The Global Reach of EU Law

Abstract

This chapter explores the mechanisms that enable the EU to extend the global reach of its laws. These include extraterritoriality, territorial extension and the ‘Brussels Effect’. It offers multiple examples of territorial extension operating at different levels and considers the relationship between territorial extension and the Brussels Effect. The second part of the chapter includes a case study on territorial extension in EU environmental law. While it is increasingly accepted that the ‘effects’ doctrine may be invoked to regulate foreign conduct that entails significant effects at home, this chapter considers whether the concept of complicity may help to justify EU regulation that seeks to address environmental problems that are manifested outside the EU.