LegalPost.eu

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Microsoft may have breached EU competition rules by tying or bundling its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Microsoft is a global technology company offering productivity and business software, cloud computing and personal computing. Teams is a cloud-based communication and collaboration tool. It offers functionalities such as messaging, calling, video meetings, file sharing and brings together Microsoft's and third-party workplace tools and other applications. The coronavirus outbreak accelerated a shift to remote working as well as businesses' transition to the cloud and the adoption of cloud-based software for communication and collaboration. The transition to the cloud has enabled the emergence of new market players and business models offering customers the ability to use multiple types...

According to the Judgment of the European Court of Justice dated 6/7/2023 in Case C-510/21 (Austrian Airlines ),  as regards accidents on board an aircraft, the strict liability of airlines under the Montreal convention extends to inadequate first aid administered on board an aircraft. On a flight operated by Austrian Airlines, a jug containing hot coffee fell from a catering trolley and scalded a passenger. First aid was administered to him on board the aircraft. The passenger brought an action before the Austrian courts seeking damages and a declaration establishing Austrian Airlines’ liability for all future damage resulting from the aggravation of his burns on account of the inadequate first aid administered on board the aircraft. Austrian Airlines contends that the action should be dismissed, since it was brought after the expiry of the two-year time limit provided for in the Montreal convention [1] in respect of actions for damages relating to an accident that took place...

The International Court of Justice will hold public hearings in the case concerning Application of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Canada and the Netherlands v. Syrian Arab Republic) starting on Wednesday 19 July 2023, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.  The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Canada and the Netherlands on 8 June 2023. 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 (the “Convention against Torture”).  In their Application, Canada and the Netherlands contend that “Syria has committed countless violations of international law, beginning at least in 2011, wi...

In its final decision (8.6.2023) in the case of Ferrara and Others v. Italy (application no. 2394/22 and 18 others) the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously declared the applications inadmissible.   The case concerned the failure of the State authorities to pay legal fees awarded to the applicants by “assignment orders” (ordinanze di assegnazione) – enforcement orders aimed at implementing decisions or judgments issued under Law no. 89 of 2001 (“the Pinto Act”, a remedy dealing with excessively long proceedings before the courts).  The applicants are lawyers who were acting in this case as avvocati antistatari (lawyers who covered legal and other court fees for their clients and were directly awarded repayment by the courts). The Court held that the multiple applications lodged by the applicants were an abuse of the right of application under Article 35 § 3 (a) (admissibility criteria) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Facts The applicants, Alessandro...

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 ...