The Compatibility of Private Health Insurance Schemes with EU Law: Applying the Health Insurance Exception beyond Substitutive Private Health Insurance

Author(s):  
Bruno NIKOLIĆ

Abstract The lack of clarity as to the scope of the health insurance exception enshrined in Article 206 of the Solvency II Directive has created uncertainties surrounding the implications for government intervention in the private health insurance market. A contentious interpretation of the health insurance exception, offered by former EU Commissioner Bolkestein, and the approach subsequently taken by the Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union in assessing the compatibility of Member State intervention in private health insurance have led to a divergence in the application of EU law, which further increases uncertainties around the legality of Member State intervention. This article proposes an alternative interpretation of the health insurance exception that draws on a contemporary understanding of private health insurance as a socio-economic institution aimed at achieving a highly competitive social market economy. This alternative interpretation extends the applicability of the health insurance exception from substitutive private health insurance to complementary private health insurance that covers statutory user charges and thus improves the compliance of national health insurance systems in several Member States with EU law and enhances the coherence of EU law.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-153
Author(s):  
Tatjana Josipović

The paper considers and comments on the instruments of protection of the fundamental rights of the Union in private law relationships that are in the scope of applicable EU law. Special attention is paid to the influence of fundamental rights of the Union on private autonomy and the freedom of contract in private law relationships depending on whether fundamental rights are protected by national law harmonized with EU law, or by horizontal effects of the Charter of general principles. The goal of the paper is to determine the method in private law relationships that can attain the optimal balance between the protection of fundamental rights of the Union and the principle of private autonomy and the freedom of contract regulated by national law of a member state. The author favors the protection of fundamental rights in private law relationships by applying adequate measures that create indirect horizontal effects of the provisions of EU law on fundamental rights. These concern national measures that can also secure adequate protection of fundamental rights via interpretation and application of national law in line with EU law in private law relationships.


2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Maciej Etel

Abstract The European Union and its member-states’ involvement in the economic sphere, manifesting itself in establishing the rules of entrepreneurs’ functioning – their responsibilities and entitlements – requires a precise determination of the addressees of these standards. Proper identification of an entrepreneur is a condition of proper legislation, interpretation, application, control and execution of the law. In this context it is surprising that understanding the term entrepreneur in Polish law and in EU law is not the same, and divergences and differences in identification are fundamental. This fact formed the objective of this article. It is aimed at pointing at key differences in the identification of an entrepreneur between Polish and EU law, explaining the reasons for different concepts, and also the answer to the question: May Poland, as an EU member-state, identify the entrepreneur in a different way than the EU?


2020 ◽  
pp. 205-239
Author(s):  
Sylvia de Mars

This chapter addresses the Treaty's provisions on the enforcement of EU law, particularly looking at Articles 258–260 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The European Commission's enforcement action, known as ‘infringement proceedings’, is set out in Article 258 TFEU. If the Commission proves an infringement has occurred, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will issue a binding verdict that requires the Member State to rectify the breach: in other words, to amend its domestic laws until they are compliant with EU law. Article 260 TFEU makes clear, however, that the CJEU can only order ‘compliance’. Article 259 sets out a very similar process, rarely used, for Member State v Member State infringement proceedings. The chapter then considers the CJEU's development of the principles of direct and indirect effect and state liability, and explores the remedies for breaches of EU law. It also assesses the impact of Brexit on the enforcement of EU law.


2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Peers

THE recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case of Dano (ECLI:EU:C:2014:2358) clarified some important points as regards access to social welfare benefits by EU citizens who move to another Member State. Furthermore, the judgment could have broad implications for any attempts by the UK Government to renegotiate the UK's membership of the EU, which is likely to focus on benefits for EU citizens coming to the UK. This note is an updated and expanded version of my analysis on the EU Law Analysis blog: http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/benefit-tourism-by-eu-citizens-cjeu.html.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-125
Author(s):  
Ágoston Korom

The scope of action of EU Member States’ land policies lies at the intersection of positive and negative integration. Therefore, if a Member State restricts the ownership and use of agricultural land, it implies both the legitimate restriction of fundamental freedoms and that it achieves the targets listed under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on improving the quality of living for farmers in keeping with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Despite this, it is worrisome that the EU’s control over negative integration does not allow Member States to create sustainable regulations. In contrast, the EU law leaves it entirely to the Member States to introduce restitution measures vis-à-vis the properties that were confiscated before their accession. The EU’s control prohibits direct discrimination against the citizens of other Member States. Under certain circumstances, according to the European Commission, the general principles of EU law and the provisions of the Charter can help individuals enforce restitution provisions. Bearing this in mind, we analysed the practice of the European Commission, its statements, and procedures against Member States, given that these are based on professional and/or political considerations. We examine the practice of the Commission and the CJEU vis-à-vis a Hungarian legislation on the so-called ‘zsebszerződések’. We also propose recommendations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 261-290
Author(s):  
Monika Szwarc

FREE MOVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION — RIGHT TO EDUCATION, ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND ACCESS TO GRANTS IN THE TRANSNATIONAL CONTEXTThe right to education, recognised by Article 14 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be analysed and interpreted in the light of the previous evolution of EU law in this domain, as well as of the preceding jurisprudence of the Court of Justice. In the present state of EU law there is no doubt that access to higher education as well as access to student grants or loans falls within the scope of EU law. Therefore the article contains the overview of where EU law stands at present in the domain of mobility of students. The main two fields of interest are: access to education of migrant students, when they move from their home Member State to a host Member State in order to undertake studies, as well as access to social benefits, namely student grants or loans, which enable or make easier the mobility of students. The second field of interest concerning student grants or loans is divided into two parts: the first concerns access to grants or loans accorded by the host Member State to migrant student; the second concerns access to grants or loans accorded by the home Member State to its own citizens in order to encourage them to study abroad. The analysis, on the one hand, reveals that the scope of application of EU law to the situation of migrant students, due to the jurisprudence of the CJEU, is very wide, which means the wide scope of rights accorded to students and the narrow scope of freedom left to the Member States. On the other hand, the analysis leads to a conclusion that the case of migrant students is an exemplification of the challenges faced by the Union in the field of free movement, in particular the pressure to limit the social benefi ts for EU citizens exercising their right to free movement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-598
Author(s):  
José Mª Gil Robles

Specific competence of the European Union in the field of social security and social protection has been quite limited, as the Member States consider these two items as core subjects of national policies and appeal earnestly to subsidiarity principle to avoid European regulation. Influence of the E.U. has nevertheless been gradually and considerably increasing through the implementation of the Community rules on the internal market and competition. European social model is the so called “social market economy”, which means, in short, an economy ruled by a market whose transparency and fairness are guaranteed and controlled by the public powers. There is the will, at European level, to be able to achieve high economic and productivity growth, necessary to fuel recovery from crisis damages, while at the same time minimising so-called social failures, such as unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. The European Union addresses these areas as a matter of common concern and has a role in facilitating the exchange of information, data, best practices and research. The balance of European policies is in overall terms rather positive from the social point of view.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-265
Author(s):  
Nicole Coutrelis ◽  
Isabelle Weber

The free movement of goods is a fundamental principle under EU law: a product lawfully manufactured and/or marketed in one Member State is, in principle, entitled to be marketed in another EU Member State. Indeed, Article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits any quantitative restrictions on imports between Member States and all measures having equivalent effect.


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