Although still relatively new, the Collaborative Research Group for Maritime Law has already built an enviable reputation in the metropolitan region of North West Germany. It turns out specialized law graduates and carries out practice-oriented research in the fields of international maritime law and commercial law. The group recently won the NordWest Award 2014. This award has been granted since 2005 in recognition of outstanding efforts that leave a deep impression on community life and work activities in the North West region. Co-founder of the Collaborative Research Group, Prof. Gralf-Peter Calliess from the University of Bremen’s Law Faculty, commented:”This is a great way to show recognition for our work. It underscores the fact that the Collaborative Research Group makes a real contribution to regional cooperation in the area of teaching and research on maritime law, and the advancement of young researchers”.
The Collaborative Research Group was founded in 2012 as a joint project of the University of Bremen, Jacobs University, and the Bremen University of Applied Sciences. It is a not-for-profit organization under German law bearing the name „Verein zur Förderung von Forschung und Lehre auf den Gebieten des Maritimen Rechts in der Metropolregion Bremen-Oldenburg im Nordwesten e.V.“. At the same time another not-for-profit association was set up to raise funds. Its members comprise lawyers, freight forwarders, representatives of ship owning companies, regional chambers of commerce, and the “VIA BREMEN” network. The funds are administered by the universities and allocated on recommendations made by an expert panel of advisors. The Collaborative Research Group has set itself the medium-term aim of establishing the North West as Germany’s center of competence for all matters pertaining to maritime law.
Research projects on issue of martime law
“The networking of competences within the Collaborative Research Group constitutes an enormous advantage for the maritime industries and politics in our region”, stresses Calliess. A good example is the comprehensive expert opinion commissioned by the State of Bremen and compiled by Dr. TillMarkus and Dr. Andreas Maurer from the University of Bremen in cooperation with a local law firm. The study investigates the issue concerning who should be the beneficiary of corporation tax arising from the operations of offshore wind farms. The study triggered a discussion that very soon spread beyond the state boundaries to the federal level.
In another project started before the Collaborative Research Group came into existence and funded by the Ministry for Education and Research, Calliess and Maurer investigated the legal consequences of a US-American law requiring all sea containers destined for the USA to be scanned in their port of departure prior to being shipped. “These two large-scale research projects illustrate the importance of our work beyond the region itself. In addition to this we maintain close cooperation between the Law Faculty and the marine research units such as AWI, MARUM, and the GLOMAR Graduate School”, adds Dr. Andreas Maurer.
The Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Bremen, Prof. Friedhelm Hase, also expressed his appreciation: “This award for the Collaborative Research Group for Maritime Law is yet another important recognition of our strength in research. It follows the award of a prestigious Lichtenberg Professorship, and the granting of a junior research training group in the area of research on transnational environmental law. The Law Faculty is rapidly becoming an important regional actor. The Collaborative Research Group for Maritime Law constitutes a central networking node with our partner University of Oldenburg, the universities in Bremen, Bremerhaven and Elsfleth, and other research institutes in the region.”
You can obtain further information by contacting:
University of Bremen
Faculty of Law
Institute for Commercial Law
Prof.Dr. Gralf-Peter Calliess
Phone: +49 421-218-66207
email: g.calliessprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
and
Dr. Andreas Maurer
Phone: +49 421-218-66211
email: a.maurerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
www.handelsrecht.uni-bremen.de
