Legal News

The European Court of Justice ruled that Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e V (the Federal Union of Consumer Organisations and Associations) may sue Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd in Germany on behalf of consumers, as the alleged breach—namely, failing to obtain valid consent for collecting users’ data—stemmed from processing users’ information in its App Centre. The court confirmed that representative organisations may bring actions where an infringement of a data subject’s rights arises in the course of personal data processing and results from the controller’s failure to fulfil its duty to give the data subject—at the latest upon collection—information, in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, in clear and plain language, about the purposes of that processing and the recipients of such data. A Berlin appeals court invited the ECJ to provide guidance on the consumer association’s case......

In this issue: EU fundamentals Commercial Competition and state aid Financial services Environment Insurance and reinsurance IP Life sciences TMT International trade Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers EU fundamentals The priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU ( July– December 2024) EU law analysis: The programme for the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU has been released, outlining its agenda and strategic focus for 1 July to 31 December 2024. This analysis summarises the principal priorities for the Hungarian Presidency across Practice Areas. See News Analysis: The priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU ( July– December...

What are the key priorities of the Hungarian Presidency? The core priorities under the Hungarian Presidency include: a new European Competitiveness Deal strengthening European defence policy a coherent and merit-based enlargement policy curbing illegal migration shaping the future of cohesion policy a farmer-focused EU agricultural policy tackling demographic challenges What are the priorities of the Presidency regarding Commercial? On the overhaul of the Late Payment Directive, the Hungarian Presidency seeks agreement on a general approach to the proposed amendment and to commence trilogue talks with the European Parliament. Driven by ongoing digitalisation, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive is being updated, and the Presidency intends to advance this file. It will also continue work on the proposed Toy Safety Regulation... What are the priorities of the Presidency regarding Dispute Resolution? In e- Justice cooperation, the Presidency will examine how AI can be...

The directive marks the culmination of a complex process. First, the EU needed to add the breach of EU sanctions rules to the catalogue of EU crimes. This occurred on 22 November 2022 via Decision 2022/2332, the first expansion of the list since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon. Soon after that decision, the European Commission tabled a draft directive to foster a common, effective sanctions enforcement approach across member states. The directive has now entered into force, and member states have 12 months to transpose it into national law. In this article, we sketch the main contours of the new directive, including fresh offences, potential liability for infringements and a clearer route for voluntary self-disclosures. Key aspects Scope The directive applies to breaches of ‘restrictive measures’ adopted under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union or Article 215 of the Treaty on the...

GEMA v GL, Case C‑135/23 What are the practical implications of this case? The reach of the Court of Justice’s ruling is unclear. It could be read as finding that any property with a television or radio for short‑term lets (such as Air Bn B) communicates all broadcasts to the public. Consequently, a copyright licence would be needed before any EU premises can be let, or the television and radio removed. Unlikely the judgment covers a single one‑off short let, but the more a letting resembles a hotel, the likelier a licence is required. The line between those who must obtain a licence to let and those who do not remains uncertain. What was the background? There is a block of 18 apartments used for short‑term lets......

In this issue: EU fundamentals Competition and state aid Data protection and cybersecurity Financial services Energy Environment Insurance and reinsurance IP Life sciences Regulatory TMT International trade Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers EU fundamentals European Council confirms nominations for key EU roles The European Council convened on 27 June 2024 to set its strategic agenda for 2024–2029 and to settle key appointments for the coming institutional cycle. António Costa, former Prime Minister of Portugal, was chosen to serve as President of the European Council from 1 December 2024 to 31 May 2027, succeeding Charles Michel. The Council also backed Ursula von der Leyen as its pick for a further term as President of the European Commission, and nominated Kaja Kallas, the current Estonian Prime Minister, for High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Commission Presidency still requires approval by the European Parliament, while the High...

Europe’s highest appeals tribunal handed down nine decisions, dismissing almost all aspects of challenges brought by Servier SAS and the generic-drug firms it is alleged to have paid unlawfully to stave off rivals to its perindopril, a treatment for high blood pressure and heart failure. Servier’s lone success, per a High Court notice, was a trimming of the European Commission penalty linked to its pact with Lupin Ltd, reduced from €37.1m to €34.75m. The bench threw out appeals by Lupin itself and by Unichem Laboratories Ltd and its subsidiary Niche Generics Ltd, Matrix Laboratories Ltd, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Biogaran SAS. It thereby affirms the judgments of the General Court finding that accords entered into by Servier and Biogaran were market‑exclusion arrangements that curtailed competition. Those undertakings therefore remain responsible for the fines levied by the commission, the court said in...

In its 25 March draft regulatory technical standards, ESMA set out essential guidance on the data that must be submitted to national competent authorities ( NCAs), which will oversee the vetting of proposed acquisitions of a qualifying holding in relevant CASPs. By way of context, Mi CA establishes a harmonised authorisation regime for running a CASP across the European Union and for accessing the EU passport. The overarching aim is to foster fair competition among CASPs and a more secure landscape for crypto-asset investors by verifying the robustness and reliability of authorised service providers, together with their leadership and shareholders, regardless of the member state that granted authorisation. Thereafter, any subsequent alteration to the governance or ownership of an authorised CASP stemming from a merger or acquisition must undergo prior scrutiny by the NCA supervising the target. This review is poised to...

In this issue: EU fundamentals Banking and finance Competition and state aid Financial services Free movement, immigration and employment Energy Environment Life sciences TMT Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers EU fundamentals Council of the EU opens accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova Following its decision of 14–15 December 2023, the Council of the EU has formally commenced accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. It underlined that both are already close partners of the EU and, as future member states, will be expected to continue upholding the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, including freedom, dignity, equality and the respect for human rights. The EU has now invited the European Commission to evaluate Ukraine’s and Moldova’s preparedness for opening...

Drafting and deploying a fresh framework for overseeing artificial intelligence has largely consumed most of the regulatory energy EU technology legislators have wielded in recent years. Yet uncertainty persists over who bears responsibility when things go awry. The AI Liability Directive, intended to sit alongside the new EU AI Act, now confronts a precarious and highly uncertain outlook indeed. Meanwhile, as AI firms fixated on that file, a highly significant law for the sector slipped through with little public fanfare or attention: the Product Liability Directive. Though the updated statute lacks ‘ AI’ in its title, it decisively broadens the EU’s rigorous product liability framework to fully encompass software. The EU Product Liability Directive has existed since the 1980s and has long served as a cornerstone of the bloc’s internal market architecture. As intangible goods such as software...

The news lands about a fortnight after Apple showcased hundreds of fresh AI capabilities — among them Apple Intelligence, i Phone Mirroring and Share Play Screen Sharing — slated to appear on select Apple products outside the EU over the coming months. In a 21 June 2024 statement, Apple said it is 'highly motivated' to bring these AI technologies to every user everywhere, yet it does not expect to deploy them in the EU because of the Digital Markets Act, finalised in 2022 and carrying substantial penalties and heavy fines, as set out in the law. The DMA subjects services classed as key gateways through which businesses reach end users to safeguards designed to stop them gaining an undue edge, including interoperability obligations and a prohibition on giving their own products and services preferential treatment over rivals. Firms that breach the regime face fines of up to...

Giuseppe Abbamonte, who heads media policy at the Commission, noted that the EU’s executive has been locked in ‘endless’ talks with rights holders over whether European copyright rules function effectively in reality when applied to generative AI tools such as Open AI’s Chat GPT and Google’s Gemini. Opt-out protocol Under Directive ( EU) 2019/790—the EU Digital Single Market Copyright Directive, known as the EU DSM Copyright Directive—there is a text and data mining exception that permits content owners to ‘opt out’ of scraping of online material by a reservation of rights. However, implementing it in practice is proving difficult today. ‘ The primary hurdle is the absence of a recognised, machine‑readable opt‑out protocol—there is no standardised method to state a reservation of rights,’ Abbamonte observed at the AI and Copyright: policy, challenges and perspectives, Digital Constitutionalism & Policy on 20 June...

EU nuclear, gas and geothermal industries have been placed at the centre of the forthcoming six‑month Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU, scheduled to start on 1 July 2024. On 18 June 2024, Hungarian officials presented their programme for guiding the Council’s regulatory agenda for their tenure, describing the politically sensitive nuclear power as 'one of the pillars of the success of the green transition' and pledging to back 'initiatives in this area' throughout their term. In their paper, the officials explicitly highlighted securing 'affordable energy prices for all energy sources' for EU consumers across the bloc, recalling this as a key contributor to the Union’s competitiveness and, indeed, their number‑one priority for the presidency. Under the banner of a ' New European Competitiveness Deal', they vowed to embed the strengthening of the EU’s...

In this issue: Commercial Competition and state aid Data protection and cybersecurity Free movement, immigration and employment Financial services Environment Life sciences Regulatory TMT International trade Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers Commercial Vinted improves pricing information following dialogue with European Commission Vinted, an online marketplace for second-hand goods, has enhanced its price displays and consumer transparency after discussions with the European Commission and Member State consumer authorities, bringing its approach into line with EU consumer law. The Network of Consumer Protection Cooperation Authorities ( CPC) will oversee checks of Vinted’s site and app to confirm the changes comply with EU rules. Should Vinted fail to uphold its commitments or not remedy issues highlighted by the CPC Network, national consumer authorities may impose sanctions. See: LNB News 18/06/2024 29......

What does the EU AI Act say about this? Under the EU AI Act: A Provider is a person or body that creates (or has created on its behalf) an AI system or general purpose AI ( GPAI) model and is the first to place it on the EU market; or, for an AI system, directly supplies it under its own name or trade mark for initial use to a Deployer within the EU. A Deployer is a person or body that uses an AI system under its authority in the EU, except where the system is used for personal, non‑professional activity. In broad terms, you can view a Provider as the developer of an AI system, and a Deployer as a professional user of that system. A person or body is caught by the EU AI Act regardless of where they are...

After a famously gruelling final bout of political bargaining in December, the EU’s AI Act cleared its last hurdle, acclaimed as a flagship victory for a Union long eager to cement its role as the global leader on digital regulation. The text is slated for publication in the EU’s Official Journal next month, with entry into effect 20 days thereafter, in August 2024. Attention has therefore shifted firmly to implementation—particularly to the often opaque, highly specialised, somewhat arcane sphere of technical standards. Such standards are granular, detailed sets of technical specifications that help industry demonstrate technical conformity with legislation. They have long served to harmonise technical and safety requirements. Once largely unnoticed, standards have now taken on clear strategic significance. The landscape is also unsettled, as a recent EU court judgment could fundamentally reshape the very basis on which standards...

At a glance The EU GIA outlines measures to accelerate the deployment of high-speed fibre‑optic internet and 5G—known as very high‑capacity networks ( VHCNs)—by 2030: Shared infrastructure: promoting the joint use of ducts and poles for VHCN roll‑out to maximise resources and lower costs Co‑deployment and coordination of civil works: enabling VHCN operators to work alongside public works so fibre can be installed concurrently, minimising disruption and speeding up broadband expansion Streamlined administrative procedures: simplifying processes for network deployment across the EU to cut bureaucracy and raise efficiency High‑speed‑ready buildings: encouraging buildings to include high‑speed‑ready infrastructure and ensuring access to it to support broadband roll‑out and adoption As Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice‑ President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, observes, removing red tape and ensuring swift, dependable connectivity is vital for the digital transition, serving both citizens and...

Nature Restoration Law Austria’s vote on 17 June 2024 to endorse the EU’s contentious Nature Restoration Law has set off a legal clash at the summit of the national government, prompting doubts about whether the act can be validly adopted. The measure secured its concluding approval in the Council of the EU this morning after Austria’s climate action minister, Green politician Leonore Gewessler, cast a ‘yes’ on the country’s behalf, nudging the long‑blocked bill over the qualified‑majority bar. Yet a letter from Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Karoline Edtstadler, Minister for the EU and Constitution—both centre‑right—argues she lacked the mandate to do so. Their pre‑emptive message was sent yesterday to Belgium’s prime minister, who is currently steering the EU governments’ legislative agenda as the holder of the Council’s rotating presidency. Citing council procedures, the letter maintains that Austria had already signalled an...

Update to a recent blog post In an update to a recent blog post on its push to create AI for Europeans in ‘a transparent and responsible way’, Meta said it was disappointed by a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (its lead EU privacy regulator) to postpone training its large language models on images, posts and other public content shared by adult users of Facebook and Instagram. The company, which owns both platforms, maintained it is highly confident its approach aligns with European laws and regulations, noting that since March 2024 it has kept data protection authorities across the EU informed and incorporated their feedback during development. Meta argued the move is a setback for European innovation and competition in AI, and will further delay delivering the benefits of AI to people in Europe. It also pointed out that using public data to train...

In this issue: Commercial Competition and state aid Data protection and cybersecurity Financial services Environment Life sciences TMT International trade Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Commercial Distance contract information obligations in case of conditional payments ( VT, UR v Conny Gmb H) Article 8(2) of Directive 2011/83/ EU, the EU Consumer Rights Directive ( EU CRD) setting out formalities for distance contracts, requires a trader to ensure that, when placing an order, the consumer expressly recognises that doing so entails an obligation to pay. Where ordering involves pressing a button or a comparable feature, that control must be labelled, in a clearly legible way, only with the words ‘order with obligation to pay’ or an equally clear and unambiguous wording indicating that submitting the order carries a payment...