European Court of Justice (News)

M.A. and Others
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
A Member State that has given notice of its intention to withdraw from the EU in accordance with Article 50 TEU remains the responsible State for the purposes of the Dublin III Regulation

Cresco Investigation
SOPO
The grant under Austrian law of a paid public holiday on Good Friday only to employees who are members of certain churches constitutes discrimination on grounds of religion prohibited under EU law

Commission v United Parcel Service
Competition
The Court of Justice confirms that the Commission’s decision prohibiting the acquisition of TNT Express by UPS must be annulled due to procedural irregularity

Google
PDON
Advocate General Szpunar proposes that the Court should limit the scope of the de-referencing that search engine operators are required to carry out to the EU

G.C. and Others
PDON
Advocate General Szpunar proposes that the Court should hold that the operator of a search engine must, as a matter of course, accede to a request for the de-referencing of sensitive data

Fashion ID
PDON
Advocate General Bobek: the operator of a website embedding a third party plugin such as the Facebook Like button, which causes the collection and transmission of the users’ personal data, is jointly responsible for that stage of the data processing

Rimšēvičs v Latvia
Law governing the institutions
Advocate General Kokott proposes that the Court should rule that, by suspending the Governor of the Bank of Latvia from office, the Republic of Latvia has failed to fulfil its obligations

Berlusconi and Fininvest
Freedom of establishment
The Court of Justice alone has jurisdiction to determine whether the legality of the ECB’s decision opposing the acquisition by Fininvest and Mr Berlusconi of a qualifying holding in Banca Mediolanum is affected by any defects vitiating the preparatory acts by the Banca d’Italia

Commission v Poland
Principles of Community law
Poland must immediately suspend the application of the provisions of national legislation relating to the lowering of the retirement age for Supreme Court judges

Hamas v Council
External relations
The General Court dismisses the action brought by Hamas against the decisions to maintain the freezing of its funds as an entity involved in acts of terrorism

Rittinger and Others
State aid
The German broadcasting contribution is compatible with EU law

Hein
DFON
During their minimum period of annual leave guaranteed by EU law, workers are entitled to their normal remuneration, in spite of prior periods of short-time working

European Union v Gascogne Sack Deutschland and Gascogne
Law governing the institutions
The Court sets aside the damages imposed on the EU by the General Court on account of bank guarantee charges incurred by several undertakings in the context of excessively long proceedings before the General Court

Ville de Paris v Commission
Environment and consumers
The General Court upholds the actions brought by the cities of Paris, Brussels and Madrid and annuls in part the Commission’s regulation setting excessively high oxides of nitrogen emission limits for the tests for new light passenger and commercial vehicles

VG Media
Approximation of laws
Advocate General Hogan: the Court should rule that the new German rules prohibiting search engines from providing excerpts of press products without prior authorisation by the publisher must not be applied

Deutsche Telekom v Commission
Competition
The General Court partially annuls the Commission decision relating to anticompetitive practices on the Slovakian telecommunications market

Touring Tours und Travel
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
The Schengen Borders Code precludes Germany from requiring coach transport operators of cross-border services to check the passports and residence permits of passengers before entering or leaving German territory

Mubarak v Council
External relations
The General Court upholds the Council’s decisions of 2017 and 2018 to renew the restrictive measures taken against Mr Mubarak, former President of Egypt, in the light of ongoing judicial proceedings relating to the misappropriation of Egyptian State funds

Biogaran v Commission
Competition
The General Court annuls in part the European Commission’s decision finding the existence of restrictive agreements and an abuse of a dominant position on the market for perindopril, a medicine used to treat hypertension and heart failure

Pelham and Others
Freedom of establishment
Advocate General Szpunar proposes that the Court should rule that sampling constitutes an infringement of the rights of the producer of a phonogram when it is done without his authorisation