Outside Art. 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, EU non-discrimination law is characterized by a closed list of discrimination grounds as defined in the TFEU and in secondary law. The Court of Justice has held that this list cannot be expanded through case law. Accordingly, the meaning given to the relevant grounds (e.g. « sex », « sexual orientation », « ethnic origin ») is particularly important in practice. The lecture will focus on the meaning of discrimination grounds under EU law, in particular as defined through the case law of the Court of Justice. The lecture will also touch on the combination of grounds in the framework of multiple discrimination.

Professor Tobler is Professor of European Law at the Universities of Basel (Switzerland) and Leiden (the Neth- erlands). She has two research specialisations, namely 1) legal equality and discrimination, both in economic and in social law and 2) the complex legal relationship between Switzerland and the European Union, seen against the background of other external relation regimes of the European Union with non-member states, in particular in the form of association regimes. Professor Tobler is a member of the editorial board of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (www. sriel.ch) and a member of the executive committee of senior experts of the « European Equality Law Network. European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination » (www.equalitylaw.eu). She is also an enthusiastic Moot Court judge (regional level) for the European Law Moot Court Competition (www.europeanlawmootcourt.eu) and a co-founder of « The EU Law in Charts Project » (www.eurcharts.eu). The project aims at using visualization in legal teaching.

Date and place:
Wednesday, 26 October 2022, 17.15 – 18.45
Miséricorde, Room Jäggi (MIS 4112), Avenue de l’Europe 20, CH-1700 Fribourg

Contact: Institut für Europarecht, euroinstitut@unifr.ch