Skarp
Understanding the EU’s New Legislative Framework
This course explains how the EU’s New Legislative Framework structures modern EU law-making and enforcement, especially for products and digital technologies. You will learn the core building blocks (like regulations, directives, CE marking, and standards) and see how they are applied in current flagship laws such as the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, and AI Act.
Course Content
10 modules · 2h 20m total
Module 1 – How EU Law is Made: The Big Picture
Introduces the EU’s main institutions and the ordinary legislative procedure, so you can place the New Legislative Framework within the broader EU law‑making system.
Module 2 – The New Legislative Framework (NLF) for Products
Explains what the New Legislative Framework is, why it was adopted in 2008, and how it underpins modern EU product legislation and the internal market for goods.
Module 3 – CE Marking, Standards, and Market Surveillance
Dives into the practical mechanics of the NLF: how harmonised standards, conformity assessment, CE marking, and market surveillance work together.
Module 4 – Horizontal vs Sector-Specific EU Legislation
Shows how the NLF serves as a horizontal toolbox that is reused in many sectoral laws, and introduces the idea of alignment of product legislation to NLF reference provisions.
Module 5 – The Digital Rulebook: DSA, DMA, and Beyond
Introduces the EU’s modern digital legislative framework and how it sits alongside the NLF: the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, and related digital strategy.
Module 6 – The AI Act: Risk-Based Regulation in Practice
Explains the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act as a flagship example of a new legislative framework for a technology area, including its risk-based structure and phased application.
Module 7 – Cyber Resilience, Financial Resilience, and Interoperable Public Services
Covers three major sectoral regulations that build on or interact with the NLF-style framework: the Cyber Resilience Act, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), and the Interoperable Europe Act.
Module 8 – Tax and Data in the Digital Age: ViDA and Data-Heavy Rules
Explores how the EU is updating its tax and data frameworks to the digital era, focusing on the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package and its long implementation horizon.
Module 9 – Enforcement, Supervision, and Market Surveillance in the EU
Looks at how EU rules are enforced in practice: the role of national authorities, EU agencies, and coordinated enforcement mechanisms for both products and digital services.
Module 10 – Current Trends and Future Directions: Simplification and New Proposals
Concludes with an overview of ongoing reforms and debates, including efforts to simplify overlapping tech regulations, the proposed ‘Digital Omnibus’ adjustments, and the emerging Digital Fairness Act.
Read the Textbook
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In this first module, you zoom out and see **how EU law is made overall**, so later you can understand where the **New Legislative Framework (NLF)** fits.
By the end, you should be able to: - Describe the roles of the **European Commission**, **European Parliament**, and **Council of the EU** in making laws. - Distinguish, in simple terms, between **regulations**, **directives**, **decisions**, and **secondary acts** (delegated and implementing acts).
**Big picture:** - The EU makes rules that apply across 27 Member States. - Most product‑related laws (including NLF legislation like the **Market Surveillance Regulation (EU) 2019/1020**) are made using the **ordinary legislative procedure**. - Understanding this procedure helps you see **who decided what**, and **how detailed rules under the NLF are created and updated**.