RESEARCH
LPL EDITIONS
RESEARCH ACADEMY
HAPPENING
RESEARCH
Administrative Law
Energy Law in a global regulatory environment
Responsible Researchers:
Lourenço Vilhena de Freitas
Lourenço Vilhena de Freitas
Financing:
UIDB/04310/2020
UIDB/04310/2020
Project Status:
Closed
Closed
Summary
The main themes studied in this project have not yet been the subject of an integrated scientific approach. Although the political demands regarding the reform of the energy legal framework in Europe and Portugal are clear, the legal framework and limits to these changes as well as the social and economic impact of these measures have not yet merited an adequate study, requiring reflection on the constitutional and European limits to the measures adopted.
On the other hand, the influence of Portuguese Energy Law in Portuguese-speaking countries has not yet been the subject of a thorough study, although there are several traces of this influence in recent changes to the gas regime in Brazil, and in previous Portuguese legislation in the regimes currently in force in Mozambique and Angola, etc. The project will analyze the principles common to Portuguese-speaking countries and try to identify aspects of influence on similar institutes.
This study, particularly in the first aspect, is relevant for Portuguese civil society in a crisis context. In effect, the aforementioned study allows us to verify the need, scope and effectiveness of the measures proposed by the Troika and the measures actually adopted, their consequences on society and the economy and alternatives in the light of other experiences of comparative law.
The expected results, as explained above, involve the holding and publication of conferences, the writing of a general report by project members and the use of conference results by project authors, and the dissemination and use of research results in the course of postgraduate degree in energy law.
It is also planned to create, through the Observatory, an international network in the area of energy that links foreign scientific institutions, similar institutes and research centers, sector associations and in which European and national public decision-makers participate.
Objectives
The project aims to promote the study of Energy Law and seeks to pursue the following objectives:
1) The systematic study of Energy Law within the framework of Public Law, but without neglecting an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing, on the one hand, on recent changes imposed by the European Union or induced by the troika in the sector and, on the other hand, on the influence of Portuguese Energy Law in other countries;
2) Help to understand the changes recently introduced with a view to liberalization and the reduction of State subsidies in terms of prices, the impact of these changes on society and on different levels of governance, the globalization of Energy Law and the effect of “ spill over” of changes to Portuguese Law and their influence on Portuguese-speaking countries and the formation of a corpus of Portuguese-speaking energy law.
At a more concrete level, the project has the following specific objectives:
a) Organization of two conferences. One of the conferences will focus on Energy Law in the context of the sovereign debt crisis and the reforms demanded by the troika and the other conference will focus on Energy Law in Portuguese-speaking countries and the influence of Portuguese Administrative Law on these regimes;
b) Individual and collective publications. Ensure regular participation in academic and scientific articles and collective works (including e-books) relating to Energy Law, up to a total of eight articles per year (books, if this modality is adopted, will tend to be published on an annual basis);
c) The organization of a semi-annual postgraduate course in cooperation with the Institute of Political Legal Sciences of the University of Lisbon;
d) The organization of a Permanent Observatory of evolutionary trends in Public Energy Law, with the participation of specialists linked to the European Commission, the Portuguese State (through the DGEG), foreign professors to better understand experiences in the sector, to associations of companies in the sector (namely APREN) which will frame the participation of the respective company managers in the activities of the observatory, and of academics and professionals linked to this topic from a legal perspective, as well as professors from the Instituto Superior Técnico and the University of Porto linked to electrical engineering and the energy sector.
