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Article By Paris Hadjipanayis, Lawyer Ιn a recent high profile case ( C-260/18 ) adjudicated by the first instance court of Warsaw, Poland, a preliminary question was forwarded to the European Court of Justice on the 03/10/2019 to decide on a number of questions regarding the effect of abusive consumer clauses inserted in a mortgage loan, specifically with reference to the issuing of a loan in Swiss Francs (CHF) currency and released in national (PLN) currency. The question concerned the fate of such a consumer clause, whether it could be enforceable and if not whether abolition could grant the right to a National court to insert provisions from national (domestic) applicable legislation to fill in the gaps and protect the contract as well as the consumer. The matter of interest rate also became relevant to this question as the interest imposed originally was the one based on the reference point of LIBOR CHF 3M and the usual marginal profit of the lending bank. The applicant...

Ι n the case of Pastörs v. Germany (application no. 55225/14) the European Court of Human Rights held on 3.10.2019, unanimously, that the applicant’s complaint under Article 10 (freedom of expression) was manifestly ill-founded and had to be rejected, and, by four votes to three that there had been no violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the conviction of a Land deputy for denying the Holocaust during a speech in the regional Parliament. The Court found in particular that the applicant had intentionally stated untruths to defame Jews. Such statements could not attract the protection for freedom of speech offered by the Convention as they ran counter to the values of the Convention itself. There was thus no appearance of a violation of the applicant’s rights and the complaint was inadmissible. The Court also examined a complaint by the applicant of judicial bias as one of the Court of Appeal judges who...

European Commission decided to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU regarding the new disciplinary regime for Polish judges, requesting an expedited procedure. On 3 April 2019, the Commission launched this infringement procedure on the grounds that the new disciplinary regime undermines the judicial independence of Polish judges and does not ensure the necessary guarantees to protect judges from political control, as required by the Court of Justice of the EU. Specifically, the Polish law allows ordinary court judges to be subjected to disciplinary investigations, procedures and sanctions on the basis of the content of their judicial decisions, including the exercise of their right under Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to request preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice of the EU. Moreover, the new disciplinary regime does not guarantee the independence and impartiality of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Co...

The Greek Data Protection Authority has imposed a fine of 150,000 euros on PWC BS A.E. for violations of the General Data Protection Regulation. In particular, the Personal Data Protection Authority, upon a complaint, investigated on its own motion the legality of the processing of the personal data of employees of PWC BS (PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS BUSINESSSOLUTIONS SA) pursuant to which the abovementioned employees were forced to consent to the processing their personal data for three (3) distinct purposes. The Authority considered PWC BS as the controller: 1) has undergone unlawful processing, in breach of the provisions of Article 5 (1) (e); a) of the GDPR (principle of legality), the personal data of its employees, as it applied an inappropriate legal basis under Art. 6 (1)   a   GDPR (consent) instead of the appropriate legal basis for the performance of the contract, compliance with a legal obligation and the superior legal interest (Art. 6 (1), b, c' and g   ...

By George Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M. The silence of a suspect or accused person in criminal proceedings is a right enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 6 (1)). Unfortunately, in some legal systems and in their criminal practice, the defendant's silence is regarded as confession or acceptance of the charge, a practice that is fundamentally affecting the core of his defense rights. The right to silence is an important aspect of the presumption of innocence and its usefulness lies in protecting the accused person from self-incrimination. Monitoring compliance with the right to silence, as well as the related right of self-incrimination, is particularly critical for the offense, that a person is suspected or accused of having committed, but not for example in matters related to identifying a suspect or accused. The essence of the right to remain silent is to prohibit the suspect or the accused person from speaking, answering questions or providing info...

In Εuropean Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Strand Lobben and Others v. Norway (application no. 37283/13) the ECHR held, by 13 votes to four, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of both applicants, a mother and her son. The case concerned the domestic authorities’ decision to remove a mother’s parental authority and let foster parents adopt her son. The Court found in particular that the main reason for the authorities’ actions had been the mother’s inability to care properly for her son, in particular in view of his special needs as a vulnerable child. However, that reasoning had been based on limited evidence as the contact sessions between mother and son after his placement in foster care had been few and far between and the psychologists’ reports out-dated. In addition, a review of his vulnerability had contained barely any analysis and no e...

According to the Judgment of ECJ in Case C-649/17 (Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände - Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. v Amazon EU Sàrl), an e-commerce platform such as Amazon is not obliged in all cases to make a telephone number available to consumers before the conclusion of a contract. It is however obliged to provide those consumers with a means of communication allowing them to contact it quickly and to communicate with it efficiently. The company Amazon EU offers the sale of various goods, exclusively via a website, in particular, in Germany, via the site www.amazon.de. It was sued before the German courts by the Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände - Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. (Federal Union of Consumer Organisations and Associations) (‘the Federal Union’). The latter seeks to have it declared that Amazon did not respect its legal obligation to provide consumers with an efficient means to enter int...

The Annual Report on Monitoring the Application of EU law sets out how the European Commission monitored and enforced EU law in 2018. The online Single Market Scoreboard, also published today, evaluates the performance of EU/EEA countries in the EU single market and identifies the shortcomings where the countries and the Commission should step up their efforts. Citizens and businesses can only enjoy the many benefits of the single market if the rules that have been jointly agreed actually work on the ground. In November 2018, the Commission presented a fresh assessment of remaining barriers in the single market and called on Member States to be vigilant in implementing, applying and enforcing EU rules and refrain from putting up new barriers. For instance, from car emissions to e-commerce, from social media to the services sector, and much more besides. The Commission continues to ensure that EU rules are properly applied and enforce...

By  ADAM Global Τ he power of technology has always been incredible to all of us by simplifying our everyday lives. In order to stay in track and ahead in today’s fast paced competitive world, an increase in productivity has become a vital necessity. This, of course, must be aligned with rapid advancement in technology as traditional businesses are getting more and more familiarized with adapting digitization. But who would have thought a decade ago, that we will have a wonderful opportunity to have “virtual law firms”? YES, that’s right virtual law firms are the highlight trend of 2019. Legal cases can be a very hectic journey for both client and attorney. Hassle of time spent travelling, overhead costs and nerve-racking traditional environment can take a toll on the client. The virtual law firm is the solution to all these problems. Connecting to the desired lawyer, documentation transfer and other legal procedures are available online in the comfort of clients home or even...

By  ADAM Global  * Current Trends Affecting the Legal Industry The legal profession lacks qualified providers, the amount of legal work that is not reserved to qualified lawyers and that forms a big part of their income. This is where, “Legal technology” (legal tech or ‘lawtech’) is playing its huge role. The new provider competes on equal or more favorable terms than the law firm. Lawyers are now able to provide reserved activities and black letter law better, which is known to be more efficient and cheaper. Legal tech has excited the imagination of lawyers and non-lawyers alike as to its possibilities. In the legal sector the potential to do the same thing at a cheaper cost and more effectively is extremely appealing. In this blog we are going to the analyze the trends affecting the legal industry, and how the future of law firms will look like with the progress in legal technology.  AI and Technology: “Digital disruption all over the place” According to th...

The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has drawn up a list of good practices after reviewing the anti-harassment policies in 26 EU institutions and agencies. The practices cover awareness raising, workplace risk assessment, regular policy monitoring, mandatory training, swift procedures, and rehabilitation measures. “While the EU institutions generally have good anti-harassment policies, my report shows that more can and must be done to bring them into line with the legitimate expectations of a post #MeToo society.” “The aim of this mapping exercise is to assist in the standardising of these identified practices across all EU institutions,”  said Ms O’Reilly. Other important measures include allowing trainees to make formal complaints about harassment; regular training for confidential counsellors and the setting up of a pool of independent investigators, which institutions can draw upon during formal harassment investigations. The Ombudsman notes harassment ca...

By George Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M. The EU Court of Justice has issued important decisions in recent years on the issue of bank foreign currency loans, essentially in Swiss francs, which has created significant case law useful for defending the interests of borrowers who have been “trapped” by credit institutions in contracts with abusive currency risk clauses resulting in undue overchargings. In summing up this case-law, the European Court of Justice has reached the following main conclusions: 1.The loan agreement must set out in a transparent manner the exact functioning of the foreign currency conversion mechanism and the exchange rate clause so that the consumer can assess the financial consequences of this mechanism. 2.The borrower must be clearly informed by the bank that, by concluding a loan agreement in a foreign currency, he / she is exposed to a certain foreign exchange risk that he / she may find it difficult to cope with in the event of a devaluation of the currency a...

By Paris Hadjipanayis , Lawyer  The  EU Trademark Regulation  grants no express benefit to any trademark registered outside the European Union. Effectively, in the post Brexit era, UK national trademarks shall no longer enjoy protection from third-party counterfeiting, passing-off, unauthorized use, and distribution as well as licensing vis a vis exploitation by similarly confusing goods, services and intra-trades within the Union. This is partly because the European Union Intellectual Property Office [EUIPO] holds a database (art.112) via its online platform ( eSearch plus ) with all filed and registered EU marks for effectuating its checks and controls on a preliminary stage to either grant registration of a mark for the corresponding class of goods and services (as per the Nice Classification) or file an objection and/or reject the application. What is the tort of passing-off and why registration of a Trademark through EUIPO will become e...