Category: Summaries of judgments

Summaries of judgments

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Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judge and référendaires of the CJEU (Nuno Piçarra, Mariana Tavares and Sophie Perez)
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Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 27 March 2019, slewo – schlafen leben wohnen GmbH v Sascha Ledowski (Case C-681/17, EU:C:2019:255)

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Consumer protection — Directive 2011/83/EU — Article 6(1)(k) and Article 16(e) — Distance contract — Right of withdrawal — Exceptions — Concept of ‘sealed goods which are not suitable for return due to health protection or hygiene reasons and which have been unsealed by the consumer after delivery’ — Mattress whose protective seal has been removed by the consumer after delivery

The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling

The request for a preliminary ruling was made in proceedings between slewo — schlafen leben wohnen GmbH (‘slewo’), an online trader which sells, inter alia, mattresses, and Mr Sascha Ledowski, concerning his exercise of his right of withdrawal in relation to a mattress purchased on slewo’s website.
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Summaries of judgments

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Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judge and référendaires of the CJEU (Nuno Piçarra, Mariana Tavares and Sophie Perez)
 ▪


Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 26 March 2019, SM v Entry Clearance Officer, UK Visa Section (Case C-129/18, EU:C:2019:248)

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Citizenship of the European Union — Right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States — Directive 2004/38/EC — Family members of a citizen of the Union — Article 2(2)(c) — ‘Direct descendant’ — Child in permanent legal guardianship under the Algerian kafala (provision of care) system — Article 3(2)(a) — Other family members — Article 7 and Article 24(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Family life — Best interests of the child

1. Facts

The request for a preliminary ruling was made in proceedings between a couple of French nationals and the Entry Clearance Officer, UK Visa Section, concerning the latter’s refusal to grant SM entry clearance for the territory of the United Kingdom as an adopted child. Abandoned by her biological parents at birth, SM was placed in the guardianship of the couple in 2011 under the Algerian kafala system. The application for entry clearance for the United Kingdom was refused on the ground that guardianship under the Algerian kafala system was not recognised as an adoption under United Kingdom law and that no application had been made for intercountry adoption.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was called upon to hear the case on appeal and referred to the Court of Justice questions for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States (OJ 2004 L 158, p. 77).
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Summaries of judgments

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Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judges and référendaire of the General Court (Maria José Costeira, Ricardo Silva Passos and Esperança Mealha)
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Judgment of the General Court  (Third Chamber) of the 14th of May 2019, T-795/17, C. Moreira/EUIPO (Neymar)

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=2F7E92B2A7F19F8025819B84B2292322?text=&docid=214045&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=8873348)

EU trade mark — Invalidity proceedings — EU word mark NEYMAR — Declaration of invalidity — Bad faith — Article 52(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 59(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001

1. Facts

In December 2012, Mr C Moreira filed an application for registration of the word sign ‘NEYMAR’ as a EU trade mark, in respect of clothing, footwear and headgear. The mark was registered in April 2013.

In February 2016, Mr Neymar Da Silva Santos Júnior, filed an application with EUIPO for a declaration of invalidity against that mark in respect of all the goods covered by it. The application for a  declaration of invalidity was upheld by EUIPO.

Mr Moreira then brought an action before the General Court against the decision of EUIPO.

2. Decision

The Court begins to note that  it is demonstrate that Mr Neymar Da Silva Santos Júnior was already known in Europe at the relevant date and was already recognised as a very promising football player, having drawn the attention of top-flight clubs in Europe in view of future recruitment, several years before his actual transfer.

The Court also confirms that Mr Moreira possessed more than a little knowledge of the world of football, as proven by the fact that he filed an application for registration of the word mark ‘IKER CASILLAS’, a mark corresponding to the name of another famous football player, on the same day he sought registration of the mark ‘NEYMAR’.
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Summary of Comission v. Belgium – C-275/83

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: Social Security; Pensions; Regulation; Resident

Court: CJEU| Date: March 28th 1983 | Case: C-275/83 | Applicants: European Comission vs Belgium

Summary:  European Comission brought an action pursuant the article 169 of the EEC Treaty against Beligum for disrespect of the obligations under article 33 of regulation n. 1408/71 that involves the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families. The mentioned article provides that pension’s deductions may be made by an institution of a Member State only for people in these conditions: maternity leave or sickness. However this deductions have to be made by an institution of this Member State wherever could be the actual residence of one persons within the EU. CJEU concluded that the law in force was not comply with the requirements of Community Law.

The decision can be acessed here and the opinion of AG here.

Summary of Cassis Dijon – C-120/78

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: Common Market; Spirit Drinks, Importation, Minimum Content, Cassis Dijon

Court: CJEU| Date:  Feb. 20th 1979 | Case: C-120/78 | Applicants: Rewe-Zentral AG vs Bundesmonopolverwaltung Für Branntwein

Summary:  Rene-Zentral is a central cooperative undertaking that imports good from other Member States. On 14th September 1976 the company requested authorization for Bundesmonopolverwaltung (Federal Monopoly Administration for Spirits) to import a spirit drink called “Cassis Dijon”. Administration told to Rene-Zentral that there was no need to ask for authorization to import goods, however “Cassis Dijon” couldn’t be sold in Germany because the spirit drink didn’t fulfil the requirements of alcohol (wine-spirits must be around 32% and the mentioned mark had around 20%). Rene claimed that the German provision represented a restriction for the free movement of goods and contrary to article 30 and 37 of the EEC Treaty. Rene brought an action against the decision and the Court suspended the action and referred the following questions to CJEU:

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Summary of Internationale Handelsgesellschaft – 11/70

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: Deposit, Export licence, force majeure

Court: CJEU| Date: December 12nd 1970 | Case: 11/70 | Applicants: Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH vs Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel

Summary:  Internationale Handelsgesellschaft is an import-export undertaking. The company obtained 20 000 metric tons of maize meal with validity until 31st December 1967. According to article 12 of Regulation No 120/67 in what concerns to market of cereals. When the licence expired and the company delivered approximately 11 000 metric tons of cereal. After, Einfuhrund Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel declared the deposit forfeited according to Regulation No 473/67/EEC. The undertaking brought an action to court against this decision. The Court suspended the action and sent to CJEU the following questions:

Are the obligation to export, laid down in the third subparagraph of Article 12 (1) of Regulation No 120/67/EEC of the Council of 13 June 1967, the lodging of a deposit, upon which such obligation is made conditional, and forfeiture of the deposit, where exportation is not effected during the period of validity of the export licence, legal? Continue reading “Summary of Internationale Handelsgesellschaft – 11/70” →

Summary of Vassen Göbells – C-61/65

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: Pension, Sickness, Enforceable provisions, Survivors

Court: CJEU| Date: December 10th 1965 | Case: C-61/65 | Applicants: Mrs Vassen vs Management of the Beambtendfonds voor het Mijnbedrif, Heerlen

Summary: Mrs Vassen was a widow of a mining employer. She was receiving a pension from a pension fund of the social secutrity (BFM), who placed her as a member of a sickness fund. On 31st August 1963 she went to live in Germany. She asked to remove her name from the list, and so the BFM replied saying that her name wasn’t on the list since she went to live in Germany. When Mrs Vassen asked to re-enter on the list, BFM rejected. The Court suspended the works and referred the following question to CJEU:

Is the scheme laid … to be regarded as legislation, as defined in Article 1 (b) of Regulation No 3 and mentioned in Article 4 thereof? Furthermore can the said scheme governing sickness expenses be classified as ‘sickness insurance for mine workers (benefits in cash and in kind in the event of sickness and maternity)’ listed at (i) under the heading ‘Netherlands’ in Annex B to Regulation No 3, to which Article 3 of the said Regulation refers? Thus does Regulation No 3 (and also Regulation No 4) apply to non-manual workers employed in the Netherlands mining industry to whomthe said scheme governing sickness expenses is applicable?
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Summary of Tetra Pak – T-51/89

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: Common Market, Abuse, Dominant Position, European Commission, Exemption.

Court: CJEU, General Court | Date: June 10th 1990 | Case: T-51/89 | Applicants: Tetra Pak Raussing S.A. vs European Commission

Summary: On 26th July 1988, European Commission declared that Tetra Pak Raussing S.A. was in breach of article 86 of the EEC Treaty because by purchasing LiquiPak, they would have access to LiquiPak’s exclusivity contract of patent. This exclusive licence relates to a new UHT milk-packaging process. On 26th June 1986, EloPak made a complaint to the European Commission contesting TetraPak act according to articles 85 and 86 of the EEC Treaty. European Commission concluded that TetraPak infringed article 86 of the EEC Treaty by abusing its dominant position. TetraPak contested the decision and appealed to First Instance Court based on the argument that European Commission couldn’t disallow the deal based on article 86 when this deal is an exemption to n.3 of article 85 of the EEC Treaty. This argument is separated in three sub-categories:

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Summary of Brasserie du Pêcheur & Factortame – C-46/93 and C-48/93

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: liability of the state; legislator; claims; repair; individual’s rights

Court: CJEU | Date: March 5th 1996 | Cases: C46/93 and C-48/93 | Applicants: Brasserie du Pêcheur vs Federal Republic of Germany

Summary: This judgment contains two similar cases connected to the same matter: liability of the State.

In the first case, the French company Brasserie du Pêcheur was obliged to cease their exportations from Germany due to German authorithies’ allegations that the beer did not fulfill purity requirement. European Comission interfered in this case and stated that this provisions were contrary to article 30 of EEC Treaty and brought an infringement proceedings against German Federal Republic. On 12th March 1987, the court confirmed EC’s arguments and consequently condemned the German act. Therefore, Brasserie du Pêcheur moves another action to reclaim their losses. The Court had doubts related to the limits of liability of the State and internal law and so they decided to send a question to the CJEU.

In the second case, Factortame intented an action in High Court of Justice with the purpose to challenge the compatibility of Part II of the Merchant Shipping Act with article 52 of the EEC Treaty. This law predicted a new register for British fishing boats and it pretended to obligate vessel’s registration, including those already registered, according to some conditions relating to nationality. The boats that couldn’t be registered were forbidden to fish. In another previous judgement, CJEU considered that this law was contrary to Communitary law, but it was not contrary that all the boats in UK suffered more controled by the authorities. On 4th August 1989, European Comission brought infringement proceedings against UK to suspend nationality requests because they were contrary to articles 7, 52 and 221 of the EEC Treaty. Afterwards, the Court decided to call the intervenients to show the amount of claims, however the Court had doubts in what refers to include a claim for inconstitutional behaviour and send a question to CJEU.

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Summary of Costa/ENEL – 6/64

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by José Ricardo Sousa, student of the Master's degree in EU Law of UMinho
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Keywords: primacy; competition rules; non-discrimination; nationalisation; state aid.

Court: CJEU | Date: July 15th 1964 | Case: 6/64 | Applicants: Faminio Costa vs Ente Nazionale Energica Elettrica

Summary: The Italian Republic nationalized the production and distribution of electric energy. In the middle of the proceedings, Mr Costa, shareholder of an energy company affected by the sector nationalization requested the application of article 177 of EEC Treaty to obtain the interpretation of articles 102, 93, 53 and 37 of the same treaty. To Mr Costa, this nationalization infringed the articles mentioned above. The Giudice Consiliatore decided to send a question to CJEU:

“Having regard to Article 177 of the Treaty of25 March 1957 establishing the EEC, incorporated into Italian law by Law No 1203 of 14 October 1957, and having regard to the allegation that Law No 1643 of6 December 1962 and the presidential decrees issued in execution of that Law (No 1670 of 15 December 1962, No 36 of 4 February 1963, No 138 of25 February 1963 and No 219 of 14 March 1963) infringe Articles 102, 93, 53 and 37 of the aforementioned Treaty, the Court hereby stays the proceedings and orders that a certified copy of the file be transmitted to the Court of Justice of the European Economic Community in Luxembourg.’”

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