How does the European Union (EU) regulate transnational economic conduct in environmentally and ethically sensitive areas? We will look into risk management and due diligence, "classical" instruments from the field of business administration. They are increasingly used as instruments of regulation as well. The subject matters we will look into are as varied as timber imports, "blood" diamonds, conflict minerals (forced mining), genetic resources, medical products, data protection and emissions of large vessels.

The seminar will be of a roundtable style (meaning we will more or less sit around a table/tables together). The idea is that we engage in research-based learning together, so that you may find a topic that you like as early as possible. That will save you valuable time towards the end of the semester. There will be a course reader with collected materials. We will have journal clubs. But we will also work on how you can built a "search strategy" of your own (identifying keywords, using Google Scholar, assessing grey literature, mining databases etc.). 50% will be course based work, the other 50% will be self-study.