Equal treatment in employment and occupation

Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judge and référendaire of the CJEU (Nuno Piçarra and Sophie Perez)

▪

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 15 July 2021, European Commission v Republic of Poland, Case C-791/19, EU:C:2021:596

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Disciplinary regime applicable to judges – Rule of law – Independence of judges – Effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law – Second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU – Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Disciplinary offences resulting from the content of judicial decisions – Independent disciplinary courts or tribunals established by law – Respect for reasonable time and the rights of the defence in disciplinary proceedings – Article 267 TFEU – Restriction of the right of national courts to submit requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice and of their obligation to do so

Facts

In 2017, Poland adopted a new disciplinary regime concerning judges of the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court) and judges of the ordinary courts. In the context of that legislative reform, a new chamber, the Izba Dyscyplinarna (‘the Disciplinary Chamber’), was established within the Supreme Court and was made responsible, inter alia, for hearing disciplinary cases relating to judges of the Supreme Court and, on appeal, those relating to judges of the ordinary courts.

Continue reading →

Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judge and référendaire of the CJEU (Nuno Piçarra and Sophie Perez)

▪

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 10 December 2020, J & S Service, Case C-620/19, EU:C:2020:1011.

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Personal data – Regulation (UE) 2016/679 – Article 23 – Restrictions – Important financial interest – Enforcement of civil law claims – National regulation referring to provisions of Union law – Tax data relating to legal persons – Incompetence of the Court

Facts

The dispute in the main proceedings opposes the Land Nordrhein‑Westfalen to D.‑H. T., acting as trustee in bankruptcy for J & S Service UG, in connection with a request for obtaining tax data concerning this company.

The tax administration having rejected this request, D.-H. T. appealed to the competent Verwaltungsgericht, which essentially upheld his appeal. The competent Oberverwaltungsgericht dismissed the appeal lodged by the Land Nordrhein-Westfalen against the judgment at first instance. This court considered in particular that the right of access to information, exercised on the basis of the law on freedom of information, was not precluded by existing specific rules in tax matters. Therefore, although the information requested was covered by tax secrecy, D.-H. T. was entitled, in his capacity as trustee in bankruptcy, to ask J & S Service for any information relating to the insolvency proceedings. The Land Nordrhein-Westfalen appealed against this decision to the Bundesverwaltungsgericht.

Continue reading →