Patently Unsatisfactory?: Community Legislative Competence and the ECJ Biotech Decision

2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm MacLaren
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Legislative Policy ◽  
Biotechnological Inventions ◽  
Community Directive

On 9 October 2001, the European Court of Justice dismissed (1) a challenge by the Netherlands with the support of Italy and Norway against the Community Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. (2) Although the Biotech Directive relates to a wide range of public concerns and the Application for its annulment was based on a half-dozen different pleas, the following article will focus on the case as it relates to European Community treaty limitations. It will critically examine the perspectives on the principles of harmonisation and subsidiarity presented in the Application, the Advocate General's Opinion and the Court's Judgment within the broader context of the Community/Union's past and future development. The examination will reveal that in this case the Court has foregone a good opportunity to delimit 'positive integration'. (3) It could have made an important contribution to the on-going discussion about power-sharing between the national and supranational levels. While the judgment does strongly affirm the positive integration paradigm, the margins of the EU's legislative policy competences remain blurred due to its oft-opaque reasoning. The judgment raises, directly and indirectly, as many questions as it answers.

Stand und Entwicklung des Fachplanungsrechts im Spiegel der jüngeren höchstrichterlichen Rechtsprechung

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-574
Author(s):  
Boas Kümper
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
Environmental Relevance

The report surveys in two parts the development of the law on project-related planning and thus relates in particular to the planning and approval of space-consuming infrastructure projects such as traffic routes and power lines. For this purpose, German administrative law has long provided for the specific instrument of plan approval (Planfeststellung). In this context, the Federal Administrative Court has extensive first-instance jurisdiction and uses this to shape large parts of German approval law, including beyond the actual area of plan approval law, be it in terms of legal protection and procedure, be it with regard to the requirements of substantive environmental law. On the other hand, the revision of the law on environmental protection induced by the decisions of the Aarhus Compliance Committee and the European Court of Justice has been used by the German legislator to extend procedural specifics of the plan approval to other approval decisions of environmental relevance. This firstly indicates the contours of a general law on project approval and, secondly, the nature of the plan approval as an instrument for the implementation of projects in the public interest is more strongly emphasized.

Genesis and Development of Legal Protection before Community Courts: A review of Eva Drewes, Entstehen und Entwicklung des Rechtsschutzes vor den Gerichten der Europäischen Gemeinschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2000.

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 741-745
Author(s):  
Timo Tohidipur
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Sectoral Approach ◽  
Community Courts

The emerging of an early idea, – the idea of a united Europe in peace replacing the destructive force of nationalism – could not have been a proper blueprint for the formation of a European Society until the brute force of the two World Wars prepared the ground for the awareness of political, economical, and social necessities. The first chapter in the book of the European Union regarding this founding idea was written back in 1951/52 by establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) as a Community based upon law. At first, following Jean Monnet's sectoral approach toward integration in connection with the idea of supranationalism, unifying element should have been the supranational administrative body called “High Authority” (former name of the Commission in the first ESCS-Treaty). Given that the ECSC arose on the basis of law, one of the first and most important questions seemed to be the need of legal protection framing and balancing the power of the nearly almighty High Authority. This need should be satisfied by the establishment of a European Court of Justice (ECJ) as a permanent Court in the ECSC-Treaty. Although the shape of the former European Community has been immensely changed and extended through the years of integrational process, the once established ECJ still remains the judicial core in the institutional structure. But how did the system of legal protection react on the defiances of the integrational process?

scholarly journals The Euro Group’s Informality and locus standi before the European Court of Justice: Council v. K. Chrysostomides & Co. and Others

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 917-936
Author(s):  
Giacomo Rugge
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Economic ◽  
Locus Standi ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Economic Constitution ◽  
Judicial Proceedings

This article provides an analysis of the recent European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) judgment in Council v. K. Chrysostomides & Co. and Others. After the Cypriot financial and banking crisis of 2012-13, the case raised the issue as to whether the Euro Group could be considered as an ‘institution’ for the purposes of non-contractual liability under Art. 340 para. 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Court replied in the negative, offering a set of arguments on the nature and role of the Euro Group within the European economic constitution and on the legal protection of individuals vis-à-vis austerity measures. The article summarises and criticises those arguments, showing how this judgment of the Court has made the Euro Group essentially immune against judicial proceedings, despite its pivotal role in the management of European economic and monetary issues.

Stand und Entwicklung des Fachplanungsrechts im Spiegel der jüngeren höchstrichterlichen Rechtsprechung

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-286
Author(s):  
Boas Kümper
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
Environmental Relevance

Zusammenfassung Der Bericht informiert in zwei Teilen über den Entwicklungsstand des Rechts der vorhabenbezogenen Fachplanung und betrifft damit namentlich die Planung und Zulassung raumbeanspruchender Infrastrukturvorhaben wie Verkehrswege und Energieleitungen. Hierfür sieht das deutsche Verwaltungsrecht das spezifische Instrument der Planfeststellung vor. Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht verfügt in diesem Zusammenhang über eine weitreichende erstinstanzliche Zuständigkeit und prägt mittels dieser weite Teile des deutschen Zulassungsrechts, auch über den eigentlichen Bereich des Planfeststellungsrechts hinaus, sei es bezüglich des Rechtsschutzes und des Verfahrens, insbesondere der Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung, sei es bezüglich der Anforderungen des materiellen Umweltrechts. Die durch Entscheidungen des Aarhus Compliance Committee und des Europäischen Gerichtshofs induzierte Überarbeitung des Rechts des Umweltrechtsschutzes hat der deutsche Gesetzgeber andererseits zum Anlass genommen, verfahrensrechtliche Spezifika der Planfeststellung auf andere umweltrelevante Zulassungsentscheidungen zu erstrecken. Hierdurch deuten sich erstens Konturen eines allgemeinen Vorhabenzulassungsrechts an und wird zweitens die Eigenart der Planfeststellung als Instrument zur Durchsetzung von Vorhaben im öffentlichen Interesse stärker akzentuiert. Abstract The report surveys in two parts the development of the law on project-related planning and thus relates in particular to the planning and approval of space-consuming infrastructure projects such as traffic routes and power lines. For this purpose, German administrative law has long provided for the specific instrument of plan approval (Planfeststellung). In this context, the Federal Administrative Court has extensive first-instance jurisdiction and uses this to shape large parts of German approval law, including beyond the actual area of plan approval law, be it in terms of legal protection and procedure, be it with regard to the requirements of substantive environmental law. On the other hand, the revision of the law on environmental protection induced by the decisions of the Aarhus Compliance Committee and the European Court of Justice has been used by the German legislator to extend procedural specifics of the plan approval to other approval decisions of environmental relevance. This firstly indicates the contours of a general law on project approval and, secondly, the nature of the plan approval as an instrument for the implementation of projects in the public interest is more strongly emphasized.

3. The EU’s Institutions

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Corbett ◽  
John Peterson ◽  
Daniel Kenealy
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
European Council ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Council Of Ministers ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines five of the European Union's key institutions: the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Council, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice. It draws analogies to these institutions' counterparts at the national level while also highlighting their distinct and unique features. It discusses the structures and formal powers of the five EU institutions and how they ‘squeeze’ influence out of their limited Treaty prerogatives. It concludes by explaining why these institutions matter in determining EU politics and policy more generally, focusing on three central themes: the extent to which the EU is an experiment in motion; the importance of power sharing and consensus; and the capacity of the EU structures to cope with the Union's expanding size and scope.

The German Way of Dealing with “The Tragedy of the Anticommons” – Purpose-Bound Protection for Product Patents on Genetic Information in Germany

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niclas Kunczik
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent Application ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Gene Patents ◽  
Human Dna ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Biotechnological Inventions

AbstractThe phenomenon of “the tragedy of the anticommons”Making decisions in the European Union and transforming them into legal instruments can sometimes become a life-task. Although it took a whole decade to adopt the European Communities “Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions”, the political and legal dispute about ”patents on life” was not settled at all. Some member states – the Netherlands, supported by Italy and Norway – took this issue to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) seeking the annulment of the Directive. The Court dismissed this appeal in 2001. But the discussion about ”patents on life” did not end. Even though it has been a somehow accepted fact that patents on living materials including human DNA are being granted, an even more heated discussion is focusing on the scope of those gene-patents. The question is if it is acceptable to allow the classical scope protection for gene sequences, or if the patent protection should be limited to the specific use disclosed in the patent application (“purpose-bound protection”).

Legal Protection Against the UN-Security Council Between European and International Law: A Kafkaesque Situation?

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Ley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Court Of First Instance

Constitutionalism beyond the state concerns itself with the relation among various legal levels and the position of the individual in a multilevel legal system. The question how human rights are protected against international organizations who increasingly take on executive powers cannot be thoroughly answered without confronting a fundamental debate in international law theory: the constitutionalism-fragmentation debate. The European Court of First Instance as well as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to deal recently and are still dealing with this complex in a number of cases.

Grant v. South-West Trains, Ltd.

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard H. Oxman ◽  
Laurence R. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Advocate General ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
South West ◽  
European Court ◽  
Treaty Of Rome ◽  
Law Reports ◽  
Community Directive

Grant v. South-West Trains, Ltd. Case C-249/96. 1998 All England Law Reports (EC) 193.Court of Justice of the European Communities, February 17, 1998.Are employers within the European Community (EC or Community) forbidden from discriminating against their employees on the basis of sexual orientation? More generally, does the prohibition of “discrimination based on sex” contained in Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and the Community directive requiring equal pay for men and women (Equal Pay Directive) encompass discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation? In Grant v. South-West Trains, Ltd., the European Court of Justice (ECJ) answered both questions in the negative, rejecting a strongly worded recommendation of the Court's Advocate General.

scholarly journals Możliwość zastosowania skargi pauliańskiej do podziału spółki kapitałowej – wybrane zagadnienia

Radca Prawny ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
Piotr Kantorowski
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Court Of Justice ◽  
Minimal Level ◽  
Case File ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Polish Law ◽  
A Company

Possibility of applying Actio pauliana to the division of a capital company – selected issues The topic of this article is the possibility of applying Actio pauliana to the division of a company with particular emphasis on the division by separation in the context of the findings of the judgment of the European Court of Justice of January 30, 2020, case file no. C-394/18. Per that judgement, the remedies provided in the sixth directive constitute only the required minimal level of protection that should be provided to the creditors of a divided company. However, that protection does not preclude the existence of a more extensive protection under national law, such as the rules concerning Actio pauliana. The article provides an answer to the question whether the Polish law regulations allow for granting this form of legal protection to the creditors of a divided company, and if it does, then in what way the claim should be formulated and which particular legal actions should be contested.

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