The German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection is organizing the 5th European symposium on the comprehensibility of legal provisions.

This call for papers is aimed at those involved professionally in lawmaking, as well as people working in academia or in education and training with legal drafting or the teaching of law.

Contributions should examine the comprehensibility of legal provisions. They can include but are not limited to the following main topics:

  • Comprehensibility and legal drafting methods and instruments in the planning, development, and formulation of legal regulations (e.g., challenges and opportunities of digitalisation in formulating regulations, strategies for developing regulatory concepts and for the drafting of regulations)
  • Comprehensibility and practicability of legal regulations (e.g., simulation games, evaluations)
  • Comprehensibility and technical instruments for drafting legal regulations (e.g., terminology, references)
  • Comprehensibility and quality control in legislation
  • Comprehensibility from the point of view of various legal practitioners (e.g., authorities, judiciary)
  • Empirical studies related to the comprehensibility of law

Presentations may be given in German, English or French. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Proposals should be sent to EU-Symposium@bmjv.bund.de. This is also the contact address for further enquiries.

Deadline for submission of proposals is 30 June 2020.

Proposals for presentations should be accompanied by a PDF file containing a short abstract of maximum one A4 page. This should likewise include a provisional title, the name and contact details of the authors, and their institutional affiliation.

Travel expenses will be reimbursed for the participants chosen to speak at the event, in accordance with the German Federal Travelling Expenses Act.

Read more about the symposium here.

See the full call for papers here.