The European Commission has decided to refer the Czech Republic, Spain, Cyprus, Poland and Portugal to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to designate and empower a national digital services coordinator and to lay down rules on penalties for infringements under the Digital Services Regulation [Regulation (EU) 2022/2065]. The Digital Services […]
CJEU: Stateless persons of Palestinian origin registered with UNRWA should in principle be granted refugee status
UNRWA’s assistance or protection must, in particular be considered to have ceased vis-à-vis the applicant when that body finds itself unable, for whatever reason, to ensure dignified living conditions or minimum security conditions to any stateless person of Palestinian origin, staying in the sector of UNRWA’s area of operations, in which the applicant had his […]
CJEU clarifies: the supervisory authority of a Member State may order the erasure of unlawfully processed data even in the absence of a prior request by the data subject
Such erasure may cover data collected from that person and data originating from another source. In 2020, the municipal administration of Újpest (Hungary) decided to provide financial support to persons who had been made vulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, it asked the Hungarian State Treasury and the government office of the fourth […]
Violence against women: the Court clarifies the conditions for qualifying for international protection
Women, as a whole, may be regarded as belonging to a social group, within the meaning of Directive 2011/95, and qualify for refugee status if the conditions laid down by that directive are satisfied. This will be the case where, in their country of origin, they are exposed, on account of their gender, to physical […]
CJEU: Public administration may prohibit the wearing of religious symbols by all its employees
Wearing of religious symbols in the workplace: a public administration may decide to prohibit all of its employees from wearing such signs. National courts examine whether the measures taken reconcile freedom of religion with the legitimate objectives underlying that prohibition. In order to put in place an entirely neutral administrative environment, a public administration may […]
The EU General Court upholds the EUIPO and concludes that the Batman logo is only DC Comics’ logo
For the relevant public, that distinctiveness makes it possible to associate, according to EUIPO, the goods covered by the trade mark with DC Comics and to distinguish them from those of other undertakings. On 1 April 1996, DC Comics, the publisher of Batman, filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for […]
CJEU declares the December 2019 reform of the Polish judicial system illegal.
Following the adoption, by Poland, on 20 December 2019, of a law amending the national rules relating to the organisation of the ordinary courts, the administrative courts and the Supreme Court (‘the amending law’), the European Commission brought an action for failure to fulfil obligations, asking the Court of Justice to declare that the regime […]
The CJEU concludes that purchasers of cars affected by “dieselgate” will be entitled to compensation.
The purchaser of a vehicle equipped with an unlawful defeat device has a right to compensation from the car manufacturer where that device has caused damage to that purchaser. The judgment of the Court of Justice in case C-100/21 deals with the liability of manufacturers of vehicles fitted with defeat devices. The proceedings are initiated […]
CJEU Judgment: UK Prestige arbitration cannot block Spanish ruling
By its judgment, the Court holds that Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that a judgment entered by a court of a Member State in the terms of an arbitral award cannot prevent, in that Member State, the recognition of a judgment given in another Member State where a judicial decision resulting in […]