Where a person goes to work for the European Patent Office and wishes to transfer their existing pension contributions from the Italian national system to that run by the European Patent Office, are EU Charter rights infringed when the body administering the Italian system simply refuses to conclude an agreement with the European Patent Office that would allow the transfer of those rights to take place? More
Case C-15/13, Datenlotsen – Teckaling the requisite control for the ‘in-house’ exception to EU procurement law
An important exception to EU procurement law is the ‘in-house’ exception. The exception was first recognised in Case C-107/98, Teckal and it functions to exempt ‘in-house’ contracts concluded between public law bodies and spin-offs ‘vertically’ under their control from the application of EU procurement law. A decade later and the question is now whether that exception applies ‘horizontally’ to cover a contract concluded between a university that is publicly funded by a region of Germany, and a company whose capital is provided in part by that same region of Germany and for the rest comes from other public bodies? More
Case C-574/12, Centro Hospitalar de Setúbal and SUCH – Teckaling similar control for the ‘in-house’ exception to EU procurement law
EU public procurement law regulates the awarding of lucrative contracts offered by public bodies. A decade ago, the CJEU created an exception to EU procurement law for ‘in-house’ procurement. As formulated in Case C-107/98, Teckal the scope of the exception was rather vague, however. The CJEU has recently been refining the scope of the exception. In this reference, the issue is whether the exception applies when the contractee is an organisation whose members include private charitable institutions. More
Case C-501/12, Specht – comprehensively prohibiting unjustified age discrimination
Does the EU’s Directive 2000/78 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, and which bans age discrimination, apply to Berlin’s civil servants? And if there was age discrimination in this case, then does the employee have the right to backpay or compensation? More
Case C-204/12, Essent – can Flemish green electricity certificates resist green electricity in free movement?
If an energy regulator will only accept green electricity certificates for electricity produced from renewable sources within a region, and it refuses to accept certificates in respect of green energy produced in: (i) another region of the same Member State; (ii) another Member State; and (iii), an EEA State (Norway); then is the regulator not in breach of Article 5 of the EU’s former Directive 2001/77/EC on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market? Similarly, is it not acting in breach of the principle of equal treatment, and the prohibition of discrimination enshrined in Article 18 TFEU, and Directive 2003/54/EC on common rules for the internal market in electricity? More
Case C-613/12, Helm Düngemittel – certifying the origin of a cargo from Egypt
Where a ship laden with urea comes to the EU, how can a company prove that the consignment originates from Egypt when one EU customs authority has already acted in breach of Decision No 1/2006 of the EU-Egypt Association Council, and the boat has gone onto another EU port where a second customs authority decides that without the proper certificate, there can be no proof of origin thereby making the consignment subject to import taxes? More
Case C-557/12, KONE – indirectly escalated prices and lifting compensation from those inside prohibited cartels
Where a prohibited cartel has raised prices in a market, and a company has purchased goods from non-cartel members who had raised their prices – to a higher degree than would have been the case but for the existence of the illegal cartel – can that company claim damages from the companies that formed the cartel? More
Case C-475/12, UPC DTH – when Hungary wants a regulatory grip on foreign suppliers of TV and radio
Who has regulatory competence over satellite radio and television received from companies located in other Member States? And can a regulatory authority in a receiving state acquire some regulatory control by classifying them as an electronic communications service? More
Case C-12/12, Colloseum Holding – red flagging jeans, use and composite marks in trade mark law
When Colloseum Holding stitches a red rectangular cloth flag or tag bearing the word ‘SM Jeans’ into the right-outer seam of the back right pocket of the jeans it is selling, does Colloseum Holding infringe the trade marks owned by a rival fashion house that stitches a little red flag into the left seam of the rear trouser pocket with the word ‘LEVI’s’ emblazoned upon it? More
Case C-516/12, CTP – getting around Naples and EU state aid law
Where a company provides public transport around Naples at a loss and claims public monies as compensation, should the EU’s public transport Regulation No 1191/69 be interpreted teleologically in order to deny the claim, or should it be interpreted systematically in order to allow it? More