Flux européens

Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
Selon l’avocat général Pikamäe, le droit de l’Union s’oppose à ce qu’un État membre déclare automatiquement irrecevable une demande de protection internationale lorsque son auteur bénéficie déjà du statut de réfugié octroyé dans un autre État membre

CHEP Equipment Pooling BV v ITS Ltd & Ors [2021] EWHC 2485 (Comm) concerns in the main when a claim between two parties who are in a relation of employment, ‘relates to’ that employment contract. (In the case concerned, leading to lack of jurisdiction against one of the defendants).

At issue is whether 3 former senior employees had essentially defrauded claimant by negotiating on its behalf, price-inflated audit and supply agreements with corporations which those employees (in)directly owned and /or controlled. Causes of action are breach of fiduciary duty; dishonest assistance of the breaches of fiduciary duty by the other former employees; and unlawful means conspiracy.

Whether any of these claims engage A22 jurisdiction needs to be assessed viz each claim separately: [44]: Cuneo Resources NV and others v Daskalakis and others [2019] EWHC 87 (Comm).  Among others Bosworth was discussed in the subsequent analysis. After reviewing ia the employment history of defendant with the claimant, and the bond between the alleged dishonesty and the employment contract,  Jacobs J concludes [107]

the claims relate to Mr de Laender’s contract of employment, and also …the connection between Mr de Laender’s contract and the conduct relied upon is material. It cannot be described as tenuous, or a small part of the picture, or simply part of the history. I also consider that the legal basis of the claims can reasonably be regarded as a breach of his contract, so that it is indispensable to consider the contract in order to resolve the matters in dispute.

Obiter the judge reviews locus delicti commissi and locus damni under A7(2). For Handlungsort, Jacobs J holds that the claimant has the better of the argument that that is located in England: particularly seeing as the main alleged conspirator was domiciled in England at the time the various strands of the action materialised. For locus damni – Erfolgort, the conclusion [133] is one of Mozaik per Shevill, particularly in view of a corporate reorganisation (incl a move to England) which occurred midway through the conspiracy.

Geert.

CHEP Equipment Pooling BV v ITS [2021] EWHC 2485 (Comm)
Jurisdiction challenge succeeds on basis of A22 Brussels Ia's employment section
Whether claim 'relates to' contract of employment
E&W obiter held to be locus delicti commissi and locus damni, A7(2)https://t.co/nccwSBrOQE

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 10, 2021

Front Polisario / Conseil
Relations extérieures
Le Tribunal annule les décisions du Conseil relatives, d’une part, à l’accord entre l’UE et le Maroc modifiant les préférences tarifaires accordées par l’UE aux produits d’origine marocaine ainsi que, d’autre part, à leur accord de partenariat dans le domaine de la pêche durable

NEC Corporation / Commission,Nichicon Corporation/Commission,Tokin/Commission,Rubycon et Rubycon Holdings/Commission, Nippon Chemi-Con Corporation/Commission
Concurrence
Le Tribunal maintient les amendes infligées par la Commission à plusieurs entreprises en raison de leur participation à une entente sur le marché des condensateurs électrolytiques à l’aluminium et au tantale

Kočner / Europol
Principes du droit communautaire
Le Tribunal rejette le recours introduit par M. M. Kočner contre Europol dans le contexte de l’enquête sur le meurtre du journaliste M. J. Kuciak et de sa fiancée Mme M. Kušnírová

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

GSMB Invest,Volkswagen, Porsche Inter Auto et Volkswagen
Rapprochement des législations
Selon l’avocat général Rantos, l’installation d’un logiciel intégré modifiant, en fonction de la température extérieure et de l’altitude, le niveau des émissions des gaz polluants des véhicules est contraire au droit de l’Union et un tel véhicule n’est pas conforme au contrat de vente, au sens de la directive 1999/44

DEI / Commission
Aide d'État
Le Tribunal annule les décisions par lesquelles la Commission a constaté qu’une sentence arbitrale fixant un tarif d’électricité prétendument préférentiel ne comportait pas l’octroi d’un avantage au producteur d’aluminium Mytilinaios

Altice Europe / Commission
Concurrence
Le Tribunal rejette le recours d’Altice Europe contre la décision de la Commission par laquelle lui ont été imposées deux amendes d’un montant total de 124,5 millions d’euros dans le cadre de l’acquisition de PT Portugal

Advocate General Rantos opined two weeks ago in C-581/20 Skarb Państwa Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej reprezentowany przez Generalnego Dyrektora Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad v TOTO SpA – Costruzioni Generali et al. – I propose we shorthand the case as ‘TOTO’.

Following public procurement, the Polish treasury granted the works for the construction of a stretch of motorway to an Italian consortium. In the contract, choice of court is made for Poland. The necessary guarantees eg for payment of fines in the event of late completion, were underwritten by a Bulgarian insurance company, whose guarantee is subject to Polish law. The consortium  to no avail sought negative declaratory relief (with a view to obtaining a finding that no fines are due under the contract) and injunctive relief (with a view to prohibiting the Polish authorities from exercising the guarantee) with the Polish court with substance matter jurisdiction. However it subsequently secured the injunctive relief from a Bulgarian court with Article 35 Brussels Ia provisional measures jurisdiction. This relief expressed itself inter alia in custodial attachment of the guarantees which the Polish authorities had sought to exercise with a European Order for Payment form. That Bulgarian relief is now before the Bulgarian Supreme Court.

The questions before the court are  whether the provisional measures can at all be ordered under the A35 gateway given that they might concern acta iure imperii and not civil and commercial matters; and if the matter is within the scope of BIa, whether the A35 court may still order such measures if the court with subject-matter jurisdiction has denied them. Finally, whether if the issue is within the scope of BIa, the ordinarily applicable Bulgarian rule that no such relief may be ordered against public authorities, must be set aside.

The Advocate-General suggests the Court settle the questions mainly by recourse to the lis pendens rule of A29 ff of the Regulation, rather than by the alternative of focusing on the ‘provisional’ nature of the measures imposed by the A35 court. A29 ff do not limit their application to substance matter proceedings hence if and when the lis pendens conditions are met, the court last seized must (identical cases) or may (related cases) relinquish its jurisdiction. The opposite is true, as well: if the A35 court has been seized first, the court with subject-matter jurisdiction has been gazumped at least for provisional measures.

The AG also (55 ff) suggests that choice of court must be read to include authority for the chosen court to issue provisional measures, but not (unless expressly agreed; an issue of contractual interpretation which must be left to the national judge to assess) the exclusion of other courts to exercise their A35 jurisdiction.

Finally if the court with subject-matter jurisdiction has taken a definitive decision viz the provisional measures, that decision travels under Title III BIa and A45 does not seem to offer room to object to recognition and enforcement. Should that decision not yet be definitive, the ordinary lis pendens rules must apply.

This is a case with rather important contractual drafting and civil procedure consequences.

Geert.

EU Private International law, 3rd ed 2021, 2.512ff, 2.550 ff, 5.584 ff.

 

Opinion Rantos AG this morning in C-581/20 TOTO: Brussels Ia, Jurisdiction.
Relationship (including lis pendens) between A35 provisional measures court, and court with substantive jurisdiction.https://t.co/ei9WcXeUGY pic.twitter.com/8q8IAVCbvD

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 9, 2021

République tchèque / Pologne
Environnement et consommateurs
Parce qu’elle n’a pas cessé les activités d’extraction de lignite dans la mine de Turów, la Pologne est condamnée à payer à la Commission européenne une astreinte journalière d’un montant de 500 000 euros

Sanchez-Bordona AG Opined last week in C-296/20 Commerzbank AG v E.O, a case on the consumer section of the Lugano Convention however in essence on the international element required to trigger consumer protection in private international law. The distinguishing feature of this case lies in the fact that, at the time when the contract was concluded, both parties were domiciled in the same State (Germany), whereas, when recovery was sought through the courts, the customer was domiciled in Switzerland.

The international nature of the situation therefore came about subsequently rather than being present at the outset.

The Advocate General is absolutely right to point to the objective of the consumer section of Lugano, and indeed Brussels Ia, to protect the consumer as the economically weaker party; and in C-98/20 mBank, the Court held that the consumer’s domicile needs to be determined at the time of the instigation of the suit, not the conclusion of the contract (or a later date in the proceedings) even in those circumstances where the consumer failed to inform the professional party of the change of domicile.

The AG however also insists on the predictability of forum both as claimant and as defendant, for the economic operator.

His provisional conclusion therefore (73-74), following analysis of the travaux, is that the international element needs to be present at the outset. However then comes the oddity of A17(3) Lugano, which mirrors A19(3) Brussels Ia:

‘The provisions of this Section may be departed from only by an agreement [conferring jurisdiction]:… 3. which is entered into by the consumer and the other party to the contract, both of whom are at the time of conclusion of the contract domiciled or habitually resident in the same State bound by this Convention, and which confers jurisdiction on the courts of that State, provided that such an agreement is not contrary to the law of that State.’

[With respect to the last element of this Article, it is indeed by no means certain that national law allows for such agreement and the AG (87) notes same].

The Jenard Report viz the Brussels 1968 Convention explains that that rule was included for reasons of equity to benefit a seller or lender domiciled in the same State as the buyer or borrower in the case where the latter establish themselves abroad after the contract has been concluded. The AG opines that the purely domestic setting of A17(3) must not be extended to the remainder of the consumer section, instead keeping it confined to the particular circumstances of that subsection.

In subsidiary fashion, the AG proposes that if the CJEU does not follow him on the generally required international element at the outset, it limit the extensive  application of the consumer section to cases where the economic operator pursues in the State of the consumer’s new domicile a trade or profession such as that which gave rise to the conclusion of the contract.

Interesting.

Geert.

EU Private International Law, 3rd ed. 2021, 2.222 ff.

Opinion SÁnchez-Bordona this morning in C‑296/20 Commerzbank. Jurisdiction, #Lugano Convention. International element required to trigger consumer section.https://t.co/9wM8T3Po4m pic.twitter.com/WJvKsOuz4l

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 9, 2021

Aldricus – Salah satu kebutuhan yang diperlukan anak adalah mainan. Beberapa ayah bunda pasti pernah merasakan rewelnya anak saat tidak diberi mainan kan ? akan tetapi terkadang sebagai orang tua ayah bunda juga merasa khawatir, terhadap beberapa mainan anak yang bisa berbahaya dan tidak bermanfaat. Selain itu juga kebanyakan harganya hal. Eits tenang kami punya jawabanya, yaitu Lego selain manfaatnya yang mengedukasi. Bisa mendorong kreativitas dan imajinasi anak. Lego juga mudah didapatkan dan sangat terjangkau bagi dompet ayah bunda. Berikut kami rangkum daftar lego murah mulai dari harga 100 Ribuan :

1. LEGO Ninjago 70661 Spinjitzu Zane Blocks & Stacking Toys

Lego ini  diperuntukan untuk anak usia 7 tahun keatas dan didesain fun & playfun loh parents. Karena bentuknya yang didesain seperti ninja, membuat anak kalian semangat dalam memainkanya. Dan tentu saja bukan hanya diperuntukan untuk anak laki-laki, tapi juga untuk perempuan. Selain itu, lego ini memiliki 3 attachment untuk mode serangan, kecepatan, dan pertahanan. Membuat anak mampu menciptakan teknik tertentu, kemungkinan tidak terbatas, sehingga lebih mendorong kreativitas anak. Harganya cukup terjangkau dimulai dari 130.000rban aja lo parents.

2. Mainan Lego Block isi 714 Pcs Edukasi

Lego block merupakan mainan yang dapat disusun secara bebas, sehingga mampu melatih saraf motorik anak. Selain bentuk block dalam paketnya juga tersedia roda, sehingga anak bisa membuat mobil, kereta dan lainya. Harganya sangat murah loh parents dengan isi 714 Pcs di bandrol dengan harga 133.000.

3. MR Block 406 PCs

MR Block merupakan Lego Block yang banyak dijumpai di marketplace. Item yang dapat dijumpai dalam satu paket bermacam-macam. Mulai dari orang-orangan, dan ada juga block berbentuk mobil. Banyaknya variasi item yang ada di MR Block ini sudah tentu mendorong anak-anak untuk lebih kreatif dalam mengimajinasikan pikiranya. Selain itu MR Block juga mampu meningkatkan sosialisasi dengan teman-teman. Harga MR Block dengan isi 406 Pcs ini dibandrol dengan cukup terjangkau lo parents dimulai dengan 175.000.

Masih banyak lagi lego yang harganya sekitar seratus ribuan. Kita tinggal memilihnya di toko mainan terdekat.

The post Lego Murah Harga 100 Ribuan appeared first on Aldri Blog.

Commission / Belgique et Magnetrol International
Aide d'État
Exonérations fiscales accordées par la Belgique à des sociétés multinationales par la voie de rulings : la Commission a établi à juste titre l’existence d’un régime d’aides

Commission / Italie
Fiscalité
L’Italie a enfreint le droit de l’Union en exonérant des droits d’accise les carburants des bateaux de plaisance privés, affrétés et utilisés par les utilisateurs finaux pour des activités non commerciales

CAPA e.a. / Commission
Aide d'État
Parcs éoliens en mer subventionnés par des aides au fonctionnement : le Tribunal rejette le recours introduit par une coopérative et des patrons pêcheurs contre la décision de la Commission de ne pas soulever d’objections

Saugmandsgaard Oe AG opined (no English version at the time of writing) last week in C‑242/20 HRVATSKE ŠUME on the classic conflict of laws issue of distinguishing contract from tort.. He, oddly perhaps, unless some technical reason for it escapes me, does not entertain the question on the scope of Article 24(5) Brussels Ia’s exclusive jurisdictional rule for ‘proceedings concerned with the enforcement of judgments’.

The Opinion is a Qualificationfest.

The case concerns actions for recovery of sums unduly paid, in other words, undue enrichment. This enrichment came about by a Croatian court having  earlier ordered Hrvatske Šume, debtor of  Futura, both of Croatia, to pay its debt to Futura directly to BP Europe SA, successor to Burmah Oil, both domiciled in Germany. Hrvatske appealed that order however that appeal did not halt the payment. Now that the appeal has turned out to be successful, Hrvatske want their money back yet so far Croatian courts have held that they do not have jurisdiction under Article 7(2) BIa (the case actually went under the the predecessor, Brussels I however there is no material difference).

As the referring court notes, there is no delicti commissi in the case of unjust enrichment: it is a non-contractual obligation in which no delict is committed. (This is the very reason Rome II includes a separate heading for unjust enrichment). One might suggest this would leave forum damni only under A7(2), however the AG correctly in my view re-emphasises the seminal statements in CJEU Kalfelis, that actions under A7(2) concern ‘all actions which seek to establish liability of a defendant  and which are not related to a ‘contract’ within the meaning of Article [7](1)’. Unjust enrichment not seeking to establish liability, A7(2) is not engaged. Along the way, note his discussion of linguistics and his seeking support in Rome II.

At 71 ff the AG distinguishes the wide interpretation of ‘establishing liability’ in CJEU Austro Mechana.

A clear implication of the Opinion is that it confirms a disjoint in BIa /Rome II: not all non-contractual obligations for which Rome II identifies a lex causae, are caught by A7(2) BIa’s forum delicti rule.

The AG also engages with the possibility of Croatia being forum contractus  (he kicks off his Opinion with this issue) and dismisses it, seeking support inter alia in CJEU Handte and also in Rome II specifically providing for an unjust enrichment heading. This part of the Opinion is more optimistically straightforward than one might have expected. Following flightright, Wikingerhof etc., A7(1) has been (unduly, in my view) stretched and it would be good to have the CJEU further clarifying same. (C-265/21, in which I have been instructed, might be just the case).

Geert.

EU Private International Law, 3rd ed. 2021, 2.419 ff.

Opinion Saugmandsgaard Oe this morning, C‑242/20 HRVATSKE ŠUME. Jurisdiction, Brussels Ia, concept of 'contract', delineation with A7(2) forum delicti. Actio pauliana. (In other words, a collection of old chestnuts).https://t.co/3R5qU9rvVn

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 9, 2021

Flowers & Ors v Centro Medico Salus Baleares SL & Anor [2021] EWHC 2437 (QB) is a case packed with jurisdictional complication under Brussels Ia. In early February 2020, Mrs Yvonne Flowers, then 67 years of age, was admitted on an emergency basis to a private hospital facility in Benidorm, Spain, with significant back discomfort and pain arising from spinal disc herniation. Nine days later she died in the same hospital from multiple organ failure having contracted sepsis. T

The principal issues at stake concern the level of proof required for a jurisdictional challenge; determination of domicile; the existence of a consumer contract and who can all avail themselves of the consequential jurisdictional rules; and when a matter ‘relates to’ insurance’.

Starting with the latter, Wood J stayed judgment on much of the issues until the CJEU will have ruled in C-708/20 Betty Tattersall,  on which James Beeton reports here and which engages similar issues as CJEU Cole, settled before judgment, and Hutchinson. Betty Tattersall will be a crucial judgment.

The level of proof for jurisdictional challenges was discussed at an extraordinary length in Brownlie, and the SC’s ruling is applied here as detailed in the judgment.

The claimants’ domicile is not ordinarily relevant under BIa but it is for the consumer and insurance title and its determination is subject to national law. Seeing as the judge finds a good arguable case that domicile is indeed established in England, no consideration of Spanish domicile rules is necessary.

The ‘newer’ elements of the case are first of all the existence of a consumer contract. There are 3 issues [67]: (i) Was there a contract between the late Mrs Flowers and Centro Medico? (ii) If there was, was it a consumer contract within the meaning of section 4 BIa? (iii) Does the Claimant’s claim against Centro Medico fall outside the scope of the consumer contracts section because it has not been brought by the “consumer” within the meaning of the section?

Ia Committeri is relied on and the judge has little hesitation [115] to find the existence of a contract. (Much about that has been written in German scholarship in the specific area of medical services).

Surprisingly though, the question whether there is a contract which meets with the A17 requirements is brushed over when it comes to the question whether the hospital directs its activities to England and Wales, which the court established as the relevant  domicile. Particularly in the context of emergency care, this does not seem to be a given.

The judge does enquire as to whether the claim which can no longer be pursued because the contracting (and thus weaker) party is now deceased, can be picked up by heirs in the same jurisdictional gateway and pursued on the basis of the domicile of either the deceased or the heirs. Schrems and KABEG are discussed, however unlike the first instance judge in Bonnie Lackey, Justice Wood [126] adopts a much less wide approach. There must be scope for a lot more discussion on this, for the scenario in Bonnie Lackey, of which I was critical, is quite different from that of the heirs who step in the  litigation shoes of the deceased.

Geert.

EU Private international law, 3rd ed. 2021, big chunks of Chapter 2.

Flowers v CMS
Jurisdiction, BIa, 'domicile', consumer section (whether there was consumer contract, and who needs to bring the claim), matters 'relating to' insurance
Latter element stayed pending CJEU Betty Tattersall. Other gateways prima facie acceptedhttps://t.co/K3YmPtjYDY

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 3, 2021

Bundesamt für Fremdenwesen und Asyl (Demande ultérieure de protection internationale )
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
Le droit de l’Union s’oppose à ce qu’une demande ultérieure de protection internationale soit rejetée comme irrecevable au seul motif qu’elle est fondée sur des faits qui existaient déjà lors de la procédure relative à la première demande

Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne
Agriculture
La Cour précise les conditions de protection dont bénéficient les produits couverts par une AOP prévues par le règlement portant organisation commune des marchés des produits agricoles