EU

The long-awaited proposal for an EU regulation on jurisdiction and applicable law in the field of succession and wills is now expected to be adopted by the Commission in mid-October. The Spanish EU Presidency intends to treat it as a priority in early 2010. 

In June the ECJ issued judgment in Case C-8/08, holding that there is a presumption of a causal connection between a concerted practice and the conduct of the undertaking on that market, even if the concerted action arises from just a single meeting between the participating undertakings. That presumption must be applied by the national court. 

See: http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=rechercher&numaff=C-8/08 

In Case C-243/08 the ECJ held that in the area of consumer protection, national courts are not limited merely to ruling on the possible unfairness of a contractual term, but must also themselves examine that issue, where requisite legal and factual elements are available to them to do so. 

See: http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=rechercher&numaff=C-243/08 

On 19 May the ECJ issued judgments in Case C-531/06 and in Joined Cases C-171/07 and C-172/07 holding that Italian and German legislation restricting the ownership and operation of pharmacies to pharmacists alone is justified by the objective of ensuring that the provision of medicinal products to the public is reliable and of good quality. 

The EP is calling on the other institutions to create an EU criminal justice area. See: 

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A6-2009-0262&language=EN 

The Commission has adopted a largely positive report on the first 5 years of operation of Regulation 1/2003, which overhauled the procedural rules supporting the application of the EU’s antitrust Articles 81 and 82 TEC. See:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/report_regulation_1_2003_en.pdf 

The judgment reconfirms the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC as a maximum harmonisation directive, holding that Member States may not adopt measures that are more restrictive, even in order to ensure a higher level of consumer protection. http://curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp09/aff/cp090031en.pdf 

Following on from its White Paper of this time last year, DG Competition has been working on a proposal for a directive on antitrust damages, covering the range of issues consulted on, including collective redress. The proposal was expected to be adopted in May, but it seems that its premature leak in draft form may have affected that. However, the political and substantive debate is already underway. 

The replies to the Commission consultation on this subject are now available on the Commission’s website: 

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/consulting_public/news_consulting_public_en.htm   

Meanwhile, the Legal Affairs Committee “JURI” of the EP adopted its own-initiative report on the file on 31 March, picking up on, inter alia, the Bar Council’s suggestion that consideration be given to the idea of introducing a form of Community provisional measure additional to those of national courts. 

By the time of reading, the Commission should have issued its proposal on the contents of the Stockholm Programme, the 5 year Justice, Liberty and Security work programme, to run from 2010 to 2014, which the Council is due to adopt at the Summit marking the end of the Swedish Presidency in December 2009. The emphasis will be on consolidation, evaluation and improving procedures and training.