Learning objectives
The food sector is a very complex environment, where public and private law meet and interact. The teaching unit will provide students with a set of knowledge, abilities and competences with regards to such an interaction, players, unbalances, and element to be considered when dealing with contractual relationships along the food chain.
The module will allow students to gain knowledge and understanding of:
• the main features of private food law, in comparison with public food law;
• the interactions along the whole food chain;
• balances and unbalances due to different bargaining powers and roles;
• tools offered by the EU and national law to rebalance different positions;
• characteristics and clauses of food chain contracts;
• interaction between public and private standards and their impact on food chain contracts;
• consequences for breaches of obligations in food chain contracts.
At the end of the unit, students will have the ability to:
• Find appropriate legal tools (acts, documents and caselaw) relevant to the food chain and its contracts;
• Analyse a number of contracts in the food sector, at different levels;
• Identify weak or problematic clauses in contracts in the food sector;
• Identify the best solutions to draft agreements between parties, according to the relevant food chain stage;
• Identify responsibilities and liabilities deriving from the implementation of contracts in the food chain;
Identify and apply the best enforcement solutions for food-chain contracts.
Prerequisites
Students who do not have prior knowledge of private law are invited to contact the teacher in advance.
Course unit content
The unit will provide an overview of the private law profiles of the agrifood chains and of contractual relationships, “from farm to fork”, focusing on the following topics:
• Fundamentals of private food law and general principles of italian private law;
• Relationships and interaction along the food chain: professionals and consumers;
• the concept of consumer;
• Contract types in the food chain;
• Peculiar contracts: agrifood chain agreements and district agreements;
• Consumers’ contracts;
• Distance selling: catalogues, mail, websites and app;
• The main elements and most common terms of agrifood contracts;
• The main rights and obligations under contracts along the food chain;
• Contractual guarantees;
• Liability for defective products;
• Food donation;
• Unfair trading practices in business-to-consumer relationships in the food supply chain: misleading and aggressive practices;
• Unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain (EU Directive and national implementation).
Full programme
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Bibliography
Relevant acts and documents (students will learn where and how to find them); materials made available in the platform. Provided documents have a merely supplementary purpose which will not be enough to acquire a complete preparation for the exam, unless it is accompanied by the participation to lectures or study of legal texts and case law. For example:
Luigi Costato, Ferdinando Albisinni (eds.), European and Global Food Law, Wolters Kluwer, 2016 (or the incoming 2024 edition, as soon it's available), only chapters on:
Competition Law and European Agricultural and Food Law
Consumer Protection
Responsibilities of Food Business Operators
Liability for Defective Food Products.
Bernd van der Meulen (ed.), Private food law. Governing food chains through contract law, self-regulation, private standards, audits and certification schemes, Wageningen Academic Publishers, available online https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/epdf/10.3920/978-90-8686-730-1 ?role=tab, only chapters 1 and 2.
Teaching methods
This course will require an active attendance by students. Discussion of case laws and contractual clauses will be frequent as well legal clinics including, but not limited to, the practical work of students on real cases and social issues supervised by academics and professionals. The innovative approach of the course will also involve “flipped class” that means pre-class work (independent study, textbook readings and reflective questionnaires will be therefore required) followed by interactive workshop. This approach has the aim to promote the active student participation in legal problem-solving activities within small groups. These educational activities aim to develop professional attitudes and foster the growth of the practical skills of students.
Assessment methods and criteria
The final exam will be written. Partial tests may be taken during the course. The exam assesses the knowledge of the topics of the course while verifying the ability to connect different subjects and to use adequate legal language with regards to the issued content.
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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