12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 645 (2006) Peter L. Strauss, Betts Professor of Law, Columbia Law School. This Article stems from a project on European Union Administrative Law undertaken by the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. It explores the generation of normative texts by the Commission of the European Union, its executive body, from the perspective of Americans familiar with notice and comment rulemaking. Legislative drafting (an exclusive responsibility of the Commission), subordinate measures corresponding to American rules and regulations, and soft law generated by the Commission are all considered In creating legislative proposals, the […]
Daily Archives: March 1, 2006
15 posts
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 695 (2006) Giuseppe B. Abbamonte. Head of the unit in the Health and Consumer Department of the European Commission dealing with the regulation of unfair commercial practices and other consumer protection legislation. This Article describes the structure, objectives, and justification of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in terms of improved regulation, the liberalization of the Internal Market, and consumer protection. It then reviews the main provisions of the Directive and briefly compares them with the corresponding provisions of the US. Federal Statements on Deception and Unfairness. The tests of the General Prohibition set out in […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 713 (2006) Francesca Strumia, S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School. This Article explores the judicial application of the doctrines of free movement and citizenship in the European Union and in the United States. A comparative examination of the case law on these two doctrines shows remarkable similarities in the European and American courts’ combination of citizenship and free movement in resolving analogous judicial issues. Further investigation, however, reveals that behind a first sight affinity of judicial formulas, different rationales and diverging constitutional roots can be found in the two systems. In order to spell out more […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 751 (2006) Cyril Ritter, Member of the Brussels Bar. This Article explains the rules and customs governing the office of Advocate-General. In addition, it examines the practical role and impact of Advocates-General and the legal value and usefulness of their opinions. It presents statistics on individual Advocates-General as well as possible interpretations and explanations for these statistics.
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 775 (2006) Mel Kenny, Marie Curie Fellow at the Centre for European Law and Politics at Bremen University. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?-Who will guard us from our guardians?-expresses one of the central dilemmas of decision-making: the tendency for the bounds of power to be abused in modern states. This Article argues that a similar process is observable in the EU-where governance is becoming ever more informal, ad hoc, and disorganized-and is exemplified in the Commission’s strategy to improve the coherence of EC law where, despite the ostensible rejection of a European civil code, a broad […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 809 (2006) Dionysios V. Tsiros. Associate, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates; Doctoral Candidate, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II); LL.M., NYU School of Law; DEA, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris it); J.D., University of Athens School of Law. A. Importance and Types of EU Law Enforcement Enforcement of EU law has always been one of the quintessential objectives of the Community legal order. From the establishment of the direct effect of Community Law to the recognition of its supremacy vis-a-vis the national law of Member States, the European Court of Justice (ECJ or Court) has […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 827 (2006) Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou, J.S.D. candidate in International Law, Columbia Law School. The European Community (EC) adopted a Regulation on June 27, 2005 regarding its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme, which aims to give to developing countries preferential access to the European Union (EU) market through lower tariffs. GSP schemes favor trade with less developed and least developed countries (LDCs) and function as a legal exception to the most-favored-nation (MFN) principle embodied in the first article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) by application of the GATT Enabling Clause of 1979. […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 339 (2006) Mark Berger, Oliver H. Dean Peer Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. J.D., Yale Law School, 1969; B.A., Columbia University, 1966. Since it came into force in September, 1953, the European Convention on Human Rights has served as a reflection of Europe’s movement toward the establishment of common standards of individual human rights and freedoms. The forty-five countries that are currently signatories to the Convention are subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which was established in 1959 as a mechanism to interpret and […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 383 (2006) Amichai Magen, Lecturer in Law and J.S.D. Candidate, Stanford Law School; Fellow, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), Spogli-Freeman Institute for International Studies (FSI), Stanford University. This Article conducts a theoretically informed critical analysis of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Using primary data-including interviews with the chief architects of the new policy-and drawing upon compliance theory in both international law and international relations scholarship, it seeks to conceptualize and evaluate what is arguably the European Union’s (EU) most ambitious plan of “governance export” to date. As such, the Article […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 487 (2006) Alexandra Gatto, Visiting Scholar, Columbia Law School, Fall 2005. This Article is based on a research project conducted for the International Institute for Labour Studies (ILLS) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. The issue of governance in the European Union (EU) has been for many years now at the center of a vast academic and institutional debate. The theme of governance has indeed progressively incorporated most branches of EU law and policies departing from its original administrative reach; it now encompasses the areas of environmental law, health and safety law, and […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 429 (2006) Hon. Samuel L. Bufford, U .S. Bankruptcy Judge, Central District of California; Nomura Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School, Winter 2005. J.D., University of Michigan, 1973; Ph.D., University of Texas, 1969; B.A., Wheaton College, 1964. The European Union Insolvency Regulation (the EU Regulation) is a giant step forward in promoting international cooperation among EU countries for cross-border insolvency proceedings. It adopts a modified universalist solution to cross-border proceedings insofar as they are located within the EU. However, experience has shown that it needs improvements to work effectively. A venue battle now rages between […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 517 (2006) Florian Sander, Associate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hamburg, Germany; LL.M., Harvard Law School, 2005; Dr. Jur., University of Hamburg, 2003. One of the core concerns of current EU reform efforts is the transformation of the principle of subsidiarity into a judicially manageable standard governing the federal balance between the EU and its Member States. The draft European Constitution (TCE) provides the momentum towards judicial review of the principle of subsidiarity. While its entry into force is as of yet uncertain, it clearly indicates broad political consensus on a more sophisticated balance between judicial and […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 573 (2006) Christopher D. Belelieu, J.D. Candidate, Columbia Law School, 2006; A.B., Georgetown University, 2003. This Note seeks to explore the European Court of Human Rights’ (the Court) recent judgment in the Sahin case by framing the legal question of the headscarf within the larger political, historical, and cultural context of Turkey while also looking at the Court’s reasoning as part of the legal eccentricities of the Court’s jurisprudence. The Note will focus on the Court’s unwillingness to engage the legal tensions in balancing an individual’s freedom of religion with Turkey’s desire to preserve its […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 625 (2006) Katherine M. Apps, Supervisor in Law, New Hall College, Cambridge, United Kingdom. I am most grateful to Tim Corthaut for his helpful comments on previous drafts; however, all errors and omissions are entirely my own. Hot on the heels of the “no vote” to the Constitution in France and the Netherlands, it was clear that Case C-176/03 Commission v. Council would be likely to generate a large quantity of controversy. However, it would have been a rash tipster to have advised staking money on the Court of Justice (the Court or ECJ) going […]
12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 639 (2006) Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou, J.S.D. Candidate, Columbia University School of Law. On December 12 2005 the Commission of the European Communities (European Commission) presented the final draft of its proposal for a new legislative framework for wastes. The legal basis for the legislation is Article 175 EC Treaty mandating the co-decision procedure for the adoption of legislation regarding environmental issues. Accordingly, the Commission submitted the proposal to the Council and the European Parliament on December 23, 2005. The deliberations have taken place and the new directive is expected to come into force after the debates […]