A word from the Director | IREA - Institut de recherches Europe Asie

IREA's main objectives are to :

Develop and federate academic exchanges (professors and students) with Asian countries and China in particular.
Promote individual and collective research by bringing together isolated researchers and developing cooperation with French and foreign organizations.
Organize conferences and training seminars for professionals to promote French legal and judicial know-how and systems, in partnership with professional circles.
To provide interdisciplinary teaching to enable French and foreign students to grasp current aspects of Euro-Asian relations.
Teach Chinese to French students of law, political science, economics and business administration.
Gathering documentation in French, English and Chinese in specialized fields and facilitating their use.
To promote publications in French and Chinese, notably through the IREA - Droit chinois collection published by PUAM.

The IREA was a host team (EA3244) until 2008, when it became a faculty institute of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Aix-Marseille.

Teaching activities

LLM in European Business Law - DESU Droit Européen des Affaires

Created in 1997, IREA manages this post-graduate diploma, mainly aimed at foreign students, with a predominance of Asian students (around 65% of each year's intake).

LLM courses and seminars are taught in English by professors and professionals from all over Europe.

Master 2 Chinese Business Law

Created in 2009, the Master 2 "Chinese Business Law" aims to train students primarily in Chinese law, but also in Chinese economics, society and language, to give them a multi-disciplinary vision of this environment and to provide them with the varied and complementary tools they need to enter the job market and approach the Chinese business world in its entirety. It is unique in France and has become a highly coveted diploma for students.

Teaching the Chinese language

Since 1998, IREA has been offering Aix-Marseille University students the opportunity to learn Chinese.

Short programs for IREA's international partners

IREA organizes tailor-made programs on themes proposed by its international partners. For example, since 2015, every year in Aix-en-Provence, at the request and expense of its Chinese partner China Law Society, IREA has organized a week of training seminars on French law and the French legal system, attended by high-level jurists (academics, prosecutors, judges or lawyers) from different provinces of China. In addition, a project to train 20 students from Sichuan University and SWUPL University in Chongqing is currently being finalized for the start of the 2025-2026 academic year. The aim is to offer a week's exposure to French and European law to students enrolled in a Chinese double degree in law and a foreign language. Depending on the partner's requirements, the program includes lectures on a specific topic and/or visits to institutions. For 15 years, IREA has been one of the main players in two Franco-Chinese intergovernmental programs to train Chinese magistrates in France.

Franco-Chinese intergovernmental program "100 Chinese magistrates in France" (2003-2013) and "50 Chinese prosecutors in France" (2014-2018)

Managed by the French Embassy in China, the Institut de Recherches Europe - Asie (IREA) is closely involved in the success of this program. Since 2003, over 100 Chinese magistrates (judges or prosecutors) have been welcomed to Aix-en-Provence each year. IREA is responsible for organizing the program in Aix-en-Provence. But the institute is also responsible for coordinating the supervision of the magistrates and the complete program of specific training (courses in legal French and study of comparative French/Chinese law, judicial procedures, supervision of court internships, supervision of individual research work and publications in France or China). A cultural program also aims to introduce them to French heritage and culture through targeted outings in the region (theater, concerts, etc.). Franco-Chinese intergovernmental program entitled "50 Chinese prosecutors in France" (2014-2018): This 50 prosecutors program was launched under the auspices of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China. Launched at the start of the 2014 academic year, it welcomes prosecutors who discover the French judicial system and take part in a cultural program. In November 2017, IREA welcomed the 4th class made up of 10 prosecutors from different Chinese regions.

Research activities

Since 2008, IREA's lecturers and doctoral students have been attached to the Centre d'Etudes Fiscales et Financières (CEFF) at the University of Aix-Marseille. IREA's research activities focus on the following areas:

First axis - Rule of law, justice and good governance: constitutional jurisdiction, constitutionality control in France and China, comparative studies of judicial procedures in France and China, freedom of access to government information, consecration of the principle of legal certainty in China, local authorities and their relations with central government, administrative litigation, etc.
Second axis - Comparative French-Chinese and Chinese-European tax and customs law: principles of tax law of constitutional value in France and China, sharing of tax power between local authorities and the State, taxation and sustainable development, financial autonomy of local authorities, reform of Chinese VAT based on the European model, suppression of tax fraud under Chinese law, taxation of mergers and acquisitions under European and Chinese law, combating tax evasion in China, Sino-European comparative study on the protection of intellectual property rights by customs law, customs and customs law in China, tax litigation, relations between tax authorities and taxpayers, taxpayer guarantees, tax management and the Internet, environmental tax, environmental taxation and its constitutional foundations, etc.
Third axis: Comparative business law: corporate merger control in Europe and China, corporate governance in France, China and Thailand, the application of competition law to the misuse of intellectual property rights in Europe, the United States and China, environmental barriers to international trade under the WTO - a comparative study between the United States, the European Union and China, the application of the anti-dumping agreement in the United States, the European Union and China, ...
Fourth axis: Foreign legal systems: the evolution of Chinese law, Chinese private international law, the sources of Chinese law, the generalization of social protection systems in China, the legal framework for foreign investment in China, the intellectual property obligations of Internet service providers in China, the legal status of employee invention, food safety in China, Chinese maritime law, etc. Thesis supervision: A total of 24 theses have been registered and supervised by the IREA team, of which 17 have been defended and 7 are in progress. To this must be added 6 theses co-supervised by an IREA member, of which 3 have been defended and 3 are in progress. Some of IREA's foreign doctoral students have been awarded excellence scholarships, either from the French government (Eiffel scholarships), or from the government of their country of origin. For French doctoral students, the Institute helps them apply for foreign mobility grants or foreign government scholarships.

Mr Banggui JIN Director, Institut de Recherches Europe-Asie