Working group The rule of domestic law: The role of EU member states in international trade in services Add to calendar 2026-06-15 14:00 2026-06-15 16:00 Europe/Rome The rule of domestic law: The role of EU member states in international trade in services Sala dei Levrieri Villa Salviati - Castle YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Jun 15 2026 14:00 - 16:00 CEST Sala dei Levrieri, Villa Salviati - Castle Organised by Department of Law The event features a discussion with Tine Deschuytere (NUS Centre for International Law) on her forthcoming article. In this event, Tine Deschuytere will present her article titled The Rule of Domestic Law: The Role of EU Member States in International Trade in Services which is forthcoming in the Common Market Law Review. The article builds on her doctoral thesis, which was recently awarded the first prize for Best Doctoral Thesis in European Law by ELFA (European Law Faculties Association). It argues that despite the growing importance of services, the continued involvement of EU Member States within EU trade policymaking for services remains insufficiently examined. The Commission v Hungary (Higher Education) case illustrated how Member States retain a decisive role in determining and implementing commitments for international trade in services, even within the Union’s exclusive competence for the Common Commercial Policy. This article examines how EU law structures this continued involvement in relation to the Union’s exclusive competence and how it shapes the operation of EU trade policymaking in services. It shows that the persistence of regulatory flexibilities and the lack of harmonisation continue to sustain Member State involvement. While the duty of cooperation enables the Union to act externally in areas where implementation remains nationally embedded, it cannot overcome the underlying structural constraints of trade regulation in services. EU trade policy in services thus operates under what may be described as a rule of domestic law: a framework in which the parameters of external liberalisation are defined by the contours of Member State regulation. Register