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The EBS Law School in Wiesbaden, Germany, is looking for a highly skilled and motivated research fellow on a part-time basis (50%).

The position will entail research within the team of the Chair for Civil Law, Civil Procedure and Private International Law (Prof. Dr. Matthias Weller, Mag.rer.publ.) and within the EBS Research Center for Transnational Commercial Dispute Resolution (TCDR) on a number of new and ongoing projects focusing on Private International Law, Transnational Commercial Law and International Civil Litigation.

The position includes teaching and programme management for the “EBS Law Term” on Transnational Commercial Law, an intense academic programme in English from September to December each year for incoming international students from all over the world, mainly from the partner law faculties of the EBS Law School. For further information on this programme: http://www.ebs.edu/lawterm.

Requirements: 

• a university law degree (e.g. JD, preferably the German “Erste Juristische Prüfung”)
• qualifications or at least substantial interest in Private International Law and Transnational Commercial Law
• excellent English language skills

The position is limited to two years but can be prolonged. The work location is Wiesbaden, a city close to Frankfurt, Germany. The work involves 19,75 hours per week (50%). The payment is subject to negotiations with the University, depending on the level of qualifications, but will not be lower than the average payment for research fellows (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter) there. The faculty offers to obtain a doctoral degree on the basis of a thesis (Dissertation) if the faculty’s requirements for admission are met.

How to Apply:

Please send your application with reference to “ZRV_WiMi_Law Term” via email to antonella.nolten@ebs.edu. The application should include a cover letter, a CV containing, if applicable, list of publications and/or teaching evaluations and electronic copies of all relevant certificates. Please do not hesitate to contact Antonella Nolten in case of further questions.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

 

by Lukas Schmidt, Research Fellow at the Center for Transnational Commercial Dispute Resolution (TCDR) of the EBS Law School, Wiesbaden, Germany.

Claudia Pechstein, an internationally successful ice speed skater, claims damages against the International Skating Union (ISU) because of a two-year-suspension for doping. The essential question was whether an arbitration agreement signed by Pechstein is effective. This agreement includes amongst other things the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. Pechstein claimed that the arbitration agreement was invalid under § 19 GWB (German Antitrust Legislation) because the ISU (nationally and internationally only the ISU organizes competitions in ice speed skating) has abused its dominant position. Pechstein had to sign the arbitration agreement to be admitted to the competition. She claimed that the list of arbitrators of the CAS, from which the parties must each select an arbitrator, has not been prepared impartially because the sports federations and Olympic committees have a clear predominance in creating the list.

However, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) does not agree with these propositions. The Court, by its decision of 7 June 2016, docket no. KZR 6/15, ruled that the action is inadmissible because of the arbitration agreement. The Court held that the ISU is indeed dominant in the organization of international speed skating competitions, but has shown no abusive conduct because the associations and the athletes do not confront each other as guided by fundamentally conflicting interests. There was no structural imbalance in the composition of the tribunal ruling on Pechstein‘s  suspension. Furthermore, in the Court’s view,  Pechstein has signed the agreement voluntarily in the sense of Art. 19 GWB, even if she otherwise could not have participated in the contest. A consideration of the mutual interests justifies the application of the arbitration clause. However Pechstein is entitled to invoke the internationally competent Swiss courts following the arbitral procedure.

 

Affum
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
La « directive retour » s’oppose à ce qu’un ressortissant d’un pays non UE puisse, avant d’être soumis à la procédure de retour, être mis en prison au seul motif de son entrée irrégulière sur le territoire d’un État membre via une frontière intérieure de l’espace Schengen

Affum
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
La « directive retour » s’oppose à ce qu’un ressortissant d’un pays non UE puisse, avant d’être soumis à la procédure de retour, être mis en prison au seul motif de son entrée irrégulière sur le territoire d’un État membre via une frontière intérieure de l’espace Schengen

I contratti internazionali di agenzia e distribuzione dall’Europa all’Oriente è il titolo dell’incontro in programma il 23 giugno 2016 a Vicenza, promosso dalla locale sezione dell’Associazione Italiana Giovani Avvocati (AIGA) con il patrocinio dell’Ordine degli Avvocati di Vicenza.

L’incontro vedrà il susseguirsi di interventi in tema di liquidazione dell’indennità di fine rapporto nei contratti internazionali di agenzia e distribuzione nella giurisprudenza della Corte di giustizia (Silvia Petruzzino, Foro di Lugano), di agenzia e distribuzione in Vietnam e in Iran (Federico Vasoli, Foro di Milano) e di distribuzione e commercio elettronico in Cina (Roberto Luzi Crivellini, Foro di Verona).

Maggiori informazioni sull’incontro e sulle modalità d’iscrizione sono consultabili sulla locandina, qui disponibile.

Dans ce sixième rapport sur l’application de la Charte des droits fondamentaux, publié le 19 mai 2016, la Commission européenne dresse un état des lieux de l’application de la Charte tant par l’Union elle-même qu’au sein des Etats membres. 

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La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (CEDH) a jugé que la désignation, en 2011, de deux représentants français supplémentaires au Parlement européen par l’Assemblée nationale est conforme à la convention.

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La directive du 27 avril 2016 relative à l’utilisation des données des dossiers passagers, dite PNR, crée un cadre juridique pour le traitement des informations relatives aux passagers aériens. Ce texte, adopté dans un contexte où la lutte contre le terrorisme constitue un objectif essentiel pour les États, a suscité de nombreuses réticences, notamment d’eurodéputés pour qui l’outil PNR présente des risques sur le terrain des droits fondamentaux et des libertés publiques.

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Despite the fact that thousands of legal persons and personal relations are subject to Liechtenstein Private International Law, Liechtenstein law has retained some unique features.  Whether the unique features should be maintained, or provide the reasoning for a reform agenda, will be discussed at the 2nd Liechtenstein Conference on 30 June 2016 organised by the Propter Homines Chair for Banking and Securities Law at the University of Liechtenstein.

The presentations will deal with Liechtenstein international company, foundation and trust law,  conflicts of law relating to banks, prospectus liability and collectus investment schemes, as well as matters of succession and the potential of Liechtenstein as an arbitration venue. All presentations will be held in German.

Please find further information here.

In case of interests please contact: nadja.dobler@uni.li

Does Article 21 TEU on EU citisenship, facilitate one’s acquiring names bearing the tokens of nobility, acquired in one Member State (here: the flexible ‘deed poll’ regime available to citisens of the United Kingdom), for subsequent use in another Member State less keen on such (token or real) titles? In Case C-438/14 Bogendorff the CJEU held that it does not.

Applicant at issue had acquired UK nationality over and above German nationality (which he held by birth). Subsequent adoption but especially vanity had led to a change in first name and surname by deed poll, a very flexible name change regime available to UK citisens. German authorities however refused to recognise the name change upon the occasion of registration of applicant’s daughter, citing public order considerations in particular Germany’s long-standing objection against aristocratic titles, real or vanity, so as to emphasise equality before the law.  The court’s approach on free movement and names in my view has taken a better turn since Vardyn, Case C-391/09, where it left its insistence that only copy /paste recognition of names by authorities in other Member States can safeguard citisens free movement rights.

In the case of aristocratic titles, however, the court has always recognised in particular Austria’s and Germany’s right to extend domestic policies to incoming citisens, on the basis of public policy considerations. Current case differs from Sayn-Wittgenstein, C‑208/09. The latter concerned Austrian law, which has a strict prohibition on the use and transmission of titles of nobility. Under German law by contrast all privileges and inequalities connected with birth or position have been abolished in Germany. Titles of nobility which were actually borne when the Weimar Constitution entered into force may continue as elements of a name and may be transmitted as a fact of personal status. The creation of new titles of nobility and the grant of such titles are prohibited.

Hence for Germany to refuse to recognise such titles where they have been accidentally obtained abroad (by birth, marriage or adoption) would run counter EU citisenhip. By contrast, it would run counter to the intention of the German legislature for German nationals, using the law of another Member State, to adopt afresh abolished titles of nobility. Systematic recognition of changes of name such as that at issue in the main proceedings could lead to that result.

Name dropping undoubtedly will continue. Name shopping has been halted.

Geert.

 

Le droit interne applicable au litige relatif à un produit mis en circulation après le 30 juillet 1988, date d’expiration du délai de transposition de la directive 85/374/CEE du Conseil du 25 juillet 1985 relative à la responsabilité du fait des produits défectueux, et avant la date d’entrée en vigueur de la loi n° 98-389 du 19 mai 1998 transposant en droit français cette directive, doit être interprété à la lumière de cette dernière.

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« Le justiciable, qui se voit opposer le caractère absolu de l’immunité d’exécution d’une organisation internationale, dispose, par la mise en œuvre de la responsabilité de l’État, d’une voie de droit propre à rendre effectif son droit d’accès à un tribunal ».

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Con un decreto depositato il 17 maggio 2016, il Tribunale per i minorenni di Bologna si è pronunciato sul riconoscimento di una sentenza di adozione emessa negli Stati Uniti con la quale era stata disposta l’adozione piena di una minore, cittadina americana, in favore della moglie della madre biologica.

Nel novembre del 2014, lo stesso Tribunale aveva sollevato una questione di legittimità costituzionale degli articoli 35 e 36 della legge 4 maggio 1983, n. 184, in materia di adozione, nella parte in cui non consentono al giudice di valutare, nel caso concreto, se risponda all’interesse del minore adottato all’estero il riconoscimento della sentenza straniera che abbia pronunciato la sua adozione da parte del coniuge del genitore, a prescindere dal fatto che il matrimonio abbia prodotto effetti in Italia (in proposito si veda questo post).

La Corte costituzionale, con sentenza n. 76 del 7 aprile 2016, aveva dichiarato inammissibile la questione. I giudici costituzionali hanno preso le mosse dalla ricostruzione dell’art. 41 della legge 31 maggio 1995 n. 218, di riforma del sistema italiano di diritto internazionale privato, che prevede due diversi procedimenti per il riconoscimento di provvedimenti stranieri in materia di adozione. Accanto al riconoscimento “automatico” contemplato attraverso il richiamo agli articoli 64, 65 e 66 della stessa legge, la norma stabilisce, al secondo comma, che “restano ferme le disposizioni delle leggi speciali in materia di adozione dei minori”, ossia gli articoli 35 e 36 della legge 184/1983.  Secondo la Corte “l’applicazione della legislazione speciale in materia di riconoscimento della sentenza di adozione internazionale di minori – che richiede un previo vaglio giudiziale, ad opera del Tribunale per i minorenni – non può che escludere il contemporaneo rinvio alle disposizioni ordinarie sul riconoscimento ‘automatico’ dei provvedimenti stranieri”.

In virtù di tali rilievi, il Tribunale per i minorenni di Bologna – escludendo l’applicabilità della procedura di riconoscimento di cui all’art. 36, comma 4, della legge n. 184/1983 (che estende il controllo giudiziale del minore ad una particolare ipotesi di adozione di minori stranieri in stato di abbandono da parte di cittadini italiani), poiché al momento dell’adozione tanto la ricorrente quanto la minore erano cittadine americane – ha considerato che il provvedimento straniero dovesse essere sottoposto a riconoscimento automatico mediante trascrizione a cura dell’ufficiale di stato civile. Il Tribunale, evidenziando tuttavia che la Consulta ha disatteso il rilievo in merito alla cittadinanza (anche) italiana della ricorrente al momento della domanda, ha escluso la propria potestas decidendi non sussistendo i presupposti di cui all’art. 41, comma 2, della legge n. 218/95 per derogare alla competenza della Corte d’appello con riguardo al riconoscimento di provvedimenti stranieri e, di conseguenza, ha dichiarato l’inammissibilità della domanda.

Affinché la ricorrente possa poi “conseguire il risultato sperato”, il Tribunale ha infine suggerito di trarre spunto da un caso analogo a quello di specie e giunto dinanzi alla Corte d’appello di Milano (la decisione è consultabile qui).

Si ringrazia l’avv. Claudio Pezzi per la segnalazione.

The new 2007 Lugano Convention, establishing parallelism with the Brussels I Regulation (Reg. 44/2001), had just entered into force in Switzerland in 2010 when it faced a new challenge in the form of the Recast Regulation (Reg. 1215/2012). Therefore, in 2014, CIVPRO (University of Bern), CCR (University of Luzern) and the Swiss Institute for Comparative Law (Lausanne) invited professors, researchers, civil officers and practitioners from all over Europe to discuss the future of European civil procedure with a special focus on Lugano and third states. Alexander Markus (Bern), Andreas Furrer (Luzern) and Ilaria Pretelli (Lausanne) have now published the (English/German) volume containing the keynote speeches and the subsequent contributions to this conference as well as the reports on the discussion in the various panels. This book presents and analyzes the past, the present and the alternative conceivable futures of the Lugano model of a “parallel” convention. For further information, click here.