Through its extensive legislative activity, the European Union has played a decisive role in the development of private law both in the Member States of the European Union and in Switzerland in recent decades. The first part of the course is dedicated to the relevant primary law. EU primary law primarily binds only the Member States and the Union institutions. However, the relevant provisions can also directly establish rights and obligations vis-à-vis individual EU citizens and thus have an impact on legal relationships under private law. 

In the second part of the course, the most important areas of EU private law regulated by EU secondary law are dealt with in an overview. These lessons will include provisions of Swiss law that correspond to EU law in terms of content, which have been adopted by means of “autonomous implementation” or on the basis of bilateral agreements. Account will also be taken of the fact that the Swiss Federal Court generally interprets corresponding provisions of Swiss law in conformity with European law. This practice raises numerous questions that may be relevant to students' later professional practice.