Search

LegalPost.eu

legal news & articles from Europe and World

HOME
LEGAL NEWS
ARTICLES
CASE LAW
CAREER
GEORGE KAZOLEAS
EVENTS
EVLAMPIA TSOLAKI
CHRISTINA POURSANIDOU

More…

Posts

Showing posts with the label law

Show all

No results found

Editorial

George Kazoleas, Lawyer

Report Abuse

Legalpost.eu

email: legalpost.eu@yahoo.com

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Ombudsman inquiry on Commission President’s text messages is a wake-up call for EU

September 12, 2022

The European Ombudsman inquiry into the Commission’s handling of a request for text messages between its President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is a wake-up call for all EU institutions about ensuring accountability in an era of instant messaging. One year after the initial request by a journalist, the Commission has still not clarified whether messages reported to concern major vaccine procurement deals exist and whether the public is entitled to see them. The Ombudsman had asked the Commission, in a finding of maladministration in January, to conduct a more thorough search for the text messages. The Commission’s recent response failed to say whether it had looked directly and correctly for the text messages and if not, why not. While the response recognised that work-related text messages can be EU documents, it reiterated that the Commission’s internal policy is, in effect, not to register text messages. The Ombudsman has closed the inquiry and upheld her find

A national court is not required to apply a decision of its constitutional court that infringes EU law (ECJ)

October 01, 2024

In its Judgment of 26.9.2024 in Case C-792/22 (Energotehnica) the Court of Justice ruled as regards the right to an effective remedy that a national court is not required to apply a decision of its constitutional court that infringes EU law. In such a case, the national court may not be penalised. Following the death of an electrician by electrocution during a maintenance operation, an administrative procedure was initiated against his employer. At the same time, criminal proceedings for negligence and manslaughter were initiated against the supervisor. The victim’s next of kin also became civil parties to the criminal proceedings. The administrative court hearing the dispute concluded that the present case did not involve an ‘accident at work’. It annulled the administrative penalties imposed on the employer. According to national legislation, as interpreted by the Romanian Constitutional Court, that administrative decision prevents the criminal court from reconsidering whether the

ECtHR elects a new Vice-President of the Court and two new Section Presidents

September 25, 2024

The European Court of Human Rights has elected on 23.9.2024 a new Vice-President of the Court – Judge Ivana Jelić (elected in respect of Montenegro). She will take up her duties on 1 November 2024. The Court has also elected at the same date two new Section Presidents – Judges Lado Chanturia (elected in respect of Georgia) and Ioannis Ktistakis (elected in respect of Greece). They will also take up their duties on 1 November 2024. Ivana Jelić was born on 17 March 1975 in Podgorica, Montenegro and was elected Judge of the European Court of Human Rights on 12 July 2018. Lado Chanturia was born on 14 April 1963 in Tsalenjikha, Georgia, was elected Judge of the European Court of Human Rights on 8 January 2018 and is Vice-President of Section since 18 May 2023. Ioannis Ktistakis was born on 3 January 1971 in Thebes, Greece and was elected Judge of the European Court of Human Rights on 8 March 2021. (source/photo: echr.coe.int) Read more here

The name Pablo Escobar may not be registered as an EU trade mark

April 23, 2024

According to the Judgment of the General Court in Case T-255/23 (Escobar v EUIPO) the name Pablo Escobar may not be registered as an EU trade mark. The public would associate that name with drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. On 30 September 2021, Escobar Inc., established in Puerto Rico (United States), filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for registration of the word sign Pablo Escobar as an EU trade mark for a wide range of goods and services. The Colombian national named Pablo Escobar, who was born on 1 December 1949 and died on 2 December 1993, is presumed to be a drug lord and a narco-terrorist who founded and was the sole leader of the Medellín cartel (Colombia). EUIPO rejected the application for registration on the ground that the mark was contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality. It relied on the perception of the Spanish public, as it is the most familiar with Pablo Escobar due to the links between Spa

Gigantic fine for unfair practices imposed on Booking.com by the Competition Authority of Hungary

October 17, 2022

One of the highest fines for violation of unfair competition law has been imposed (28/4/2020) on online hotel booking platform ‘’Booking.com’’ by the Hungarian Competition Authority. The amount of the fine (approximately EUR 6 million / HUF 2.5 billion) imposed by the Authority illustrates the seriousness of the Dutch company's violations. The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) imposed a fine of HUF 2.5 billion on the operator of the online booking portal booking.com, and at the same time banned the Dutch company from continuing its aggressive sales methods. According to the decision of the competition authority, Booking.com B.V. engaged in unfair commercial practices against consumers by, among other things, misleadingly advertising some of its accommodations with a free cancellation option and exerting undue psychological pressure on consumers to make early bookings. As a result of the Competition Authority’s competition supervision proceeding initiated in 2018, the autho

Personal data protection: The supervisory authority is not obliged to exercise a corrective power in all cases of breach and, in particular, to impose a fine

October 09, 2024

In its Judgment in Case C-768/21 (Land Hessen/ 26.9.2024) the Court of Justice ruled that, the data protection supervisory authority is not obliged to exercise a corrective power in all cases of breach and, in particular, to impose a fine. It may refrain from doing so where the controller has already taken the necessary measures on its own initiative. In Germany, a savings bank found that one of its employees had consulted a customer's personal data on several occasions without being authorised to do so. The savings bank did not inform the customer of this, as its data protection officer had taken the view that there was no high risk for him. The employee had confirmed in writing that she had neither copied nor retained the data, that she had not transferred them to third parties and that she would not do so in the future. In addition, the savings bank had taken disciplinary measures against her. The savings bank nevertheless notified the Land Hessen’s Commissioner for Data Prote

Imposition of fines and order to comply following a leak of expats’ personal data file by Greek Data Protection Authority

September 15, 2024

The Greek Supervisory Authority for Data Protection imposed on the Greek Ministry of the Interior, an administrative fine totalling EUR 400,000 and on a Member of European Parliament an administrative fine totalling EUR 40,000 for infringements of GDPR. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority received a large number of complaints regarding unsolicited political communication via e-mail sent on 1/3/2024 and entitled "100 days before the European elections", by Member of European Parliament Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou. Following this, the Authority investigated the case ex officio, exercising immediately its powers of investigation and auditing the bodies involved. Following a series of on-the-spot audits and the receipt of evidence and data in the context of the audit, it was found that a file containing personal data of all registered Greek expatriate voters for the June 2023 elections, for which the Hellenic Ministry of the Interior is the controller, and for which the leg

ECHR President: Covid-19 pandemic has raised a number of important human rights issues

February 02, 2021

Increased polarisation and challenges to Europe’s fundamental principles, together with the global COVID-19 pandemic, are likely to create the most difficult period we have seen in many years, according to the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Speaking at the court’s annual press conference in Strasbourg, ECHR President Robert Spano said that democracy, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law are increasingly being called into question at both the European and global levels. He added that the on-going pandemic has already raised a number of important human rights issues, including the proportionality of measures taken by Council of Europe member states, the legal basis of those measures and the use of domestic procedures to sanction actions or inaction. President Spano underlined that the ECHR has been able to continue its work despite the pandemic, deciding on over 39,190 applications in 2020 and holding online public hearings for the first time.

Airbnb is not required to hold an estate agent’s professional licence as it did not notify the Commission of that requirement in accordance with the Directive on electronic commerce

December 20, 2019

ECJ: Airbnb case- France cannot require Airbnb to hold an estate agent’s professional licence as it did not notify the Commission of that requirement in accordance with the Directive on electronic commerce. By its judgment of 19 December 2019, Airbnb Ireland (C-390/18), the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice held, first, that an intermediation service which, by means of an electronic platform, is intended to connect, for remuneration, potential guests with professional or non-professional hosts offering short-term accommodation services, while also providing a certain number of services ancillary to that intermediation service, must be classified as an ‘information society service’ under Directive 2000/31 on electronic commerce. [1] Secondly, the Court found that, in criminal proceedings with an ancillary civil action, an individual may oppose the application to him or her of measures of a Member State restricting the freedom to provide such a service which that indiv

First judgment of the ECHR: Lawless v. Ireland

November 23, 2020

60 years ago, on 14 November 1960, the Court delivered its first judgment, Lawless v. Ireland, with René Cassin as its President. The judgment concerned preliminary objections and procedural questions regarding the application, on which a judgment on the merits was delivered the following year. Since its inauguration the Court has delivered 23,291 judgments on just over 51,650 applications. The case was filed by Gerard Richard Lawless, who had been an IRA member, although he claimed to have left the IRA. He was arrested on 11 July 1957, as he was about to travel to Great Britain from Ireland, and subsequently detained under the special powers of indefinite detention without trial under the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1940. The case was filed by Lawless for violation, by the Irish Government, of Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the European Convention of Human Rights, providing rights to liberty and security, fair trial and the principle of 'no punishment without law'