The Icesave Dispute in the Aftermath of the Icelandic Financial Crisis: Revisiting the Principles of State Liability, Prohibition of State Aid and Non-discrimination in European Law

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elvira Méndez-Pinedo

This study focuses on the Icesave dispute and Icesave agreements between Iceland, the UK and The Netherlands in the light of European law (EU and EEA law) and explores two main issues: 1) the State liability for breaches of EU/EEA law on the basis of Directive 94/19/EC following a systemic bank collapse in Iceland; and 2) the principle of non-discriminatory interplay between the nationalisation of Icelandic banks (State aid) and the payment of the minimum guarantee of €20.887 to depositors of Icesave accounts in the branches of Landsbanki in the UK and The Netherlands. This dispute was handled through diplomatic negotiations. The author is highly critical of the methodology followed. This cross-border dispute brought to light new complex problems in a grey area of European law which should have been brought before the highest European courts. Icesave also seems to have turned Icelanders against the process of European integration and the EU.

This book is the first to draw together the numerous different regulations which affect how commodities are traded in the EU. Having long been a largely deregulated industry, intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the global Financial Crisis in 2008 has left commodities trading subject to a raft of harmonized regulations, many of which have yet to be finalized. Regulation of both the physical and the financial commodities markets is undergoing significant change and participants and their advisers are struggling to understand the changes in each jurisdiction as well as the cross-border implications. The book pulls together these various pieces of EU legislation and examines how they influence the way that commodities are traded in Europe. It also provides coverage of regulation at domestic level in key jurisdictions active in the marketplace, namely the UK, US, Switzerland, and Singapore. Divided into eight sections, the book includes analysis of the commodities trading houses (including their motives and methods), the main trading venues, trading practices, and potential illicit practices and market abuses. Each section has a detailed transnational component in which the position in each specific jurisdiction is explained, drawing parallels and setting out the differences between these countries.


De Jure ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steliyana Zlateva ◽  
◽  
◽  

The Judgement of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court in the long Micula v. Romania investment treaty dispute confirmed that the arbitral awards of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), rendered by tribunals established under intra-EU BITs, could be enforced in the UK. The Micula case concerns the interplay between the obligations under the ICSID Convention and EU law. In particular, it addresses the question of whether the award obtained by the Micula brothers against Romania constitutes state aid prohibited by EU law, as well as the enforcement obligations under the ICSID Convention in view of the EU duty of sincere cooperation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Herwig Verschueren

Abstract This article examines the compatibility of national measures taken to stimulate non-active people to enter the labour market (the so-called activation measures) with European law on the free movement of workers and jobseekers. It will first give a short overview of the objectives of the European employment strategy, more specifically with regard to the activation of workers. Subsequently it will sketch the European legal context of the free movement of workers and jobseekers, with special attention for the measures taken at the European level to enable and stimulate labour migration within the EU and thus create a European labour market. In the third part, by way of example, we will have a closer look at a number of activation measures taken in Belgium and examine which problems could arise in cross-border applications from the point of view of European law.


2020 ◽  
pp. 61-87
Author(s):  
Sylvia de Mars

This chapter analyses what EU academics have termed the ‘democratic deficit’ in the EU. In EU law, the concept of the ‘democratic deficit’ is used to classify the EU as a system that may hold some of the qualities of a democratic government, but is lacking others. The chapter then investigates just how much ‘democracy’ exists in the EU decision-making processes. There are those who claim that the EU will never be democratic, and those who argue that the EU actually does not suffer from true shortcomings. The chapter evaluates both of those claims, and considers if recent big events in the EU — such as the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the so-called Eurozone financial crisis — impact upon the debate. It also looks at the nature of Brexit during the Withdrawal Agreement's transition period, as well as the future relationship between the UK and the EU.


Significance The EU has exercised significant authority over the digital economy in areas ranging from data privacy and antitrust to illegal state aid and social media disinformation. Under President Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission is maintaining the pace of digital policy and regulation. Impacts The digital package will intensify the debate on where the balance should lie between national and EU regulatory responsibilities. EU willingness to apply core elements of the UK approach to digital competition is a bright spot in the otherwise fraught Brexit talks. Post-Brexit, UK and EU authorities are likely to cooperate on digital taxation at the OECD level. Online disinformation will remain an extremely difficult policy area.


2020 ◽  
pp. 359-375
Author(s):  
Mustafa Yasan

The Turkish Code of Commerce (TCC) numbered 6102 contains numerous radical regulations as reforms in the Turkish company law. One of these provi­sions is the TCC A.125 which regulates the capacity of commercial companies to have rights and obligations. This article deals with the ultra vires principle which was transferred to the Continental European law system, including the Turkish legislation from the UK law system. The ultra vires principle had previously ex­pired in the continental European legal system (in particular the Swiss Code of Obligations) which has inspired the TCC as a referring codification. As a result of these developments by the TCC A.125, in contrast to the ultra vires principle, commercial companies are allowed to be entitled and liable for all kinds of mat­ters, except those which are human-specific. For this reason, companies’ legal per­sonalities may have the capacity to have rights and obligations in matters other than their fields of operation. In other words, thanks to the TCC A.135, the ultra vires principle has been abandoned. It can be assumed that harmonization be­tween the TCC and the EU directives has been achieved in the sense of abolishing the ultra vires principle. However, when several provisions randomly scattered in the TCC are taken into consideration, it is obviously seen that the legislator still accepts the field of operation issue as a criterion in about 20 articles. This leads to a question about the actual abolishment of the ultra vires principle. To put it brief­ly, the legislator’s choice in the new company law regime shows that the TCC has not abandoned the ultra vires principle completely, but it still retains its validity in a hidden way by only changing its form and scope.


Author(s):  
Elspeth Berry ◽  
Matthew J. Homewood ◽  
Barbara Bogusz

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. Complete EU Law combines extracts from leading cases and articles to take a fresh and modern look at the constitutional and substantive law of the EU. It starts by looking at the origins of EU integration and more recent developments such as the implications of the UK ‘Brexit’ vote. It then examines the role of EU institutions within the legislative process, and the sources of EU law. Next, it explores the relationship between the EU and the Member States; the supremacy of EU law and its impact upon the principle of UK parliamentary sovereignty; the direct and indirect effect of EU law in the national courts; and the ability of those national courts to request preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice. The book also examines the obligations that EU law imposes on Member States, including the operation of infringement actions and Member State liability in damages for breaches of EU law, and the obligations that it imposes on both the EU institutions and the Member States to protect human rights in the EU. It then discusses economic integration within the internal market and how EU law regulates the rights of individuals and businesses under the ‘four freedoms’, focusing on the free movement of persons and goods. Finally, the book considers competition law and its enforcement within Member States.


Author(s):  
Elspeth Berry ◽  
Matthew J. Homewood ◽  
Barbara Bogusz

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. Complete EU Law combines extracts from leading cases and articles to take a fresh and modern look at the constitutional and substantive law of the EU. It starts by looking at the origins of EU integration and more recent developments such as the implications of the UK ‘Brexit’ vote. It then examines the role of EU institutions within the legislative process, and the sources of EU law. Next, it explores the relationship between the EU and the Member States; the supremacy of EU law and its impact upon the principle of UK parliamentary sovereignty; the direct and indirect effect of EU law in the national courts; and the ability of those national courts to request preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice. The book also examines the obligations that EU law imposes on Member States, including the operation of infringement actions and Member State liability in damages for breaches of EU law, and the obligations that it imposes on both the EU institutions and the Member States to protect human rights in the EU. It then discusses economic integration within the internal market and how EU law regulates the rights of individuals and businesses under the ‘four freedoms’, focusing on the free movement of persons and goods. Finally, the book considers competition law and its enforcement within Member States.


Author(s):  
Mccormick Roger ◽  
Stears Chris

This chapter considers the legal risks raised by Brexit. These include change of law risk for financial markets and especially for institutions that wish to do cross-border business in the EU. For example, while the UK remains in the EU, financial institutions carrying on certain ‘regulated activities’ are afforded so-called ‘passporting’ rights pursuant to which, broadly, they can take advantage of the fact that they are established and appropriately authorised in one member state to do business in other member states, without the need for separate permissions or authorisations in those other states. If the UK leaves the EU, such passporting rights may be terminated unless the Brexit negotiation results in them being preserved in some way.


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