Flux européens

Giurisprudenza / Case law

Corte di giustizia, sentenza del 16 giugno 2016, causa C-511/14, Pebros Servizi Srl — Le condizioni in presenza delle quali, in caso di sentenza contumaciale, un credito si considera “non contestato”, ai sensi dell’articolo 3, par. 1, 2° comma, lett. b), del Regolamento (CE) n. 805/2004 sul titolo esecutivo europeo per i crediti non contestati, devono essere determinate in modo autonomo, sulla base di questo solo regolamento.  ♦  Court of Justice, judgment of 16 June 2016, case C-511/14, Pebros Servizi Srl — The conditions according to which, in the case of a judgment by default, a claim is to be regarded as ‘uncontested’, within the meaning of the second subparagraph of Article 3(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims, must be assessed autonomously, solely in accordance with that regulation.

Corte di cassazione (Sezioni unite), sentenza n. 17989 del 13 settembre 2016 — Le obbligazioni pecuniarie che devono essere adempiute al domicilio del creditore ai sensi dell’art. 1182, comma 3, del codice civile sono soltanto quelle liquide, per tali intendendosi le obbligazioni delle quali il titolo determini l’ammontare o indichi criteri determinativi non discrezionali [Nota: il principio di diritto assume rilievo, quando il rapporto contrattuale controverso sia retto dal diritto italiano, anche agli effetti della determinazione del locus solutionis dell’obbligazione dedotta in giudizio ai sensi dell’art. 7 n. 1, lett. a), del Regolamento n. 1215/2012 sulla competenza giurisdizionale e il riconoscimento delle decisioni in materia civile e commerciale].  ♦  Italian Supreme Court (United chambers), judgment No 17989 of 13 September 2016 — Article 1182(3) of the Italian Civil Code provides that pecuniary obligations are to be performed at the domicile of the creditor. The provision only applies to ‘liquid’ obligations, ie, obligations of a fixed amount. For the latter requirement to be met, it must be established that either the amount was determined in the contract, or that the contract set forth non-discretionary rules for the determination of the amount due [Note: as regards obligations arising out of contracts governed by Italian law, the finding of the Court is relevant to the identification of the place of performance of the obligation in question pursuant to Article 7(1)(a) of Regulation n. 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition of judgments in civil and commercial matters].

Strumenti normativi / Legal texts

Gli Stati Uniti hanno ratificato la Convenzione dell’Aja del 2007 sull’esazione internazionale di prestazioni alimentari nei confronti di figli e altri membri della famiglia. La Convenzione, già in vigore per l’UE e alcuni Stati extraeuropei, entrerà in vigore per gli Stati Uniti il 1° gennaio 2017. ♦  The US has ratified the Hague Convention on the international recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance. The Convention, which is already in force for the EU and some extra-European States, will enter into force for the US on 1 January 2017.

Eventi / Events

New Trends in EU Private International Law – Milano, 15 settembre / September 2016 [Tra i relatori / Speakers include: Fausto Pocar, Paul Lagarde, Jürgen Basedow, Christian Kohler, Francisco Garcimartín Alférez, Manlio Frigo, Stefania Bariatti]

Dottrina / Scholarship

Mariel Revillard, Stratégie de transmission d’un patrimoine international – Nouvelles perspectives (2 ed.), Defrénois, 2016, ISBN 9782856232897, Euro 62 — Les successions occupent une place prépondérante dans le droit international privé de la famille. Chaque année, un nombre considérable de successions internationales sont réglées en France. Des ressortissants de nationalité étrangère décèdent, soit en France, soit à l’étranger, laissant des biens non seulement en France mais dans d’autres pays. Des Français acquièrent des biens étrangers. L’introduction de ces éléments d’extranéité soulève des questions spécifiques au regard de la dévolution future de leur succession.  La répartition d’un patrimoine dans différents pays suscite des problèmes de droit international privé et le notaire intervient de plus en plus à titre préventif dans la préparation d’une succession internationale (estate planning). Ceci suppose une parfaite connaissance des règles de conflit de lois, du droit interne étranger et de la fiscalité internationale en matière de succession. À la suite de l’entrée en application du règlement successions du 4 juillet 2012 qui opère de profonds bouleversements dans le droit des successions internationales, l’étude des successions internationales s’établit en distinguant le régime de droit commun applicable aux successions ouvertes avant le 17 août 2015 et celles ouvertes à partir du 17 août 2015. Le nouveau droit européen des successions justifiait donc cette seconde édition et ouvre aux notaires de nouvelles perspectives de planification successorale.

James Fawcett, Maire Ni Shuilleabhain, Sangeeta Shah, Human Rights and Private International Law, Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 9780199666409, GBP 210 — Examining the impact, both actual and potential, of human rights concerns on private international law as well as the oft overlooked topic of the impact of private international law on human rights, this work represents an invaluable resource for all those working or conducting research in these areas. Human Rights and Private International Law is the first title to consider and analyse the numerous private international law cases discussing human rights concerns arising in the commercial law context, alongside high profile cases dealing with torture (Jones v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and same sex marriage (Wilkinson v Kitzinger).The right to a fair trial is central to the intersection between human rights and private international law, and is considered in depth along with the right to freedom of expression; the right to respect for private and family life; the right to marry; the right to property; and the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of religion, sex, or nationality. Focussing on, though not confined to, the human rights set out in the ECHR, the work also examines the influence of human rights on private international law in countries which are not a party to the ECHR, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

Alberto De Franceschi (ed.), European Contract Law and the Digital Single Market, Intersentia, 2016, ISBN 9781780684222, Euro 69 — The EU is committed to making the Single Market fit for the digital age, by enhancing the protection of consumers and data subjects, while providing businesses with the legal certainty they need to invest in this field and support growth and innovation. In this context, European Contract Law and the Digital Single Market, an edited collection consisting of carefully selected contributions by leading scholars, addresses the impact of digital technology on European Private Law in light of the latest legislative developments including the EU Regulation of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on free movement of such data, as well as the European Commission’s proposals of 9 December 2015 for a Directive on the supply of digital content, for a Directive on online and other distance sale of goods and for a Regulation on the cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market. The book analyses new and urgent issues in the field of contract, data protection, copyright and private international law: namely the EU approach to personal information as a tradeable commodity and as the object of a fundamental right of the individuals concerned, the protection of consumers’ and users’ rights in contracts for the supply of digital content and on online and other distance sales of goods, the cross-border portability of online content services, the new features of standard contracts in the digital market and the issues surrounding the emergence of the so called platform economy.

Da oggi post meno frequenti, tutti bilingui, contenenti ciascuno segnalazioni di natura diversa: pronunce giurisprudenziali, sviluppi normativi, eventi scientifici etc.

Beginning from today, posts will appear less frequently, they will all be written both in Italian and in English, and each will cover case law, normative developments, academic events etc.

SOPO
Le recours à des contrats à durée déterminée successifs pour couvrir des besoins permanents dans le domaine des services de santé est contraire au droit de l’Union

Globo Comunicação e Participações / EUIPO (marque sonore)
Propriété intellectuelle et industrielle
Selon le Tribunal de l’UE, une sonnerie d’alarme ou de téléphone standard ne peut pas être enregistrée comme marque de l’Union en raison de sa banalité

Rendón Marín
Citoyenneté européenne
Le droit de l’Union ne permet ni de refuser automatiquement un permis de séjour à un ressortissant d’un pays non UE qui a la garde exclusive d’un citoyen mineur de l’UE ni de l’expulser du territoire de l’UE au seul motif qu’il a des antécédents pénaux

Conseil / Front Polisario
Agriculture
Selon l’avocat général Wathelet, ni l’accord d’association UE-Maroc ni l’accord UE-Maroc sur la libéralisation des échanges des produits agricoles et de la pêche ne s’appliquent au Sahara occidental

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries et Ranbaxy (UK) / Commission
Concurrence
Le Tribunal de l’UE confirme les amendes de près de 150 millions d’euros infligées à plusieurs entreprises dans le cadre de l’entente visant à retarder la commercialisation du générique de l’antidépresseur citalopram

Selon l’avocat général Mengozzi, l’accord sur le transfert des données des dossiers passagers, prévu entre l’Union européenne et le Canada, ne peut pas être conclu sous sa forme actuelle

RPO
Fiscalité
Selon l’avocat général Kokott, exclure les livres, journaux et périodiques numériques fournis par voie électronique de l’application du taux réduit de TVA est compatible avec le principe d’égalité de traitement

GS Media
Rapprochement des législations
Le placement d’un hyperlien sur un site Internet vers des œuvres protégées par le droit d’auteur et publiées sans l’autorisation de l’auteur sur un autre site Internet ne constitue pas une « communication au public » lorsque la personne qui place ce lien agit sans but lucratif et sans connaître l’illégalité de la publication de ces œuvres

ANODE
Rapprochement des législations
La sécurité de l’approvisionnement et la cohésion territoriale sont des objectifs d’intérêt général qui peuvent justifier une intervention étatique sur la fixation du prix de fourniture du gaz naturel

Commission / Grèce
Droit institutionnel
Pour avoir tardé à mettre en œuvre le droit de l’Union sur les déchets, la Grèce est condamnée à une somme forfaitaire de 10 millions d’euros et à une astreinte de 30 000 euros par jour de retard

Deroo-Blanquart
Environnement et consommateurs
La vente d’un ordinateur équipé de logiciels préinstallés ne constitue pas, en soi, une pratique commerciale déloyale

C-191/15 Verein für Konsumenteninformation v Amazon SarL is one of those spaghetti bowl cases, with plenty of secondary law having a say on the outcome. In the EU purchasing from Amazon (on whichever of its extensions) generally implies contracting with the Luxembourg company (Amazon EU) and agreeing to Luxembourg law as applicable law. Amazon has no registered office or establishment in Austria. VKI is a consumer organisation which acted on behalf of Austrian consumers, seeking an injunction prohibiting terms in Amazon’s GTCs (general terms and conditions), specifically those which did not comply with Austrian data protection law and which identified Luxembourg law as applicable law.

Rather than untangle the bowl for you here myself, I am happy to refer to masterchef Lorna Woods who can take you through the Court’s decision (with plenty of reference to Saugmandsgaard Øe’s Opinion of early June). After readers have consulted Lorna’s piece, let me point out that digital economy and applicable EU law is fast becoming a quagmire. Those among you who read Dutch can read a piece of mine on it here. Depending on whether one deals with customs legislation, data protection, or intellectual property, different triggers apply. And even in a pure data protection context, as prof Woods points out, there now seems to be a different trigger depending on whether one looks intra-EU (Weltimmo; Amazon) or extra-EU (Google Spain).

The divide between the many issues addressed by the Advocate General and the more narrow analysis by the CJEU, undoubtedly indeed announces further referral.

Geert.

(Handbook of) European Private International Law, 2016, Chapter 2, Heading 2.2.8.2.5.

Pilkington Group e.a. / Commission
Concurrence
La Cour confirme l’amende de 357 millions d’euros infligée par la Commission au groupe Pilkington pour sa participation à l’entente du « verre automobile »

Petruhhin
DISC
Un État membre n’est pas tenu d’accorder à tout citoyen de l’Union ayant circulé sur son territoire la même protection contre l’extradition que celle accordée à ses propres ressortissants

As a practising lawyer registered to the Belgian Bar I had more than a passing interest in C‑543/14 Orde van Vlaamse Balies v Ministerraad. The case was held on 28 July. At issue is the reversal of the Belgian exemption of legal services from value-added tax (VAT). Of interest for this blog was the Bar Council’s argument that making legal services subject to VAT endangers access to court for individuals. Corporations recover said VAT from the tax their own sales incur. For them, making legal services subject to VAT has zero impact on their books.

The Bar Council sought support among others in the Aarhus Convention, particularly Article 9(4) and (5) on access to court:

‘3.       In addition and without prejudice to the review procedures referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 above, each Party shall ensure that, where they meet the criteria, if any, laid down in its national law, members of the public have access to administrative or judicial procedures to challenge acts and omissions by private persons and public authorities which contravene provisions of its national law relating to the environment.

4.       In addition and without prejudice to paragraph 1 above, the procedures referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 above shall provide adequate and effective remedies, including injunctive relief as appropriate, and be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive. Decisions under this article shall be given or recorded in writing. Decisions of courts, and whenever possible of other bodies, shall be publicly accessible.

5.       In order to further the effectiveness of the provisions of this article, each Party shall ensure that information is provided to the public on access to administrative and judicial review procedures and shall consider the establishment of appropriate assistance mechanisms to remove or reduce financial and other barriers to access to justice.’

Perhaps taking inspiration from the Grand Chamber’s approach in Vereniging Milieudefensie, and consistent with the suggestion of Sharpston AG, the five judges Chamber dismissed direct effect for Articles 9(4) and (5) of Aarhus, mostly because of the Conventions deference in Article 9(3) to ‘national law’.

Given the increasing (but as noted recently qualified; see also here) cloud the CJEU’s Grand Chamber had been given Aarhus, this finding by a five judge chamber that Aarhus Articles 9(4) and (5) do not have direct effect is a little awkward. It also puts the Grand Chamber itself in an awkward position. There are quite a number of Aarhus-related cases pending. Will this chamber’s view on 9(4) and (5) be followed by the assembled top dogs?

Geert.

Thank you Alison Frankel at Reuters for bringing to my attention Gutierrez-Brizuela v. Lynch. An immigration case which triggered a delightfully written judgment by Gorsuch CJ on the delegation of power to agencies. In particular the founding fathers’ intention, against the background of separation of powers,  with agencies room for statutory interpretation.

Both Ms Frankel’s article and judge Gorsuch’s pieces do much more justice to the debate than I can do in a blog post so I will leave readers first of all to read both. Judge Gorsuch, referring to precedent (Chevron in particular), notes

‘There’s an elephant in the room with us today. We have studiously attempted to work our way around it and even left it unremarked. But the fact is Chevron and Brand X permit executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power and concentrate federal power in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution of the framers’ design. Maybe the time has come to face the behemoth.’

Ms Frankel notes that Chevron directed courts defer to executive-branch agencies in the interpretation of ambiguous statutes. Justice Gorsuch reviews what exactly was intended by Chevron and points to the difficulty in excessive deferring to agencies’ interpretation of statutes.

I would summarise his views as ‘Congress meant trias, not quattuor politica.’

My knowledge of US civil procedure does not stretch to understanding what impact Gorsuch CJ’s views have on current US administrative /public law. Anyone out there who can tell me please do. At any rate, the judgment is great material for comparative constitutional law classes, the CJEU’s ECB (C-270/12) case being an obvious port of call.

Geert.

In C-195/15 Mulhaupt, the question referred reads 

Does the term ‘right in rem’ in Article 5(1) of (…) Regulation (…) 1346/2000 (…) on insolvency proceedings include a national rule such as that contained in Paragraph 12 of the Grundsteuergesetz (Law on real property tax, ‘GrStG’) in conjunction with the first sentence of Paragraph 77(2) of the Abgabenordnung (Tax Code, ‘AO’), pursuant to which real property tax debts are by operation of law a public charge on real property and the property owner must accept enforcement against the property in that respect?

Applicant is the trustee in bankruptcy of Société civile immobilière Senior Home, a French registered company. Gemeinde Wedemark is forcing the sale of rel estate belonging to Senior home, linked to arrays in real estate tax. It is suggested by the referring court that the qualification under German law, of real property tax (also known as ‘stamp duties’ or ‘estate taxes’), owed to public authorities, as rights in rem, mean that the forced sale of the site at issue, as a result of Article 5(1) of Regulation 1346/2000, is covered by German law and is therefore not subject to French law, which in the case at issue is the lex concursus of the insolvency proceedings that have been opened. Regulation 1346/2000 in the meantime has been replaced by Regulation 2015/848 however the provisions at issue have not materially changed.

Szpunar AG Opined end May (other than a Tweet I have kept schtum about the Opinion so far, for exam reasons).The Opinion is as yet not available in English.

In terms of applicable law, Article 4 of the Regulation is the general rule: unless otherwise stated by the Regulation, the law of the State of the opening of proceedings is applicable.

The general rule of Article 4 inevitably had to be softened for quite a number of instances. As noted in the introduction, insolvency proceedings involve a wide array of interests. The expediency, efficiency and effectiveness craved inter alia by recital 2 (old; now 3) of the Regulation, has led in particular to the automatic extension of all the effects of the application of the lex concursus by the courts in the State of opening of the proceedings. That could not be done without there being exceptions to the general rule:

In certain cases, the Regulation excludes some rights over assets located abroad from the effects of the insolvency proceedings (as in Articles 5, 6 and 7). In other cases, it ensures that certain effects of the insolvency proceedings are governed not by the law of the State of the opening, but by the law of another State, defined in the abstract by Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15. In such cases, the effects to be given to the proceedings opened in other States are the same effects attributed to a domestic proceedings of equivalent nature (liquidation, composition, or reorganization proceedings) by the law of the State concerned. Of particular note are precisely Article 5 on third parties’ rights in rem, but also Article 10 on employment contracts, and Article 13 on ‘detrimental acts’.

The precise demarcation of rights in rem hovers between the classic interpretative rule of EU private international law, namely the principle of autonomous interpretation, and the lack of a European Ius Commune on what rights in rem are. The Advocate General completes his already extensive analysis in Lutz, with a combined reference to the recitals of the Regulation, and the Virgós/Schmit Report.

In particular, Article 5(2) does serve as something of a straightjacket, leading to the conclusion that rights in rem require restrictive interpretation: once the first hurdle of qualification using national law (of the rei sitae) is passed, the right also needs to  meet with the fundamentals of what the Virgos-Schmit report defines as rights in rem (at 41-45 of the Opinion): these are (at 103 of the Report): a right in rem basically has two characteristics

(a)its direct and immediate relationship with the asset it covers, which remains linked to its satisfaction, without depending on the asset belonging to a person’s estate or on the relationship between the holder of the right in rem and another person;

(b)the absolute nature of the allocation of the right to the holder. This means that the person who holds a right in rem can enforce it against anyone who breaches or harms his right without his assent (e.g. such rights are typically protected by actions to recover); that the right can resist the alienation of the asset to a third party (it can be claimed erga omnes, with the restrictions characteristic of the protection of the bona fide purchaser); and that the right can thus resist individual enforcement by third parties and in collective insolvency proceedings (by its separation or individual satisfaction).

The Virgos-Schmit report in this respect cross-refers to the 1968 Brussels Convention however it is noteworthy that the CJEU, in defining rights in rem under the now Brussels I recast Regulation, does not in turn refer to the Virgos-Schmit report.

In conclusion therefore the AG suggests that the right at issue is indeed a right in rem under Article 5. Finally, that it benefits a public authority (the inland revenue) rather than a private individual or legal person, does not impact upon that qualification: Szpunar AG correctly highlights that the public character of the creditor is not a determining criteria in either the recitals of the Regulation or the Virgos-Schmit report.

A prima facie straightforward question met by complete analysis of the AG which in passing solves more issues than those raised by the referring court: this Opinion may well become an important part of authoritative sources in applying the Insolvency Regulation..

Geert.

(Handbook of) EU private international law, 2nd ed. 2016, Chapter 5, Heading 5.7.1 ).

 

By Decision (EU) 2016/1366 of 10 August 2016, the European Commission confirmed the participation of Estonia in the enhanced cooperation that led to Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 on the law applicable to divorce and legal separation (Rome III).

The Rome III Regulation will apply to Estonia from 11 February 2018. Its rules will only apply in Estonia to legal proceedings instituted and to choice-of-law agreements concluded as from the latter date. However, effect shall also be given in Estonia to an agreement on the choice of the applicable law concluded before 11 February 2018, provided that it complies with Articles 6 and 7 of Regulation.

Seventeen Member States, including Estonia, are bound by the Rome III Regulation. Fourteen Member States have been taken part in this enhanced cooperation since the beginning (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia), and three more have joined in subsequently: Lithuania, under Decision (EU) 2012/714, Greece, under Decision (EU) 2014/39, and now Estonia.