Abstract: Extradition agreements between Member States and third States fall within the competence of Member States, but the ruling in Aleksei Petruhhin (Court of Justice, judgment of 6 September 2016, case C-182/15 [GC]) shows that Member States must exercise this competence in light of EU law if extradition may affect an EU citizen’s...
Abstract: The Insight analyses the recent judgment of the Court of Justice in the Aleksei Petruhhin v. Latvijas Republikas Ģenerālprokuratūra case (judgment of 6 December 2016, case C-182/15). The preliminary ruling deals with the relationship between EU law and Member States’ extradition agreements with third countries. The...
Abstract: In its judgment of 9 June 2016, the ECJ ruled on the consistency with Art. 110 TFEU of environmental stamp duties, the Romanian tax on pollutant emissions, with reference to fiscal neutrality as between second-hand motor vehicles imported from other Member States and similar motor vehicles available on the domestic market. The Court...
Abstract: On 30 August 2016, the European Commission concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to Euro 13 billion to Apple and ordered the recovery of the – allegedly – illegal State Aid. This Insight criticises the Commission’s approach in the Apple case as well as in other recent State aid cases. The Commission’s approach is...
Abstract: In a recent ruling (judgment of 2 June 2016, case C-438/14, Bogendorff von Wolffersdorff) concerning the recognition in a Member State of the name and surname of a dual national, freely chosen in another Member State and containing a number of tokens of nobility, the Court of Justice focused on the proportionality of the...
Abstract: How to reconcile the free flow of information on the internet and copyright protection? That is the fundamental issue underlying the preliminary questions referred to the CJEU in the GS Media case. After Svensson and BestWater, this case again offered an opportunity for the Court to clarify how hyperlinks to...
Abstract: The entry into force of the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court looks nowadays even more uncertain than it did before. The Brexit has seriously impacted on the cautious optimisms believing in its possible entry into force by Spring 2017. While the ratification process keeps moving onwards – reaching in November 2016 the thirteenth...
Abstract: Germany's former law on renewable energy constitutes State aid illegal under EU law. The General Court dismissed Germany’s action for annulment of a Commission Decision, finding that a renewable energy surcharge payable by electricity consumers for the benefit of those electricity producers using renewable sources effectively equalled the...