Daily Archives: January 1, 2000


Respect for Fundamental Rights as a Constitutional Principle of the European Union

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1 (2000) Koen Lenaerts. Judge, Court of First Instance of the European Communities; Professor of Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. On the eve of the Intergovernmental Conference which opened in Turin on 29 March 1996 with the task of drafting what was to become the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Court of Justice delivered an Opinion in which it found that: “As Community law now stands, the Community has no competence to accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the European Convention on Human Rights”). Having […]


The European Union as a Supranational Federation: A Conceptual Attempt in the Light of the Amsterdam Treaty

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 27 (2000) Armin von Bogdandy. Professor of Public Law and Jurisprudence at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. Conceptualizing the institutions of European integration has always been challenging. In the view of many observers, it has even become an insurmountable task after Maastricht, considering the heterogeneity of the various founding Treaties. According to the general view, the Treaty of Amsterdam introduces no changes in this respect. Rather, its meaning is limited-according to the prevailing perception-to only minor corrections. Both views should be rejected. Certainly, the Amsterdam Treaty does not resolve all of the […]


The European Human Rights System as a System of Law

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 55 (2000) Richard S. Kay. Professor of Law, University of Connecticut. The territory under the jurisdiction of states adhering to or about to adhere to the European Convention of Human Rights encompasses almost all of Europe. The rapid expansion of the authority of the Convention to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe has properly been noted as a development of historic significance. This is, in large part, because the Convention system has, in the close to fifty years of its existence, enjoyed unparalleled success in enforcing a set of internationally produced standards of government […]


Case Law: Case C-1/96, The Queen v. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Compassion in World Farming Limited [ 1998] ECR 1-1251

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 115 (2000) Dr Geert Van Calster, LL.M., Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Environmental and Energy Law, K.U.Leuven; S J Berwin & Co. Facts of the Case and the Legislation at Issue The United Kingdom High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench division, referred to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling, two questions on the interpretation of Articles 29 and 30 EC (previously Articles 34 and 36 EC), and on the validity of Council Directive 91/629, laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves (the Directive). These questions were raised in proceedings brought by […]


Case Law: Judgment of the Court of 18 December 1997 in Case C-129/96, Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL v. Région-Wallonne

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 124 (2000) Geert Van Calster. LL.M., Research Fellow, Institute of Environmental and Energy Law, K.U.Leuven; SJ Berwin & Co., London/Brussels; Recognized student, University of Oxford. Facts and Procedure Inter-Environnement Wallonie is a non-profit seeking environmental association, active in the Walloon Region of Belgium. It seeks the annulment of the Order of the Walloon Regional Executive of 9 April 1992 on toxic or hazardous waste (‘the Order”). Such procedure takes place in the Belgian Conseil d’Etat/Raad van State, the highest administrative court. The Decree of the Walloon Regional Council of 5 July 1985 on waste, amended […]


Leg. Dev.: Prohibiting the Sale and Supply of Petroleum and Certain Petroleum Products to Certain Parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 133 (2000) Catherine S. Hoist. On October 4, 1999, the European Council adopted Regulation (EC) 2111/1999 prohibiting the sale andsupply ofpetroleum and certain petroleum products to certain parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and repealing Regulation (EC) 900/1999. The regulation is the latest version of the European Union’s oil embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, first implemented one month into NATO’s 11 – week bombing campaign on Serbia. It amends and “[flor reasons of transparency and simplicity” repeals Regulation (EC) 900/1999, which banned the sale, supply or export of petroleum and petroleum […]


Book Review: Modern Trends in Tort Law: Dutch and Japanese Law Compared. Edited by Ewould Hondius, the Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999.

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 147 (2000) reviewed by Li Yu. The centuries old field of tort law has in the past few decades undergone an unprecedented expansion. Behind this expansion lies not only the growing pace of industrialization around the globe magnifying the pool of the victims of human errors, but also the extension of many ancient legal principles to accommodate “the new sensitivities we seem to acquire” toward the plight of those injured. In the United States, mass tort suits have posed a forceful challenge to the very procedural ideals of common law adjudication in the continuing wave […]


Book Review: Towards a European Civil Code. Edited by Arthur Hartkamp, Martijn Hesselink, Ewoud Hondius, Carla Joustra and Edgar Du Perron. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2d Ed., 1998. 652 Pages.

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 157 (2000) reviewed by Miriam Parmentier. There is a “new European challenge to lawyers in Europe”: the codification of a unified European private law. The concept of a European civil code has been advocated for a number of years. This book aims to shed light on the possible content of such a codification. When the European Parliament joined in the chorus calling for the elaboration of a unified code of private law for EU member states, a group of scholars from the Netherlands started gathering legal academics’ opinions on a future civil code for the […]


Telecommunications and TV Networks

6 Colum. J. Eur. L. 142 (2000) Monica A. Lamb. The European Commission in June 1999 took another step in its campaign to introduce competition into the European telecommunications market by enacting Commission Directive 1999/64/EC amending Directive 90/388/EEC in order to ensure that telecommunications networks and cable TV networks owned by a single operator are separate legal entities (“Legal Separation Directive”). The Commission adopted this Directive pursuant to Article 86(3) of the Treaty Establishing the European Community (“EC Treaty”), which protects the Community’s interest in competition and trade development with respect to “undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of […]