Agrégateur de flux

L’ancien président de la République Nicolas Sarkozy, son avocat Thierry Herzog et l’ex-avocat général près la Cour de cassation Gilbert Azibert comparaissent depuis le 23 novembre devant le tribunal correctionnel de Paris pour corruption, trafic d’influence et violation du secret professionnel.

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Vanessa Barbé (University of Valenciennes) and Christina Koumpli (University of Avignon) are inviting abstracts on The Impact of Brexit on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms for a Virtual Symposium on 27 and 28 May 2021, followed by a publication funded by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Social Sciences and Humanities (CRISS, University of Valenciennes).

Some aspects of the call for papers dealing with rights resulting from the European Civil Justice and the rights of British litigants may be of particular interest for the readers of our blog.

Brexit is a political and legal earthquake with multiple consequences: on the European institutions, on the Member States and their budgets, on international trade, on British administrations and companies, but also on individuals, British or European nationals. The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union has got a major impact on the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals. The aim of this symposium is to identify the rights and freedoms which are called into question and to understand the potential and proven upheavals affecting their protection.

The impact of Brexit on rights and freedoms of European originis obvious: theoretically, the United Kingdom isn’t supposed to respect European citizens’ rights, workers’ rights, social rights, European environmental rights…. any longer. Admittedly, the country was already benefiting from an adaptation of its European obligations thanks to the policy selection mechanism (opt-out). But still the United Kingdom was a full member of the Union, applying the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, and taking part in the Union’s founding policies on the environment or education, for instance. To some extent, the UK has pledged not to wipe out all the rights and freedoms formerly created, but their upholding cannot be total, as this would mean denying Brexit itself. Therefore, it would seem that several categories of rights and freedoms may be identified: those that risk to disappear completely (in relation to citizenship, for example), those that could be maintained because they are protected by other sources (international sources, regional sources such as the European Convention on Human Rights, or British legal sources such as common law), and those the future of which is uncertain, but which might be preserved by virtue of a ‘ratchet effect’ or of the principle of non-regression of rights.

The impact of Brexit on each of the four freedoms of movement might be considered, as well as on the categories of rights resulting from the implementation of the Union’s major policies in the fields of labour law, environmental law, health, education, justice and security in particular. Proposals are expected on the right to security related to the European arrest warrant, the right to privacy with regard to the protection of personal data, the right to non-discrimination in labour law, the right to a healthy environment, the right to asylum, etc… Cross-cutting categories of rights may be identified too, such as the rights of litigants, which can be considered by studying the remedies available to British litigants before domestic courts and European institutions after Brexit. The application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the United Kingdom’s legal order after Brexit is also a potential source of litigation, as the Court of Justice of the Union has recognised its applicability to a certain extent despite the opt-out declaration issued by the country.

In addition to rights and freedoms of European origin, British rights and freedoms are going to be affected too. Brexit, as a victory for the opponents of Europe in the broadest sense, might be, to some extent, a new opportunity to challenge the Human Rights Act 1998, the Act transposing the European Convention on Human Rights into British law. The future of that Act is uncertain after Brexit, since its repeal is being thought about, and the United Kingdom’s participation in the Council of Europe is being deeply questioned as well.

The political rights of the British citizens are also at the heart of the exit process. It took more than three and a half years after the referendum of June 23rd, 2016 for Brexit to be legally implemented by the British Parliament. Several ad hoc laws have been passed to delimit the powers of the Government and Parliament. The Supreme Court has been asked twice to rule on constitutional disputes arising from clashes between public authorities, and has been able consequently to assert itself as the third constitutional actor in Brexit. The powers and role of the British citizen/litigant may be usefully studied.

Finally, the territorial structure of the Kingdom is under threat. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is at the heart of tensions between Europe and the United Kingdom, and with it, the question of the protection of the rights and freedoms of nationals of both States. In the same way, due to Scotland’s opposition to the exit procedure, the issue of the region’s independence is once again on the agenda. The Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is strongly advocating a new referendum on the independence of the region, which Boris Johnson formally ruled out in a letter of January 14th, 2020, since any (national or local) referendum must be authorised by Westminster. Furthermore, the political rights of the Scots, and their other constitutional rights could be disrupted as well, if the relationship between the region and the rest of the Kingdom was changed.

In conclusion, the symposium aims at exploring the multiple legal consequences, for the British and for European nationals, arising from the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

Proposals for contribution (qualities of the author and short CV, summary of the communication of about one page) may relate to European law, British law, but also Private/ Public International law or the national laws of the Member States of the Union, as far as their relationships with the United Kingdom are considered.

The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2021.

Proposals are expected at the following address: Vanessa.Barbe@uphf.fr.

The new Evidence and Services Regulations were published at the OJEU of 2 December 2020:

__ Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters (taking of evidence) (recast)

__ Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) (recast)

They are attached to this post.

evidence-regulation-bisDownload service-regulation-terDownload

The European Commission adopted yesterday (2 December) “a package of initiatives to modernise the EU justice systems. The two main pillars of the new package are the Communication on the digitalisation of justice in the EU, and the new Strategy on European judicial training. This digital justice toolbox aims at further supporting Member States to move ahead their national justice systems towards the digital era and at improving EU cross-border judicial cooperation between competent authorities. As regards European judicial training, the Commission equips judges, prosecutors and justice professionals for the challenges of the 21st century, such as digitalisation. It further aims at promoting a common European judicial culture, based on the rule of law, fundamental rights and mutual trust”.

Extracts of the press release:

__ “Communication on the Digitalisation of Justice in the EU provides a toolbox to promote the use of digital tools by Member States […]:

Making digital the default option in cross-border judicial cooperation: To date, many judicial proceedings, including those that transcend borders, still take place with paper and by post. The European Commission will work on a legislative proposal to digitalise cross-border judicial cooperation procedures in civil, commercial and criminal matters. Adoption is planned for the end of 2021.

[…]

Better access to information: Electronic databases are easy to consult, they minimise costs for users and are resilient to crises. Therefore, Member States should strive to digitalise their registers and work towards their interconnections.

IT tools for cross-border cooperation: e-CODEX (e-Justice Communication via Online Data Exchange) is the main tool for secure cooperation in civil, commercial and criminal law proceedings across borders. To date, only some Member States use e-CODEX. With the adoption of today’s legislative proposal, the Commission aims to make e-CODEX the gold standard for secure digital communication in cross-border judicial proceedings in all Member States. As of 1 July 2023, the Commission entrusts this system to the Agency eu-LISA. Another digital tool is eEDES (e-evidence digital exchange system), which some Member States use to swiftly and securely exchange European Investigation Orders, mutual legal assistance requests and associated evidence in digital format instead of by post. With the legislative proposal adopted today, the Commission encourages all Member States to connect to eEDES. These IT tools will modernise EU justice systems and generate real European added-value”.

__ “EU Strategy on Judicial Training […]: by 2024, 65% of judges and prosecutors and 15% of lawyers shall be trained yearly on EU law. The strategy also supports justice professionals in the Western Balkans and in other EU partner countries, in Africa and Latin America. In addition, justice professionals will be able to look for training courses on EU law via the European Training Platform, launched today for a first test phase and planned to be fully operational in the course of 2021”.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_2246

(with further documents)

Le droit européen ne permet pas d’opposer un refus d’entrée sur le territoire au ressortissant d’un État arrêté en franchissant une frontière intérieure ou à proximité de celle-ci ni de priver automatiquement un demandeur d’asile de conditions matérielles d’accueil.

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Bail (règles générales)

Bail (règles générales)

On 2 December 2020, following a lengthy procedure, the Recast Service Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters) was finally published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the Position of the Council at first reading in view of the adoption of the Recast had appeared a few days earlier: see it here).

The contents of the Regulation were known, in substance, since an agreement was reached, in June 2020, between the Council and the European Parliament as a result of the trilogue consultations.

Previous posts in this blog illustrated the envisaged innovations and the challenges posed by the recast, and discussed some of the issues raised by the current rules.

The Recast will apply from 1 July 2022.

L’ancien président de la République Nicolas Sarkozy, son avocat Thierry Herzog et l’ex-avocat général près la Cour de cassation Gilbert Azibert comparaissent depuis le 23 novembre devant le tribunal correctionnel de Paris pour corruption, trafic d’influence et violation du secret professionnel.

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Austrian Airlines
Transport
Selon l’avocat général Pikamäe, le simple déroutement d’un vol vers un aéroport de repli situé à proximité de l’aéroport initialement prévu n’a pas pour conséquence de donner droit à une indemnisation forfaitaire

Commission / Belgique et Magnetrol International
Aide d'État
Tax rulings : selon l’avocate générale Kokott, la Commission a considéré à juste titre que la pratique des autorités belges d’ajustement négatif des bénéfices des entreprises faisant partie d’un groupe multinational constitue un régime d’aides

Commission / Espagne (Détérioration de l’espace naturel de Doñana)

Selon l’avocate générale Kokott, le captage excessif des eaux souterraines dans l’espace naturel de Doñana situé en Andalousie constitue un manquement au droit de l’Union

Hongrie / Parlement
Droit institutionnel
Selon l’avocat général Bobek, la Cour devrait rejeter le recours de la Hongrie contre la résolution du Parlement déclenchant la procédure de constatation de l’existence d’un risque clair de violation grave, par cet État membre, des valeurs sur lesquelles l’Union est fondée

Star Taxi App
Rapprochement des législations
Un service qui met en relation directe, au moyen d’une application électronique, des clients avec des chauffeurs de taxi constitue un service de la société de l’information dès lors qu’il ne constitue pas une partie intégrante d’un service global dont l’élément principal serait une prestation de transport

Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Commission
Agriculture
La Région Bruxelles-Capitale n’est pas recevable à demander l’annulation du règlement d’exécution de la Commission renouvelant l’approbation de la substance active glyphosate