Law without Borders? Extraterritorial Regulation and Unilateral Action

In an increasingly multipolar world, national and regional actors are reasserting regulatory control over cross-border economic activities.

States such as the United States and China, as well as the European Union, are increasingly relying on unilateral measures with extraterritorial reach – particularly in areas such as sanctions, digital regulation, supply chains, competition law, and data protection.

At the same time, the multilateral order appears to be under strain: international organizations are being sidelined, agreements are terminated or ignored, and established norms are openly challenged.

To explore the implications of these developments for international (economic) law and the future of global economic cooperation, the German Society of International Law (DGIR) will host a conference in Munich on 11–12 June 2026.

The event, in German, is titled Recht ohne Grenzen? Extraterritoriale Regulierung und unilaterales Handeln (“Law without Borders? Extraterritorial Regulation and Unilateral Action”) and promises to provide a timely and critical forum for discussing the evolving role of extraterritorial  regulation and unilateralism in shaping the international legal order.

The first session will be about National (Regional) Law and Global Markets and will feature presentations by Moritz Renner (Mannheim)  and Rome Klimke (BSP Business and Law School Berlin) followed by a commentary by Andreas Ziegler (Lausanne). In the evening, Frank Hoffmeister (Brussels) will deliver a practitioner keynote on “The European Union as an Actor in International Economic Law,” followed by a reception.

The second session will deal with Economic Sanctions and International Conflicts. Presentations will be delivered Till Patrik Holterhus (Saarbrücken) and Markus Lieberknecht (Osnabrück) followed with a commentary by Tanja Domej (Zurich).

Registrations are open until 31 May 2026 via this link.

The conference is organized by Christian Walter (LMU Munich), Markus Krajewski (FAU Erlangen) and Giesela Rühl (Humboldt University of  Berlin).

Further questions may be directed at dgir-kurztagung-2026@jura.uni-muenchen.de.