The networked society as a new landscape for obligations The neighbour principle On 26 May 1932, the UK’s House of Lords, released its decision in Donoghue v Stevenson. This decision has been influential for tort law in the common law world. Often referred to in less austere terms such as the ‘snail in the bottle…
We wanted to draw your attention to some interesting articles about the topics of the Regulating for Globalization blog that appeared in the European Foreign Affairs Review Volume 23, Issue 3, 2018, edited by Jörg Monar & Nanette Neuwahl. Han Dorussen, Emil J. Kirchner, Thomas Christiansen, ‘Security Cooperation in EU–China Relations: Towards Convergence?’ (2018)…
As the deadline for Brexit is fast approaching, the UK government published guidance setting out the consequences of a No Deal with the European Union on its exit on 29 March 2019. While the announcement emphasised the priority to reach a deal with the EU, the government sought to provide advice to business and citizens…
Is the Commission stricter than the IAAF? The European Athletics Championships finished this Sunday. Some athletes “jumped the gun” by beginning a race before the official signal was given. Those athletes might debate with a referee whether they actually left before the starting shot or not, but no doubt they all know exactly what gun-jumping…
The complexities of the Brexit process are highlighting many divisions in UK law and politics, not least in the UK Parliament itself, as it seeks to legislate in order to supply the necessary legal foundations that provide for Brexit. Having successfully enacted the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018,[1] which received Royal Assent on 26 June…
The Europa Institute of Leiden University is sixty years old. It was established in 1957, the year in which the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community was signed in Rome. To mark this 60th anniversary, a two-day lustrum conference was held in the Academic Building of the University of Leiden on 30 November and 1 December…
The evolution in understanding privacy and personal data Visitors to major cities will become familiar with colour coding of the various means of transportation: for example, yellow cabs in New York; black cabs in London. Supplanting these colourful vehicles are alternatives to the regulated taxi industry, such as Uber or Lyft. The present contribution focuses…
With its judgment of 5 June 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union has provided much overdue legal certainty for same-sex couples regarding their right of free movement under the EU Treaties. In the Coman-case, the Romanian Constitutional Court asked the CJEU whether EU law prevented the Romanian authorities from refusing a right…
We wanted to draw your attention to some interesting articles about the topics of the Regulating for Globalization blog that appeared in the Global Trade and Customs Journal in 2018 so far: Martijn Schippers, ‘A Series of Sales: Determining the Customs Value Under the Union Customs Code’ (2018) 13, Issue 2 New customs legislation – the Union…
We wanted to draw your attention to some interesting articles on Women in Trade that appeared in the Global Trade and Customs Journal in 2017: Arancha Gonzalez, ‘Making the Case for Trade in the XXI Century’ (2017) 12, Issue 11/12 Eva Valle Lagares, ‘Trade from the Trenches: Negotiating in Practice’ (2017) 12, Issue 11/12 The Transatlantic Trade and Investment…
While barriers to close down national boundaries are being raised again worldwide, EU institutions keep fighting unjustified geo-blocking and online cross-border stops to trade. Regulation No. 2018/302 (“Geo-blocking Regulation”) bans unjustified geo-blocking and other forms of territorial discrimination that prevent consumers from freely buying on online platforms. The Regulation was adopted on February 28, 2018 and entered…
We wanted to draw your attention to some interesting articles about the topics of the Regulating for Globalization blog that appeared in the Global Trade and Customs Journal in 2017: Lorand Bartels, ‘The UK’s WTO Schedules’ (2017) 12, Issue 3 This article argues that the EU’s GATT and GATS schedules are binding on the UK in its…
People within the European Union travel more than ever before for professional or personal reasons. When they do so, the four freedoms enshrined in the TFEU guarantee that they can take with them their siblings, professional qualifications, goods and money. One of the things they could not take with them, however, was their subscription to…
Tilting at windmills? Innovations in information technology can be both positive and negative when applied to the workplace. On the positive side, there is an extended reach for individuals in any one country. Borders become less of an obstacle. However, regulatory frameworks within jurisdictions may remain hardened. Employment is one regulatory framework in which rigidity…
On January 24, 2017, the European Commission announced that it had fined Qualcomm EUR 997,439,000. The Commission thinks that Qualcomm had abused its dominant position to become Apple’s sole supplier of long term evolution (“LTE“) baseband chipsets. The abuse was allegedly committed through exclusive deals, which lasted from 2011 to 2016. Baseband chipsets are key components in smartphones and tablets, which enable connection…
Ever since the European Court of Justice brought the rule-making activity of sports federations within the scope of EU law, the European competition rules have emerged as a unique instrument to assert control over sports’ transnational private regulatory power. Other than in the area of revenue-generating activities related to sports (e.g. ticket sales arrangements or…
Recently, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has put privacy in the workplace back to our attention. The fast pace of technological evolutions and the wide availability for consumers of communication and monitoring tools has brought surveillance practices within the immediate reach of employers and human resources practices. Three recent cases of the ECtHR…
On December 20, 2017, the CJEU passed a landmark case on the legal status of Uber. On February 19, KU Leuven’s Faculty of Law will hold a conference on the legal status of online intermediaries in the platform economy. Members of the faculty experts in all the relevant branches of the law will comment on…
As EU-UK negotiations continue on Brexit, a well-known theme re-emerges, the impact of labour regulations on economic growth. As highlighted by David Mangan, UK government policy of ‘lightening’ the burden of employment law on business is a continuing endeavour and is not prevented by EU membership. It has also been argued that the flexibility of…
On Saint Nicholas’ birthday 2017 (6 December), the Court of Justice (the Court) held that selective distribution agreements, which prevent authorised distributors from using unauthorised third-party (online) platforms to sell luxury goods can in principle be compatible with Article 101(1) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU); the prohibition on anti-competitive…
