Month: May 2022

Can a judge’s request for a preliminary ruling be illegal and lead to disciplinary action? – The Court of Justice conclusions in case C-564/19

On By revistaunioIn Case notesLeave a comment 
By Joana Gama Gomes (Master in International and European Law from the University of Coimbra / Researcher at CIDEEFF - Centro de Investigação em Direito Europeu, Económico, Financeiro e Fiscal)
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The request for a preliminary ruling was submitted by a Hungarian court in criminal proceedings brought against a Swedish national, for infringement of the provisions of Hungarian law governing the acquisition or transport of firearms or ammunition. Although the facts of this case seem unrelated to the problem at hand, subsequent developments in Hungary during the course of this procedure raised a fundamental issue of EU law.

A declaration of illegality from the Hungarian Supreme Court and disciplinary proceeding against the referring judge led him to ask the Court two crucial questions – whether EU law precludes a national court of last instance from declaring as unlawful a decision by which a lower court makes a request for a preliminary ruling, and whether the principle of judicial independence precludes disciplinary proceedings being brought against a judge for having made such a request for a preliminary ruling.

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Some additional thoughts on metadata retention – points to consider when adopting new legislation [on joined cases C‑793/19 and C‑794/19 (SpaceNet) and the German legislation on this matter]

On By officialblogunioIn Essays1 Comment 
By Alessandra Silveira (Editor) and Tiago Sérgio Cabral (Managing Editor)
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As we have highlighted in this blog, in the recent judgment 268/2022 of 19 April, the Portuguese Constitutional Court finally declared the unconstitutionality of some provisions of Law 32/2008.  Law 32/2008 transposed the rules of Directive 2006/24, which were declared invalid eight years ago by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in the Digital Rights Ireland judgment, for introducing a system of generalised and indiscriminate retention of personal data. This case-law of the CJEU has recently (again) been confirmed in the G. D. judgment, according to which: Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58 (Directive on privacy and electronic communications), read in the light of Articles 7, 8 and 11 and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (“CFREU”), must be interpreted as precluding legislative measures which, as a preventive measure for the purposes of combating serious crime and preventing serious threats to public security, provide for the general and indiscriminate retention of traffic and location data (recital 129).

Fortunately, the idea of amending the Portuguese Constitution to overcome the problem of the generalised and indiscriminate retention of metadata – which is, first and foremost, a matter of EU law – is losing steam. But there have been some voices that, surprisingly, suggest a change of course in the case-law of the CJEU and the Portuguese Constitutional Court. It is worth remembering that, in a State governed by the rule of law and a Union based on the rule of law, judicial decisions against which there is no appeal must be respected – whether one agrees with them or not. This is our most precious constitutional heritage. In fact, one could argue that if we had carefully considered the implications and respected the decision of the CJEU in Digital Rights Ireland when it was originally ruled, we could have avoided this entire issue.

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Editorial of May 2022

On By officialblogunioIn Editorials2 Comments 
By Alessandra Silveira (Editor) and Tiago Sérgio Cabral (Managing Editor)
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Metadata retention is first and foremost a matter of EU law: a revision of the Portuguese Constitution will not solve the issue

In the recent judgment 268/2022 of 19 April, the Portuguese Constitutional Court finally declared the unconstitutionality of some provisions of Law 32/2008.[1] Law 32/2008 transposed Directive 2006/24, which was declared invalid eight years ago by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in the Digital Rights Ireland judgment, for introducing a system of generalised and indiscriminate retention of personal data. Given the resistance of the Portuguese judicial authorities to abide by CJEU case law in this area – or even refer back to the CJEU in order to clarify any remaining interpretative doubt – the result achieved by the Portuguese Constitutional Court was not only necessary but also desirable.

What is the solution when addressing a situation of judicial deadlock such as the one Portugal was experiencing with regard to the generalised and indiscriminate retention of personal data incompatible with EU law? It would be for the Constitutional Court to declare the invalidity of the internal rules incompatible with EU law, due to the violation of the obligations to which Portugal was bound when it joined the EU – in particular, the European loyalty provided for in Article 4(3) TEU, which is reflected in Article 8(4) of the Portuguese Constitution. In this context, it should be noted that the problem was not originally solved by the ordinary courts, but by the independent public administration. Here it is worth highlighting the Deliberation 1008/2017, of the Portuguese Data Protection Supervisory Authority (“CNPD”), which still in 2017 decided to disapply Law 32/2008 in the situations submitted to it for appreciation.

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The material competence of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and its extension to organized crime as terrorism, human and drug trafficking

On By officialblogunioIn EssaysLeave a comment 
Catarina Vilarinho (Master in EU Law, School of Law, University of Minho)
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1. Initial thoughts

The start of operation of a new European body such as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, hereinafter EPPO, on 1 June 2021 is a sign that the Member States of the European Union (EU) are increasingly aligning themselves to create a stronger and more resilient Union, perhaps, in this case, due to the need to combat transnational crime, for which we will not find a sufficiently effective solution without strong and structured intervention at European level[1].

In this way, the battlefield is prepared for a battle of equal arms, as cross-border crime can now be tackled by an equally cross-border authority[2].

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