GLOBALVALUE · Global Value Chain Law: Constituting Connectivity, Contracts and Corporations

Ongoing struggles over vaccine supplies forcefully illustrates the extent to which Global Value Chains (GVCs) serves as central infrastructures of the global economy and global society. While the COVID-19 pandemic might have been a revelation in this respect, the centrality of GVCs dates back to the dawn of colonialism. Both historically and in contemporary times, GVCs produces profound environmental and socio-economic externalities in jurisdictions often incapable of or unwilling to effectively regulate abhorrent working conditions and environmental degradation. Hence, the question of how to legally regulate cross-border economic processes including the capability of democratically organised political processes to effectively regulate GVCs is a central legal problem within fields such as competition, contract and corporate law as well as environmental, human rights and labour law.Until recently, voluntary soft law measures were the preferred regulatory tools in relation to GVCs. In the last few years, a decisive move towards hard national and EU regulation has however taken place thereby raising the question to what extent this changes the rules of the game. On the backdrop of this development, GLOBALVALUE develops a novel and systematic socio-legal approach to GVC Law. This is done in a threefold manner: Firstly, through a historical sociological reconstruction of GVC Law going back to colonial law countering the currently dominant ahistorical approaches to GVC Law. Secondly, through three comprehensive case studies in relation to the global pharmaceutical, wine and trade fairs industries. Spanning five continents and nine national jurisdictions the case studies will illuminate the effects of contemporary hard and soft law practices of GVC law. Thirdly, through the development of a new concise conceptuality of GVC law with direct implications for our understanding of core legal concepts such as contract, legal order and economic constitutionalism.