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During its 40th plenary meeting (Strasbourg, 15-16 June 2023), the  Council of Europe European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) adopted the revised Time Management Checklist and its Explanatory Note.  The first version was adopted by the CEPEJ in 2005 and was very successful since then within the European judicial systems. The Checklist is a diagnostic and management tool to help the judiciary to collect information on and analyse relevant aspects of the duration of judicial proceedings. It provides an initial set of questions with purpose of helping in collecting appropriate information about the cases and to analyse relevant aspects of duration of court proceedings. The questions are structured around six indicators pertaining to the establishment and monitoring of duration of proceedings, timeframes, case weighting and use of information and communication technologies in courts. Based on the collected information and outcomes of the analysis, its purpos...

Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) issued an administrative fine against Spotify for shortcomings regarding transparency. The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, entered into force in 2018 and means, among other things, that the rights of individuals are strengthened. One such right is the right of access, which means a right for individuals to find out what personal data a business handles about the person in question and to receive information about how this data is used. Due to complaints that the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) received against Spotify AB regarding the right of access, IMY has audited how Spotify handles the right for individuals to access their personal data. IMY finds that Spotify provides to individuals the personal data the company processes when individuals request it. However, Spotify shall also provide information to the person requesting access about how Spotify uses this data and this information must be easy to under...

At the Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark, 1-2 PhD fellowships in EU law will be available as of 1 January 2024, or by further agreement. The place of work will be SDU Campus Odense. The responsibilities of the PhD fellows at the Department of Law for this call include the following tasks: Writing a PhD thesis on EU law, taking account of the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) linked to the job description and research project below. Undertake some teaching within the context of the fellowship. Supervise bachelors and master students for their theses. Take part in various knowledge exchange activities both inside and outside the university. Build relations to and cooperate with external stakeholders. Undertake administrative tasks related to research and teaching. The PhD position(s) principally involves research obligations. The position is aimed at candidates who will be able to contribute to the research of the department, wi...

The rise of ESG: how important is it for law firms and their client relationships? Webinar on 29 June 2023 at 1300 - 1400 BST. Many countries now require listed companies, for example, to account for their economic, environmental and social corporate governance (ESG) within their annual reports sent to their shareholders. Indeed, companies legislation in certain jurisdictions now require directors of companies to take environmental and social considerations into account when acting in the best interests of the companies they steward. In this webinar, the panelists will discuss the increasing pervasiveness of ESG norms in legal practice and why lawyers need to take this growing development practice seriously in their day-to-day practice. This seminar is the Part 5 of a 9-part webinar series presented by the  China Working Group  of the  IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum  and  IBA Young Lawyers’ Committee See the Webinar Speakers here More details her...

by Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M. Lawyers have the right to refuse to undertake a case when it conflicts with their moral principles, their dignity and conscience. Both the Code of Lawyers in Greece and the Code of Lawyers 'Ethics in Cyprus provide the legal framework to support this choice.   The Greek Legislation The lawyer's right to refuse the defense of a specific defendant in a criminal trial clearly follows from the wording of article 37 of the Lawyers' Code (Law 4194/2013). According to paragraph 1 of this article, the lawyer has an obligation to undertake any case, unless it is manifestly unfounded, not amenable to defense, conflicts with the interests of other clients or goes against his/her principles. According to paragraph 2, the lawyer must undertake the defense of any accused, if requested by the judicial authorities, subject to paragraph 1. The reasons for refusing to undertake a case are expanded by article 6 of the Greek Code of Ethics of the Legal Pro...

According to the Judgment of the European Court  of Justice (22/6/2023) in Case C-579/21 (Pankki S), every person has the right to know the date of and the reasons for the consultation of his or her personal data. The fact that the data controller is engaged in the business of banking has no effect on the scope of that right. In 2014, an employee of the bank Pankki S who was, at the same time, a customer of that bank, learnt that his personal data had been consulted by other members of the bank’s staff, on several occasions, between 1 November and 31 December 2013. Since he had doubts as to the lawfulness of those consultations, that employee, who had in the meantime been dismissed from his post within Pankki S, on 29 May 2018 asked Pankki S to inform him of the identity of the persons who had consulted his customer data, the exact dates of the consultations and the purposes for which those data had been processed.  In its reply of 30 August 2018, Pankki S refused to disclose ...

The event will be taking place on Tuesday June 27th from 1400 until 1800 BST. It is a jointly hosted programme of the War Crimes Comittee with King’s College War Studies War Crimes Research Group. An important event to hear from prominent former government officials, activists, and experts from Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria, as well as lawyers engaged in peace and accountability efforts as we examine the conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan from two perspectives. The first panel will address the pending issues of alleged violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes in the conflicts, the impact on peace negotiations, and what accountability will look like in these countries. The second panel will examine the role of sanctions and terrorist designations in conflicts, both international (UN) and unilateral/regional (US/UK/EU), and the repercussions on the peace process or subsequent rebuilding and reconciliation post-conflict. (photo: freepik.com) Read mo...

The European Ombudsman found maladministration in how the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) deals with access to documents requests that it considers imprecise or that concern a large number of documents or very long documents. Specifically, the Ombudsman found it problematic that when Frontex believes a ‘fair solution’ is necessary in response to a large access request, it decides not to apply the statutory time limit for the request until after a fair solution has been found. The Ombudsman also criticised Frontex’s practice of sometimes suspending the statutory time limit for dealing with requests it considers imprecise. She has recommended Frontex discontinue these practices. The Ombudsman opened an own-initiative inquiry to look into how the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) deals with requests for public access to documents. The inquiry stemmed from information raised in a complaint to the Ombudsman about systematic delays and other issue...

On 8 June 2023, Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands filed a joint application instituting proceedings against the Syrian Arab Republic before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), concerning alleged violations of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.  In their Application, Canada and the Netherlands contend that “Syria has committed countless violations of international law, beginning at least in 2011, with its violent repression of civilian demonstrations, and continuing as the situation in Syria devolved into a protracted armed conflict”.  According to the Applicants, “[t]hese violations include the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment . . ., including through abhorrent treatment of detainees, inhumane conditions in places of detention, enforced disappearances, the use of sexual and gender-based violence, and violence against children”.  The Applicants claim that “[...

The EU is making it more difficult for criminals to circumvent anti-money laundering rules via crypto currencies. Recently the Council adopted updated rules on information accompanying the transfers of funds by extending the scope of the rules to transfers of crypto assets.  This ensures financial transparency on exchanges in crypto-assets and provides the EU with a solid framework that complies with the most demanding international standards on the exchange of crypto-assets, ensuring that these are not used for criminal purposes. Council’s decision is bad news for those who have misused crypto-assets for their illegal activities, to circumvent EU sanctions or to finance terrorism and war. Doing so will no longer be possible in Europe without exposure – it is an important step forward in the fight against money laundering. Under the new rules, crypto asset service providers are obliged to collect and make accessible certain information about the sender and benefi...

In Chamber's judgment (1.6.2023) in the case of Erik Adamčo v. Slovakia (application no. 19990/20) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  The case concerned the trial of Mr Adamčo as an accessory to two organised-crime-related murders, from the 1990s. The evidence used at the trial included testimony from persons who had confessed to having participated in the murders allegedly along with Mr Adamčo and who had agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in exchange for advantages. He was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.  The Court found in particular that the use of such evidence had not been accompanied by appropriate safeguards to ensure the overall fairness of the proceedings as the courts had distorted the content of some of that evidence and had paid no individual attention to the scope and advantages obtained by the collabora...