On 11 March, the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to transpose two Directives on VAT measures into national law. Council Directive (EU) 2020/285 introduced substantial changes to the VAT rules applicable to small businesses (SMEs). Its aim is to create a modern and […]
Commission refers Spain to CJEU for failure to comply with labor standards
The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to fully transpose the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions (Directive 2019/1152) into national law. EU rules require, for example, that workers receive timely and complete information on key aspects of their employment, such as […]
The Commission takes five countries to the CJEU for failing to comply with the Digital Services Regulation.
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 […]