European Union

The European Court of Justice got into women’s underwear in a recent case from the French Cour de Cassation.
In Case C-59/08, Copad SA v Christian Dior couture SA, Société industrielle lingerie (SIL), the fashion house Dior argued that when one of its licensees sold its luxury lingerie to a discount store in breach of the [...]

An online reporting system is the latest weapon in OLAF’s (the European Anti-Fraud Office) arsenal for fighting financial crime against the EU. OLAF, the EU’s financial watchdog agency, has a mandate to protect the economic interests of the Union by combating fraud, corruption and official misconduct within the EU’s institutions.
Because this sort of crime is [...]

Extending maternity leave throughout the EU was the gist of draft legislation passed by a committee of the European Parliament this week.
The MEPs (members of the European Parliament) on the Women’s Rights Committee backed the committee’s report which suggested updating the Pregnant Workers Directive. They voted to increase the minimum compulsory maternity leave from 14 [...]

As part of the EU’s efforts to achieve a death penalty free world, the EU presidency is trying to stop an execution in the United States. The Ambassador of Spain to the US, on behalf of the Spanish Presidency of the EU, has written a letter to the Governor of the state of Arkansas, making [...]

After months of delays, the European Parliament finally approved the new European Commission on March 9, 2010. This cleared the way for the 27-member team (one from each member state), led by President Jose Manuel Barroso, to take office for a 5-year term. The vote resulted in a generous majority in favor, 488, with 137 [...]

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) was given the task of getting inside the phrase “use of inside information”, by the Court of Appeals of Brussels in the case of Spector Photo Group NV, Chris Van Raemdonck v Commissie voor het Bank, Financie- en Assurantiewezen (CBFA), Case C-45/08.
This case arose from a [...]

The Stockholm Programme (“Programme”) was the jewel in the crown of the Swedish Presidency of the EU.  The Stockholm Programme sets out the EU’s legislative agenda in the area of justice and home affairs (JHA) for the years 2010-20014.  It builds on the Hague Programme which was the plan for JHA cooperation for the last [...]

After lengthy negotiations and several referendums, the Treaty of Lisbon was finally ratified by all 27 Member States of the European Union in November 2009, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. The Treaty modifies the organisation of the court and adds to its jurisdictional scope.
The European Community has been replaced by the European [...]

A secret regulation cannot be enforced against individuals, ruled the European Court of Justice in a judgment announced on March 10, 2009. In Case C-345/06, proceedings brought by Gottfried Heinrich, the court established that a list of articles that are prohibited on board aeroplanes had no binding force on individuals because it had not been [...]

Certain things just cannot be litigated. This is what one individual in England has found out after trying to have a decision to ban him from a number of pubs in Buckinghamshire reviewed by a court. After an incident outside a pub in March 2008, the Buckingham Pubwatch Scheme (a group of [...]