3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 465 (1997) Patrick Wautelet. Assistant, Center for International and Foreign Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Article 17 of the Brussels Convention’ gives parties the ability to agree on the court that will have jurisdiction to settle any disputes that may arise out of their contractual relationship. Such agreements can be dangerous because prorogation of jurisdiction may be achieved by surprise, where a jurisdiction clause is not noticed by one of the parties. In the present case, the European Court of Justice had to decide under what conditions a jurisdiction clause appearing in a letter of confirmation […]
Jerald Khoo
495 posts
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 515 (1997) reviewed by Morten P. Broberg. University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law. On September 21, 1990, the EC Merger Regulation entered into force. In 1994 Mark Clough published his book EC Merger Regulation: A Practical Guide to the EC Merger and Acquisition Rules. Excluding annexes, the work comprises 259 pages containing eleven well-structured chapters. It is clear to the reader that the book is not intended to be an academic one but instead, as indicated in the title, a practical guide to legal practitioners. Hence, the author begins with an executive summary in which […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 169 (1997) Carl Baudenbacher. Judge of the EFTA Court; Prof., St. Galler University (Switzerland); Dr. jur. Berne University; Privatdozent, Zurich University, Visiting Professor, University of Texas at Austin School of Law. The European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement was signed in Oporto on May 2, 1992, after protracted negotiations and came into force on January 1, 1994. The Agreement is based on the idea of providing the participating states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) with free access to the single European market. By way of compensation, those countries adopt large portions of the European […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 229 (1997) Dieter Grimm. Dr. iur. (Frankfurt); LL.M. (Harvard); Professor of Law, University of Bielefeld; Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. I. SUPRANATIONALITY AS A SOURCE OF PROBLEMS As a matter of political taxonomy, the European Community is still a novelty in want of a convincing label. Thus for the time being we can only describe it by distinguishing it from traditional forms. On the one hand, the Community is not a state because it has too little sovereign power. On the other hand, the Community is not an international organization because it […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 243 (1997) Jirgen Meyer. Prof. Dr., University of Freiburg i. Br.; Member of the German Bundestag. When we speak of “organized crime,” we are referring to something other than traditional, individual criminal activity; that is, short-term behavior confined to a single offender. Organized crime includes among other things international drug trafficking, money laundering, traffic in persons, the illegal arms trade, protection and extortion, the production and distribution of counterfeit money and forged credit cards, as well as serious criminal offenses against the environment and, more recently, illegal trade in radioactive and nuclear materials. The offenses […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 257 (1997) Julio A. Baquero Cruz. Master of European Community Law (LL.M.), college of Europe (Bruges); Spanish lawyer, Researcher, European University Institute (Florence). I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member. – Groucho Marx Some things are difficult to explain logically. Even empirical sciences present problems that will forever stay unsolved. This is particularly so in the realm of law, for judges are not to solve logical conundrums, but to decide what is reasonable through interpretation of norms. This is the usual way to settle private law conflicts.’ […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 283 (1997) Geert van Calster. Institute of Environmental Law, Collegium Falconis, K.U.Leuven; SJ Berwin & Co, Brussels. Transparency – Access to Documents – Commission Decision and Code of Conduct – Legal Status – Duty to Motivate Facts and Procedure The applicants sought access to Commission Services documents, relying upon the 1994 Code of Conduct on public access to Commission documents. The documents concern EC intervention in the “Mullaghmore project.” In 1991, Irishauthorities announced a plan to build a visitors’ center at Mullaghmore, in western Ireland, proposing to use EC Structural Funds for the project. The […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 292 (1997) Marta Pertegás Sender. Assistant, Center for International and Foreign Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Brussels Convention Article 5(1) – Contract of Employment – Jurisdiction – Place of Performance of the Contractual Obligation Facts and Procedure Transnational contracts of employment, strongly encouraged in light of the free movement of workers in the European Union, may bring about problems when parties must determine which court(s) have international jurisdiction to hear cases arising from disputes between employer and employee. Due to the international nature of the agreement, it was not a priori foreseeable which judge had jurisdiction […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 298 (1996) Piet Van Nuffel. Fellow of the Foundation for Scientific Research-Flanders, Institute for European Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time – Action for annulment – Proportionality – Subsidiarity Facts and Procedure On 23 November 1993 the Council adopted Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time. This Working Time Directive was prepared by the Commission as one of the measures giving effect to the Social Charter signed in 1989 by all Member States except for the United Kingdom.’ Because of the […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 309 (1997) Gert Straetmans. Assistant at the Institute for European Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Case C-11/95, Commission of the EC v. Belgium, 10 September 1996, not yet reported in the E.C.R. Directive 89/552/EEC – Transmission of programs by cable Case C-222/94, Commission of the EC and France v. United Kingdom, 10 September 1996, not yet reported in the E.C.R. Failure to fulfill obligations – Directive 89/552/EEC – Telecommunications – Television broadcasting – Jurisdiction over broadcasters Facts and Procedure In both cases the Commission brought an action under Article 169 of the EC Treaty for a […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 317 (1997) Christopher Wyeth Kirkham. On January 27, 1997, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation No. 258197 of the European Parliament and the Council concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients. The Regulation, which augments a 1979 directive on labeling, was implemented to address the marketing and labeling of novel food products, such as genetically engineered foods or ingredients. The labeling requirements generally apply to food stuffs or ingredients that have not previously been placed on the Community market for human consumption, and which fall into at least one of the following categories: […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1 (1996) James J. Friedberg. Professor of Law, West Virginia University, J.D. Harvard Law School, B.A. Temple University. NO RAIN, CONDOS Drought, plus ecological pressures from agriculture and tourism, threatened the Donana wetlands with desiccation. Rain had been scarce in southern Spain for five years. Strawberry and rice growers on neighboring land drained local waters to irrigate their crops. Nearby, the beach resort of Matalascanas and the pilgrimage town of El Rocio siphoned off additional significant water. The Dofiana wildlife area presents an intriguing portrait of fragmented multilevel governance. European regional and environmental policies […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 49 (1996) Peter L. Lindseth. Associate in Law, Columbia University School of Law. B.A., J.D., Cornell; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. candidate (history), Columbia; research fellow, French Conseil d’ État, 1994-95. [A] legislative phenomenon is taking place in our time that we do not yet grasp very well because we are close to it, but as time gives us perspective, we shall see it in all its clarity: a phenomenon of differentiation that is destined to segregate those laws that are fundamental from those that are not. – Maurice Hauriou (1912). Notes on Decisions of the Conseil d’ État. The […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 85 (1996) Clifford Jones. J.D. University of Oklahoma; M.Phil., Ph.D. candidate (law), University of Cambridge. Eleanor Sharpston. M.A. University of Cambridge; Barrister and University Lecturer in European Law, University of Cambridge. Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Community, referred to the competition (antitrust) principles of the Treaty of Rome as a “fundamental innovation” for Europe. Although the Treaty took effect in 1958, it was not until 1962 that the Council enacted Regulation 17, laying down specific measures for implementing the competition rules which had been provided for in the Treaty itself. […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 109 (1996) Morten P. Broberg. Research fellow, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law. On December 21, 1989, the EC Council of Ministers adopted the EC Merger Control Regulation. The Regulation is the result of almost two decades of hard work involving a fair number of compromises. The European business community initially received the new Regulation with skepticism. However, in the intervening years skepticism has transformed into popularity stemming from a widely-held feeling among those working in the merger field that the Regulation is more sympathetic toward concentrations than the important national merger control regimes. The […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 125 (1996) Petra Foubert. Assistant at the Institute for European Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Common organization of the markets in bananas; Cases of hardship; Provisional measures In February 1993 the European Community established a common market for bananas. The Banana Regulation, which replaced the various national arrangements for the importation of bananas, favors the marketing of Community bananas and bananas from ACP countries and contains very restrictive rules on the importation of so-called third-country bananas from Central and South America. Germany, in particular, a traditional importer of third-country bananas, was not very happy with these […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 132 (1996) Case C-5/94, The Queen v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Hedley Lomas (Ireland) Ltd., May 23, 1996, 1996 E.C.R. 1-2553. Geert van Calster. Institute of Environmental Law, Collegium Falconis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; S.J. Berwin & Co., Brussels. Internal Market; Harmonization; Export Restrictions; Animal Welfare; EC Treaty Article 5; Member States Liability Facts and Procedure Several questions were referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the High Court (Queen’s Bench Division) of the United Kingdom in connection with proceedings between Hedley Lomas (Ireland) Ltd. and the Ministry of […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 145 (1996) Elke Ballon. Assistant, Institute for European and Economic Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Advocate. Directive 77/249/EEC; Freedom to Provide Services; Lawyers; Possibility of Opening Chambers; Articles 52 and 59 of the Treaty Facts and Procedure Reinhard Gebhard, a German national, obtained a law degree at the University of Tiibingen in Germany. He is authorized to practice as a Rechtsanwalt in Germany and was admitted to the Stuttgart Bar in 1977. Although he does not have chambers of his own in Germany, he works as an “independent collaborator” in a set of chambers there. Since […]
3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 153 (1996) Christopher Wyeth Kirkham. The European Union is currently making significant efforts to liberalize and develop its energy market, most recently in Decision No. 1254196/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down a series of guidelines for trans-European energy networks, adopted June 5, 1996. These guidelines follow several Commission studies. On December 13, 1995, the Commission had issued the White Paper on an Energy Policy for the European Union detailing the objectives of the Community for global competitiveness, security of energy supply, protection of the environment and the creation of an […]