Volume 9, Issue 1


Competition Between Rules and Rules of Competition: A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Proposed Modernization of the Enforcement of EC Competition Law

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1 (2002) Damien Geradin. Professor of Law at the University of Liege and the College of Europe, Bruges. Over the last couple of years, a very hot debate has raged in the European Union over the European Commission (hereafter, the “Commission”) proposals to modernize the implementation of EC competition law. In essence, these proposals seek to promote a more decentralized application of EC competition law. The Commission argues that decentralization will allow a better implementation of EC competition rules. Many, however, argue that the proposed reforms will lead to a less coherent and, in some […]


Reconciling Trade and Regulatory Goals: The Prospects and Limits of New Approaches to Transatlantic Governance Through Mutual Recognition and Safe Harbor Agreements

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 29 (2002) Gregory Shaffer. Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin Law School; Senior Fellow, UW Centre on World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE); Visiting Scholar, Columbia Law School. A central goal in governing the interface of the economies of the United States and European Community (EC) is to reconcile the objectives of protective social regulation, on the one hand, and free competition facilitated through open trade policies, on the other. These policies can be both complementary and conflicted This Article examines how these issues have been addressed bilaterally in a number of economic sectors through […]


Competence Conflicts and Solutions: National Tax Exemptions and Transnational Controls

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 79 (2002) Hanno E. Kube. Dr. iur. (Heidelberg), LL.M. (Cornell), Assistant Professor of Law (Habilitationsassistent) at the Institute for Finance and Tax Law of the University of Heidelberg. CONFRONTING NATIONAL TAX SOVEREIGNTY WITH TRANSNATIONAL RESTRICTIONS Tax sovereignty is still considered to be a particularly sensitive area of authority retained by the nation-states, and the foundation of a “sound fiscal federalism.” Accordingly, the regimes based on transnational law have hardly any powers to impose taxes themselves and also largely abstain from regulating national taxation directly. However, tax law only appears to be one of the enclaves […]


Sovereignty Lost, Sovereignty Regained? Some Reflections on the Bundesverfassungsgericht’s Bananas Judgment

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 109 (2002) Miriam Aziz. LLB, Ph.D., Barrister-at-Law. Currently a Marie Curie Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, the European University Institute, Florence. Sections of this paper have been included in a Robert Schuman Working Paper (2001), Florence Working Paper, RSC No. 2001/31. I am grateful to participants of the European Forum of the Robert Schuman Centre, Betveen Europe and the Nation State: the reshaping of interests, identities and political representation (2000-2001) for their constructive feedback after I gave a paper based on this article as part of the seminar series on The Europeanization […]


Case Law: Case CFI May 3, 2002, Jégo-Quéré v. Commission, T-177/01 and C-50/00 P ECJ July 25, 2002, Unión de Pequeños Agricultores v. Council

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 141 (2002) Tim Corthaut. Assistant at the Institute for European Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 1963 the European Court of Justice (hereafter the ECJ) significantly restricted the possibility for individuals to bring actions for annulment. This would not have been problematic with regard to the fundamental right to effective judicial protection if individuals were able to obtain equally effective judicial protection against acts of the Community institutions through the national courts. In recent times, it has become apparent that such national protection is not always present. Especially if a directly applicable Community act does not […]


Case Law: Case C-294/99 Athinaiki Zithopha AE v. Elliniko Dimosio (Greek State)

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 167 (2002) Stijn Vanoppen. Research and teaching fellow at the Institute for Tax Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and lawyer at the Brussels Bar (Tiberghien Advocaten).  In the case of Athinaiki Zithopiia AE v. Greek State, dated October 4, 2000, (hereafter Athinaiki), the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter the Court) produced a definition for the term ‘withholding tax,’ as that term appears in Article 5 (1) of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive’ (hereafter the PSD). In this case note, we will first review the facts that immediately preceded the preliminary ruling in Athinaiki and the […]


Trademark Law in the European Union: An Overview of the Case Law of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance (1997–2001)

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 175 (2002) Sébastien J. Evrard . Columbia University School of Law, L.L.M. Candidate, Class of 2003. See Treaty Establishing the European Community [TEC] art. 3(1)(c). One intent of the Treaty Establishing the European Community was the creation of an internal market in which goods and services can freely circulate. Yet, disparities among the national trademark laws of the respective Member States can constitute an impediment to the free circulation of goods and services and distort competition within the internal market. The harmonization of European trademark law, which has begun with the adoption of two legal […]


Leg. Dev.: Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European Arrest Warrant and the Surrender Procedures Between Member States

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 195 (2002) William Sanchez. On June 13, 2002, the Council of the European Union adopted a framework decision establishing the European arrest warrant as a basic instrument of judicial cooperation among the Member States in the field of criminal justice and outlining its terms and procedures as well as the timetable for its implementation. This is the latest and perhaps the most significant of several recent developments aimed at furthering the goals of a European “area of freedom, security and justice.” The European arrest warrant will replace the existing system of cooperation based on traditional […]


Book Review: Friedl Weiss & Frank Wooldridge, Movement of Persons Within the European Community

9 Colum. J. Eur. L. 203 (2002) reviewed by Thomas Perrot. The free movement of factors of production constitutes the cornerstone of a common market, as it is thought to permit their most efficient allocation within this market. This assumption has been pervasive in European integration ever since 1957 and is enshrined in Article 3 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), which states that the activities of the Community shall include “an internal market characterised by the abolition, as between Member States, of obstacles to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital.” Weiss and Wooldridge’s Free […]