy and consumer protection with a view to informing policy-making in the European Union and to contribute to the development of European research communities in these areas.
CBS part:
Interoperability of services - An analysis of the existing legal framework (including in the area of competition and consumer protection law) in order to establish the extent to which service providers in participating member states are required to ensure the interoperability of service.
This task is carried out through the legal analysis of legislation, regulatory, self-regulatory and co-regulatory instruments and case law.
Participating research institutions:
University of Central Lancashire (coordinator)
Universita ta Malta
Copenhagen Business School
Universiteit Leiden
Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster
Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitaet Hannover
Universitatea Babes Bolyai
Asociatia Pentru Tehnologie si Internet
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Masarykova Univerzita
Queen's University Belfast
Uniwersytet Wroclawski
Universidad de Leon
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Laboratorio di Scienze della Cittadinanza
Universite Paris-Sud XI
Univerzita Komenskeho v Bratislave
Law and Internet Foundation
Visit the CONSENT website
En række nye innovative modeller for samarbejde mellem farmaceutiske virksomheder og universiteter udvikles i disse år i USA og en række europæiske lande. De nye samarbejdsmodeller skaber grundlaget for et tættere samarbejde på tværs af virksomheder og universiteter, med det mål at styrke innovationskraften. Intentionen er at skabe innovationsprocesser-der-giver-resultater baseret på udvikling af prækompetitive platforme via fælles co-lokaliserede samarbejder eller via samarbejde i forpligtende netværk. Såfremt de nye samarbejdsmodeller er eller bliver succesfulde, vil det skabe konkurrencefordele for de involverede virksomheder. Projektet vil analysere om udenlandske universitets-virksomhedsrelationer og samarbejdsmodeller giver en bedre mulighed for og incitament til innovation end nuværende danske modeller. På baggrund af analysen vil projektet udvikle nye og innovative modeller for samarbejde, som kan implementeres i en dansk kontekst. De nye innovative samarbejdsformer kræver endvidere udvikling af nye aftalekoncepter om deling af resultater mellem universiteter og virksomheder og dertil hørende incitamentsmodeller, som også udvikles i projektet.
Projektet er toårigt (2012-2013) og er delvist finansieret af Forsknings- og Innovationsstyrelsens Åbne Midler.
Projektdeltagere:
Copenhagen Business School, Juridisk Institut
Projektleder, lektor og ph.d. Christina D. Tvarnø
Bioneer
Forskningschef Lars. H Pedersen
Medicon Valley Alliance
CEO Stig Jørgsensen
H. Lundbeck A/S
VP of Research Peter Høngaard Andersen
Tectra
Enhedschef Jens Kindtler
Københavns Universitet, Det Farmaceutiske Fakultet
Dekan Sven Frøkær
Novo Nordisk A/S, Strategy and Sourcing
Director Kristian Tage Hansen
Formålet med projektet er at fastslå omfanget og rækkevidden af det i Danmark gældende forbud mod kønsdiskrimination ved adgang til varer og tjenesteydelser. Reglerne herom findes dels i regler vedtaget på EU- og folkeretligt niveau, dels i dansk lovgivning. På EU-niveau findes reglerne navnlig direktiv 113/2004/EF om ligebehandling af kvinder og mænd ved adgang til og levering af tjenesteydelser, i art. 21 i EU’s Charter om Grundlæggende Rettigheder, der har traktatrang, og i praksis fra EU-Domstolen. På folkeretligt niveau findes reglerne navnlig i art. 14 i Den europæiske Menneskerettighedskonvention og i CEDAW (FN’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women). I Danmark findes de centrale bestemmelser om emnet i ligestillingsloven.
Projektet udarbejdes af professor Ruth Nielsen
The project examines the extent to which it is possible to identify a coherent legal method (doctrine of the sources of law and their interpretation) that may be applied when analysing EU law and the law of EU Member States within the scope of application of EU law. It looks at what characterises the sources of law and the interpretation methods that are actually used by European legal actors, especially judges and researchers, when analysing what is valid law. It examines the changes in the relative importance of various sources of law that occur in connection with the integration of EU law into national law.
The basic thoughts in the prevailing legal theories in Europe (legal positivism, natural law theories and the institutional theory of law) date back to the time before the EU's creation and were conceived with a view to either national law or public international law. The project examines whether they can also explain the characteristics of EU law that differ from national law and public international law, in particular the pluralistic and flexible approach in EU law to sources of law and interpretation, the combination of an 'internal' (narrow legal dogmatic) and a broader 'external' (economic, sociological, etc.) perspective on law, and the relationship between law and politics including the judiciary's role in majority democracies (Britain and the Nordic countries) and constitutional democracies (the rest of Europe and probably the EU as such.
As part of the project, research conferences will be arranged. The first took place 19 November 2010 with the theme European Legal Method. A book from the project by Ulla Neergaard, Ruth Nielsen and Lynn Roseberry (eds.): European Legal Method - Paradoxes and Revitalisation, DJØF Publishing 2011 was published in April 2011, see the publication here.
The second conference within the project 'Towards a European Legal Method: Synthesis or Fragmentation' took place on 18 November 2011 with the theme European Legal Method(s) in a Multi-Layered Legal Order v. Multi-Level Governance . That conference resulted in the book Ulla Neergaard and Ruth Nielsen (eds.): European Legal Method – in a Multi-Level EU Legal Order, DJØF Publishing 2012. See the publication here.
The third conference within the project 'Towards a European Legal Method: Synthesis or Fragmentation' took place 23 November 2012 with the theme
European Legal Method – Towards a New European Legal Realism?
Research group
The project is a collective research project carried out from 2010-2012 by a research group which consists of:
CBS, Law Department
Professor dr.jur. Ruth Nielsen
University of Copenhagen
Professor & PhD Ulla Neergaard
Project secretary Trine Buch
Project description
General project description (pdf): Towards a European Legal Method: Synthesis or Fragmentation?
Sub‐project (pdf): Sub-project - European legal Method in Light of the currently prevailing legal Theories (Ruth Nielsen)
Sub‐project (pdf): Sub-project - Towards a European legal method in Eu anti-discrimination Law (Lynn Roseberry)
Sub‐project (pdf): Sub-project - Towards a European legal Method in Eu Market Law - Synthesis or Fragmentation (Ulla Neergaard)
The project has received a grant of DKK 1.9 million from the Danish Social Science Research Council. The Research group behind the project did the Blurring Boundaries project 2007-2009.
Fair Speak
The FairSpeak research group at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) develops tools and methods for analyzing the condensed information found on food labels and for relating it to the ability of different consumers to understand it.
Researchers specializing in language and cognition, knowledge management, consumer behavior, packaging design, marketing and marketing law join efforts in this innovative and interdisciplinary cooperation in order to formulate guidelines to help food manufacturers improve their communication with the consumers through fair food labelling.
The group’s first project on food names and claims “Spin or Fair Speak – when foods talk” (2007-2010) is financed by the Programme Commission on Food and Health under the Danish Council for Strategic Research.
The project targets consumers’ decoding of food names, claims and other immediate verbal and nonverbal design elements on the product packaging during in-store decision making, and the problem of cues and combinations of such which may potentially mislead consumers, in particular with regard to nutrition and health related information.
It aims at developing a new, shared frame of reference for authorities, companies, and consumer organisations to assess whether and how the immediate presentation of a given food product is likely to mislead consumers, while at the same time enhancing the knowledge base of the Danish food industry for creatively integrating the full communicative potential of foods in the development of new, tasty, and healthy products.
The initial empirical input is the corpus of cases on misleading food labelling processed by the Danish authorities. On this basis a typology of conflict scenarios will be established and matched against an integrated theoretical model of consumers’ decoding of a food product’s full semiotic potential in the buying situation. The model is formulated by integrating relevant theory and empirical finding from linguistic, perceptual, cognitive, and food sociological research. Subsequently, selected hypotheses and predictions on actual consumer interpretations and outcomes of design adjustments will be tested empirically by combining for the present purpose a number of empirical tools, including eye tracking, on- and offline interpretation of novel/creative word combinations, questionnaire-based mapping of inference drawing and changes in truth assignments, sensory tests, and qualitative post-shopping and focus group interviews.
Follow-up projects will apply the principles and methods identified by the Danish project to other markets, languages and cultures and develop them further possibly starting with a selection of some of the export markets relevant the Danish companies participating in the FairSpeak project
The FairSpeak Research Group at CBS:
Center for Language, Cognition and Mentality, Department of International Culture and Communication Studies, CBS
Associate Professor & Ph.D. Viktor Smith (add internal link)
Center for Language, Cognition and Mentality, Department of International Culture and Communication Studies, CBS
Associate Professor, MA Henrik Selsøe Sørensen,
Department of Marketing, CBS
Assistant Professor & Ph.D. Jesper Clement
Law Department, CBS
Professor Peter Møgelvang-Hansen
Law Department, CBS
Ph.D. Student Mette Ohm Søndergaard (add internal link)
Department of International Culture and Communication Studies, CBS
project coordinator & MA Francoise Qvistgaard
For further information visit the FairSpeak Project
EU-Asia Link
This research project will establish an EU-Asia inter-university network for teaching and research in public procurement regulation, which is in an embryonic stage or non-existent in the Asian developing countries, through human resource development, curriculum development and institutional development.
The project consists of the University of Nottingham in the UK and the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE), Xinjiang University in China and the University of Malaya.
Research team at the Law Department, Copenhagen Business School, connected to the Asia Link project:
Head of the Asia Link project at CBS, associate Professor & PhD, Christina D. Tvarnø (add internal link)
Professor & dr.jur Jens Fejø (add internal link)
Associate Professor & PhD Henrik Andersen (add internal link)
Associate Professor & PhD Grith Ølykke
Read more in the Asia Link Project Description (pdf) and/or visit the Asia Link website (link is currently missing).
Blurring Boundaries
The project "Blurring Boundaries: EU Law and the Danish Welfare State" is a legal, dogmatic analysis of the intersection of Danish law and EU law on the provision of welfare services with a view to examine how the integration of the Danish welfare state in the EU and its internal market manifests itself at a legal level, in particular, in the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and in emerging general principles of EU law.
As community law stands at present, there is an increasingly blurred line between state and market. On the one hand, there is a wave of liberalisation and privatisation, which is changing the traditional way of setting up welfare services. At the same time certain basic values and principles, e.g. non-discrimination, equality, social inclusion, and access to essential services are being pursued in the market place, elevating fundamental rights, values and principles from restrictions on state action to general principles of law binding for both the state and private actors on the market.
The term ‘blurring boundaries’ in the project title refers both to the increasingly blurred line between public and private law in regards to welfare services and to the blurring boundaries between EU law and national law on this subject. The main problem areas covered by the project are:
- Internal market law and welfare services
- Fundamental rights and non-discrimination law aspects
- Services of general interest within the meaning of Article 86(2) EC.
Conferences and books:
2007: Services Directive and its impact on the Welfare State.
2008: "The Lisbon Treaty - a Step Towards Integrating Welfare Functions into EU Law?".
2009: "The Role of the Courts in Developing a European Social Model - Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives". See the book related to the 2009 conference.
A Working Paper building on the results obtained in the Blurring Boundaries project is available at SSRN (Social Science Research Network).
Participating researchers:
Professor & PhD Ulla Neergaard
Associate professor & PhD, Lynn Roseberry
Professor, dr.jur. Ruth Nielsen
Associate Professor & PhD Grith Ølykke
The project has received a grant of DKK 2.8 million from the Danish Social Science Research Council for the period 2007 - 2009.
See
General project description
Subproject on Internal Market Law and Welfare Services (Ruth Nielsen + PhD-student)
Subproject Fundamental Rights and non-discrimination Law Aspects (Lynn Roseberry)
Subproject on Services of general Interest in the EU (Ulla Neergaard)
Finished PhD projects
Kathrine Søs Jacobsen works on a PhD thesis concerning the collaboration and relations between economic operators in the competition for public contracts. The thesis focuses on the intersection between the procurement rules and the competition rules, as well as the effects hereof.
Mark Ørberg is working on a PhD thesis on Danish foundations. The dissertation has focus on unwritten principles in foundation law as well as statutory foundation law and practice regarding purpose, governance and capital.
Rasmus Kamstrup Bogetoft’s PhD thesis investigates how Danish courts calculate damages in intellectual property matters. How does a court apply the counterfactual analysis where it must determine what would have happened if an infringement had not occurred? Does the legal approach lead to the same conclusions as would a theoretic economic analysis? If not, can this difference be justified - e.g. as a function of uncertainty regarding the presented evidence?
The thesis tests two hypothesis:
1) Courts’ analysis of counterfactual scenarios diverge from commonly accepted economic models, e.g. of pricing under imperfect competition.
2) This divergence is not caused by errors in the courts’ analysis per se, but rather by the courts applying a decision rule that on the one hand must contain different types of evidence with differing degrees of certainty and relevance, and on the other take into account the need for legitimacy and predictability in court rulings.
In doing so, the thesis applies both a legal-dogmatic and a legal-economic analysis of the current case law and the courts’ decision rules.
Louise Fjord Kjærsgaard is working on a PhD thesis on the classification of payments for certain digital products and services, including payments for blockchain technology, cloud computing and 3D printing, in international tax treaty law.
Henriette Schleimanns PhD project analyzes the possibility of more effective contracts in the maritime business which ought to create more collaboration between the parties, and thus, these will become more innovative. This is primarily in relation to cases where ship-owners retrofit. Currently, the ship-owners lack an understanding of the individual components, and as a consequence, they will choose the fastest and cheapest solution. However, the suppliers possess this knowledge and are able to differentiate the products from one another, but they do not succeed in conveying this differentiation to the ship-owners.
In connection with my thesis, there will be researched in partnering and the use hereof in relation to the maritime contracts. Results from e.g. the building industry or the medicinal industry show that partnering is optimizing both parties’ value, as they enter an actual collaboration, where both the risks and the profit are divided. This creates optimized projects. The aim is to attempt adapting the concept of partnering to the maritime business in order to enhance the collaboration between the parties, and thus make the parties share their knowledge, which will create more optimal contacts.
Jonatan Echebarria Fernández works in his PhD dissertation concerning contract negotiations broadly in the maritime industry context. The dissertation has specific focus on the role of the shipping firms and how they manage the legal and economic risks linked to the international carriage of goods by sea.
Sarah Maria Dentas P.h.D. thesis will review the Danish legislation relating to public private partnerships. The focus will be on the deposit rule (deponeringsreglen), principles of administrative law and tax law.
Vishv Priya Kohli is working on her PhD dissertation on Counterfeiting and its impact on global economy, and consumers’ health and safety. The dissertation has specific focus on the role of organized crime in counterfeiting and its consequences on Intellectual Property Rights, Competition and Innovation.
Kalle Rose is working on his PhD dissertation regarding industrial foundations. His approach is founded in Law and Economics with a specific focus on the interaction between personal preferences and regulations.
Cecilie Fanøe Andersens phD-thesis is within the field of state aid and public procurement. The thesis focuses on the interaction between state aid law and public procurement law and the interrelated area of the two. More particularly the thesis seeks to examine which rules apply in situations where public contracts are awarded directly without competition.
Gediminas Almantas is working on the research project: Ethics and morality in international business negotiation
The main aim of the research project is to analyze and explore the understanding, role and value of ethics and morality in international business negotiation. Hypothetically, the observance of ethics and morality in the negotiation process may boost the level of trust. A trustful environment enables the negotiators to discover and utilize hidden commercial value, including higher observance of commitments and increased performance. Different ethical and moral standards around the globe, based on cultural and religious principles, as well as historical background and maturity of the society encumber the negotiation process and reduce the negotiation's efficiency. Existing legal tools like the doctrine of culpa in contrahendo are very much nationally orientated and do not provide the needed solution. Other legal instruments on the international level are missing.
The research shall analyze whether soft law is the right solution for the existing problem, and if a self-regulation mechanism might be developed as a tool for the establishment of trust and increasing of efficiency in the negotiation process. The self-regulation mechanism concerned is expected to include an independent ranking system and shall operate on the platform of corporate codes of conduct. The academic analysis shall rely heavily on the theory of corporate social responsibility with emphasis of the role of the corporate code of conducts.
Inger Høedt-Rasmussen is working on the research project: Developing Identity within the Legal Profession
The work is based on the paradigm of constructivism and will include narrative theories. Narrative theories seem essential in search and understanding of the lawyer’s identity and the perception of identity. There is a relation between the perception of law as a moral idea and the constructed identity both of the profession and of the individual lawyer. Development and changes in the philosophy of law make changes in the curriculum necessary. It is a hypothesis that the development from a positivistic perception of law towards a reflective perception leads to requirements for new competences within the profession. The profession is formed and protected in a format that might limit development and innovation. Ruling the profession both nationally and internationally risk to exclude adaptations of new or different competences necessary to deal with challenges and complexities in a globalizing world. Which impact have these facts for the identity of the lawyer acting internationally and cross-cultural? The profession is in transition. The transition will affect the lawyers, who are in search for a value based individual identity, which includes happiness, accountability, democratic responsibility and satisfaction both in personal and in legal life. A holistic practice based on mindfulness might be the moderation of this relation leading to a revitalization of the legal profession.
Peter Koerver Schmidt is working on the research project: CFC-regimes in a Danish and an International Perspective. The aim of the PhD thesis is to analyze CFC-legislation from an international and comparative legal viewpoint.
Today many countries have adopted rules on CFC-taxation for the purpose of countering the use by taxpayers of companies domiciled in low tax jurisdictions that derive income not directly related to the exercise of commercial or industrial activities - passive income. Even though the aim of various countries' CFC-legislations are more or less the same - i.e. to curtail the abuse of companies established on an international level for the (sole) purpose of deferring/avoiding taxation - the rules have been designed in different ways. Depending on which type of CFC legislation the country has adopted the CFC rules entail various problems and challenges:
Problems of a legal and technical nature. Very often the CFC rules put in place tend to be highly complex and give rise to problems of interpretation. Further the rules can potentially lead to double taxation and therefore give rise to complicated problems on how to exempt.
Is the CFC legislation drafted in accordance with EC law? In its decision in Cadbury Schweppes (Case C-196/04) the ECJ held that CFC rules, as a general principle, constitute a restriction on the freedom of establishment within the meaning of Arts. 43 and 48 of the EC Treaty. Such rules can be justified, however, if they apply only to wholly artificial arrangements. Is the CFC legislation compatible with the tax treaties the country in question has entered into? In 2003 the commentary on Art. 1 of the OECD Model was altered and it now explicitly states that CFC legislation should be allowed between states that have concluded a tax treaty based on the OECD Model. However, it is not clear whether this statement in the commentary also applies to tax treaties concluded before 2003. Other problems related to applying CFC legislation appears when a country has made an observation or reservation on the commentary to the OECD Model or when the treaty in question is not based on the OECD Model.
The PhD thesis should among other things analyze the above mentioned problems from an international and comparative legal viewpoint and should result in statements de lege lata and de lege ferenda.
Mette Ohm Søndergaard is working on the research project: PhD in law on marketing and sale of food in Denmark
Mette Ohm Søndergaard's PhD is part of a cross-disciplinary project at CBS called FairSpeak 1. An overall purpose of the FairSpeak 1 project is to provide recommendations and guidelines for food labelling fairness including among others a shared frame of reference applicable to future cases of misleading advertising. The PhD project and corresponding thesis focuses on consumer protection and the Community rules regarding misleading advertising and presentation of food packages, with special focus on the names under which food products are sold to consumers.
The subject is important because the majority of decisions when buying food is made in-store causing consumers to rely mainly on information etc. given on the packages. In order for consumers to trust the information, for producers to provide truthful information and for the authorities to control the market an overview of how food packaging can be misleading is necessary.
One of the main objects of the PhD is to analyse and describe the scope of the prohibition against misleading advertising and presentation of food, with emphasis on the rules and case law concerning how to name food products.
The PhD looks closer at naming food products and the difficulties related to the governance structure, the conflicts arising between European legislation and national (Danish) interpretation and enforcement, and the difficulties this brings primarily to the protection of consumers but also to the completion of the internal market. Here, the preliminary hypothesis is that the general rules on free movement, the rules on labelling, e.g. language requirements, and case law besides forming a complex set of rules leave little "protection" to consumers in regards to generic food products.