Feed aggregator

The CJEU held yesterday in Case C-296/16P Dextro Energy (text of judgment available in French and German only at the time of posting), an appeal against the General Court’s ruling in T-100/15. The General Court had declined to annul the European Commission Regulation which refused to authorise certain health claims made on foods, other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and to children’s development and health. Dextro Energy had wanted to include health claims such as  ‘glucose supports normal physical activity’ and ‘glucose contributes to normal muscle function’. The EC had refused: citing (in Regulation 1215/8)

‘Pursuant to Articles 6(1) and 13(1) of Regulation … No 1924/2006 health claims need to be based on generally accepted scientific evidence. Authorisation may also legitimately be withheld if health claims do not comply with other general and specific requirements of Regulation … No 1924/2006, even in the case of a favourable scientific assessment by [EFSA]. Health claims inconsistent with generally accepted nutrition and health principles should not be made. [EFSA] concluded that a cause and effect relationship has been established between the consumption of glucose and contribution to energy-yielding metabolism. However, the use of such a health claim would convey a conflicting and confusing message to consumers, because it would encourage consumption of sugars for which, on the basis of generally accepted scientific advance, national and international authorities inform the consumer that their intake should be reduced. Therefore, such a health claim does not comply with point (a) of the second paragraph of Article 3 of Regulation … No 1924/2006 which foresees that the use of claims should not be ambiguous or misleading. Furthermore, even if the concerned health claim was to be authorised only under specific conditions of use and/or accompanied by additional statements or warnings, it would not be sufficient to alleviate the confusion of the consumer, and consequently the claim should not be authorised.’

The General Court performed its standard review in the face of a wide discretionary room for manoeuvre for the EC, and decided the EC had not exceeded its authority in holding as it did – even in the face of more lenient EFSA recommendations. The Court of Justice has now entirely sided with the General Court. The Judgment is a good reminder of aforementioned standard test (no de novo or merits review; annulment in the event of manifest transgression of power or error in judgment only), and readers best refer to reading the judgment itself.

10One consideration however, I should like to highlight: Dextro Energy had suggested the health claims needed to be assessed in light of the target group (determined in the product’s advertising), which, it was suggested, were physically active people for whom consumption of the glucose tablets in question is not harmless. The Court rejected this approach: the population as a whole, for whom the product is available, are the group which the EC justifiably seeks to protect. The manufacturer’s target group is not the relevant group to consider (do bear in mind that this is a product which is widely available and not restricted in any way at points of sale):

At 76-77: si les allégations de santé en cause étaient autorisées, elles s’adresseraient à la population en général, pouvant ainsi encourager la consommation de sucres par les personnes autres que les hommes et les femmes bien entraînés. Dans ces conditions, le Tribunal n’a pas commis d’erreur de droit lorsqu’il a rejeté, au point 57 de l’arrêt attaqué, l’argument de Dextro Energy, selon lequel c’était le groupe cible qui importait aux fins de l’appréciation des allégations de santé en cause.

Geert.

 

 

La Commission européenne a approuvé, le 17 mai 2017, de nouvelles règles de simplifications relatives aux investissements publics, exemptant ainsi de son examen préalable, les mesures d’aides en faveur des aéroports, des ports, de la culture et des régions ultrapériphériques.

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Assurances

Bail commercial

Entrée en fonctions d’un nouveau Membre au Tribunal de l’Union européenne

Entrée en fonctions d’un nouveau Membreau Tribunal de l’Union européenne

King
Libre circulation des personnes
L’avocat général Tanchev considère qu’imposer à un travailleur de prendre un congé avant de pouvoir savoir s’il a droit à être rémunéré au titre de ce congé est incompatible avec le droit de l’Union

Dextro Energy / Commission
Environnement et consommateurs
La Cour confirme que plusieurs allégations de santé relatives au glucose ne peuvent pas être autorisées

A.S.
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
Dans les circonstances exceptionnelles de la crise des réfugiés, l’avocat général Sharpston considère que l’État membre dans lequel une demande de protection internationale a été introduite en premier est responsable de l’examen de cette demande

The Répertoire Dalloz has just published the voice “Droit international privé et droit de l’Union européenne” (in French), by J.S. Bergé, D. Porcheron and G. Vieira da Costa Cerqueira. Here is the English summary. The ToC is also available here.

The law of the European Union offers itself as a new legal context in which the constructions of private international law are now massively deployed. In addition to pre-existing national contexts and pre-established international or transnational environments, the European Union is likely to dramatically change the substance and conditions of the implementation of conflicts of laws. The changes brought about by the emergence of this new European legal reference framework are far from having delivered all their manifestations. The three generations of European law which have so far succeeded are not sufficient to shed light on all the areas of shadow left behind by the two major legal areas of the European Union, namely the internal market space and the area of ??freedom, security and justice. But the process is on the way, which suggests dialectical games which can reasonably be expected to be well established today.

These dialectical reports, at the first level, present a confrontation of the methods and solutions of private international law and the legal system of the European Union. A historical approach requires a distinction between the three major stages that marked the Europeanization of private international law. The question of the competence of the European Union to legislate in this area must also be asked. There remains the crucial question of methods: the irreducibility of the two subjects of European law and private international law suggests a cross-game of influence on one another. At the second level, the construction of private international law at a European level needs to be re-examined. The presence of a European judge and the European codification movement are likely to explain the transformations currently taking place.

Pourvoi c/ Cour d'appel de Pau, Chambre de l'application des peines, 7 décembre 2016

Another posting for the ‘comparative conflicts /dispute resolution’ binder. In order not to be found to have voluntary appeared (‘submitted to jurisdiction’), civil procedure rules worldwide require defendants to flag their opposition to jurisdiction early on in the proceedings. Indeed at the threshold of the litigation: in limine litis.

In EU law, the Court of Justice ruled in Elefanten Schuh that where civil procedure of the Member States requires a defence on the merits at the very earliest opportunity, such defence does not jeopardise objection to jurisdiction made at the same occasion. (Case-law now reflected in the wording of the Brussels I Regulation and its Recast successor).

There is as yet however no CJEU case-law on what level of interaction with the courts leads to submission.

In England, Zumaz Nigeria v First City [2016] EWCA Civ 567 recently held that application for disclosure does not entail submission: for one may need those very documents to contest jurisdiction.

Thank you RPC for now flagging Shenzhen CTS International Logistics Co Ltd v Dajiang International Investment Co Ltd. The court found that by applying to strike out the claim and seeking security for costs (to include the period after the hearing of the stay application), defendant had invoked the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts. As always of course the decision was based on factual merit which RPC’s David Smyth and Hannah Fletcher  summarise very well in the posting hyperlinked above.

Beware before you engage with the courts, if you do not wish to be seen as having submitted.

Geert.

(Handbook of) European Private international law, 2nd ed. 2016, Chapter 2, Heading 2.2.7.