The European Union experience of extraterritoriality: when a (willing) victim has become a (soft) perpetrator

Régis Bismuth (1)

1 EdD - École de Droit de Sciences Po (Sciences Po)

When it had to deal with the extraterritoriality of others or to circumscribe or justify the jurisdictional limits of its laws, the European Union has often cloaked itself in the flag of international legality and has underlined the duty to comply with principles of State jurisdiction under international law. A closer analysis of the EU experience of extraterritoriality nonetheless shows a hiatus between the EU legal discourse and its practice. Indeed, the EU has tended to accommodate the extraterritorial pretentions of other states and has also tended to justify its own extraterritorial practices, mostly on the basis of an extensive understanding of the territorial principle. More broadly, this chapter also highlights not only the blurring distinction between extraterritoriality and territoriality but also the more liberal stance the EU has adopted over the last years as regards connecting factors justifying the application of its laws.

Keywords: extraterritoriality; European Union; Brussels Effect; territorial extension; territorial principle; EU extraterritoriality; jurisdiction to prescribe; connecting factors; customary international law; discourse on extraterritoriality

Domains: Law

Régis Bismuth. The European Union experience of extraterritoriality: when a (willing) victim has become a (soft) perpetrator. Research Handbook on Extraterritoriality in International Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.118-132, 2023, ⟨10.4337/9781800885592.00015⟩. ⟨hal-04314524⟩