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International Research Projects
Comparative Perspectives on Platform Regulation in the EU and Korea
Key Facts:
With the recent adoption of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, the European Union is a global frontrunner in the dynamic field of platform regulation. Similar regulatory initiatives are currently under discussion in many other jurisdictions, including the Republic of Korea. In particular, the comparative analysis will focus on the following research questions: How and to what degree do regulators respond to platform power? What is the concept of platform power that serves as the basis for regulatory intervention? What legal and regulatory tools are used? How is the relationship between private and public enforcement? Are regulatory policies converging towards common characteristics? What are the factors determining divergences or convergences? The research group project will also examine to what extent the regulatory developments in the EU and Korea influence each other. In doing so, the project will consider various theoretical frameworks for regulatory globalization such as the “Brussels effect”, the concept of legal transplants and regulatory webs that facilitate formal and informal co-operation between institutions (e.g. European Commission, Korea Fair Trade Commission, Korea Legislation Research Institute, European Law Institute).
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch, Maître en Droit, University of Osnabrück (Co-ordinator)
Prof. Dr. Byung-Jun Lee, Korea University Seoul (Co-ordinator)
Prof. Dr. Jan Oster, LL.M. (Berkeley), University of Osnabrück
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hartmann, LL.M. (Virginia), University of Regensburg
Prof. Dr. Seung Pil Choi, Hankuk University Seoul
Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Franck, LL.M. (Yale), University of Mannheim
Prof. Dr. Won-Jae Hwang, Keimyung University Daegu
Prof. Dr. Shindong Jun, Gangneung-Wonju National University Gangneug
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Katharina Kaesling, LL.M. (Collège d’Europe), University of Dresden
Prof. Dr. Sang-Jung Kim, Korea University SeoulProject Term:
2023-2024
Project Funding:
The project is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Yale Information Society Project
Key Facts:
Professor Busch is an Affiliated Scholar at Yale ISP, an intellectual center at Yale Law School which brings together a community of interdisciplinary scholars who explore issues at the intersection of law, technology, and society.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch
Yale Law School, New Haven, USA
From Smart Technologies to Smart Consumer Laws:
Comparative Perspectives from Germany and the UK
Key Facts:
The comparative research project focuses on emerging issues of consumer law in the Internet of Things.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch, University of Osnabrück,
Prof. Dr. Guido Noto La Diega, University of Stirlin,
Prof. Dr. Christian Twigg-Flesner, University of Warwick,
Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider, University of BonnProject Term:
2022-2025
Project Funding:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Guiding Principles and Model Rules on Algorithmic Contracts
Key Facts:
The research project under the auspices of the European Law Institute (ELI) explores the impact of algorithmic decision making and automation on EU consumer and contract law.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch, University of Osnabrück,
Prof. Dr. Marie Jull Sorensen, Aalborg University,
Prof. Dr. Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballel, University Carlos III Madrid,
Prof. Dr. Dariuz Szostek, University of Katowice,
Prof. Dr. Christian Twigg-Flesner, University of WarwickProject Term:
2022-2025
Project Funding:
co-funded by the European
ChiP-NI - The Chinese "New Infrastructure" Project
The Examples of 5G and Smart Energy Transition between Structural Policy and Economic Stimulus Program
Key Facts:
In Germany, there is a lack of knowledge about the way in which China's national policies are implemented at the municipal and provincial levels. The ChiP-NI project aims to provide this knowledge by following the "funnel" of increasingly concrete lawmaking and law application across the three levels against the background of China's New Infrastructure Project. Using the two use cases of 5G and smart energy transition as examples, Professors Dr. (NTU) Georg Gesk and Dr. Bernd J. Hartmann, in collaboration with Chinese legal scholars, will tap into new Chinese sources of lawmaking through translation and place them in the cultural context of Chinese legal application practice.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Gesk, Center for International Research on Chinese Law and Economics (CIRCLE), Inhaber der Professur für chinesisches Recht, Universität Osnabrück,
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hartmannm, Project Management CHiP-NI, University of Regensburg
Prof. Dr. JIANG Huiyu (Anhui University of Finance and Economics),
Prof. Dr. SONG Yahui (Universität Nanjing),
Prof'in Dr. LA Sen (Beijing Technology and Business University)
Project Term:
01.10.2021 - 30.09.2024
Project Funding:
Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany
Model Rules on Online Platforms
The digital economy is increasingly shaped by online platforms serving as marketplaces where customers can buy goods or book services (eg Airbnb, Uber, Amazon). Their dynamics can be difficult to reconcile with the currently existing regulatory framework at EU level.
Key Facts:
The rise of online platforms is one of the fundamental economic and societal developments of recent years. The rapid growth of the ‘platform economy’ has triggered a debate over whether the regulatory framework has to be adjusted in order to adequately reflect the changing market structure. The ELI Project Team has drawn up a set of Model Rules that is meant as a contribution to the ongoing debate and provides a ‘visualisation’ of how a balanced approach could look, if regulatory action is considered necessary.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professors, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Busch, Rapporteur of the European Law Institute for Model Rules on Online Platforms.
Prof. Dr. Hans Schulte-Nölke, Rapporteur of the European Law Institute for Model Rules on Online Platforms.
See here for a list of other European institutions.
Project Term:
since 2015
Human rights risks and compliance under the new Supply Chain Sourcing Obligations Act
Key Facts:
The supply chain act seeks to improve international human rights situation by setting requirements for the responsible management of supply chains, with due diligence obligations graded according to the influence companies or branches can exert.
For more information about this project, please click here.
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Dr. Markus Lieberknecht (Harvard), University of Osnabrück,
Prof. Dr. Leonard Hübner, University of Augsburg,
Prof. Marc-Philippe Weller (Heidelberg),
Project Term:
2022/2023
Project Funding:
Schweizer Pro Bono KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund (CH)
Protection, cooperation, and creativity in the field of digital resources 数字资源法律保护协同创新
Key Facts:
The project's focuses on the "protection, cooperation, and creativity in the field of digital resources".
Participating Professors, Partner or Institute:
Prof. Dr. Georg Gesk (Osnabrück)
Anhui University, Guo Zhiyuan 郭志远
Project Term:
Joint project: 2021
Project Funding:
Chinese Project Finance
Comparative legal perspectives on the digitalization of law between creative freedom and normative protection
Key Facts:
It is interesting to follow what is received by the Chinese colleagues, how it is received and where questions arise. Only today a "long-term reaction": the lecture by Gesk, Verdacht und Wahrscheinlichkeit im Strafverfahren (lecture on 10.10.2023) preceded the publication SHI Pengpeng, Der "Generalverdacht" und seine Normierung ("普遍嫌疑 "及其规制, 中外法学，2024/01) by a quarter of a year. This is just one example of how the dialog between the UOS etc. and the AHU precedes the discussion of relevant topics in China.
Another focus is on the promotion of student discourse, in which Chinese and German students work on relevant topics in parallel and are then corrected by the Chinese and German sides
Participating Professor, Partner or Institutes:
Prof. Dr. (NTU) Georg Gesk
Prof. Dr. Arndt Sinn
Prof. Dr. Fryderyk Zoll
Prof. Dr. Viola Schmid (TU Darmstadt)
Prof. Dr. Axel Adrian (Universität Erlangen)
Dr. Chris Merkelbach (TU Darmstadt)
Project Term:
03/2023 - 12/2024
Project Funding:
Projektförderung durch das chinesische Forschungsministerium (Projekt-Nr: Z020222017)
