European Court of Justice (News)

enercity v Commission
Competition
The action brought by the German municipal authority enercity against the approval by the Commission of the acquisition of generation assets of E.ON by RWE is inadmissible

BK and ZhP (Suspension partielle de la procédure au principal)
Law governing the institutions
A request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court of Justice does not prevent the referring court from continuing the main proceedings in part

DC (Rétractation après l’exécution du contrat)
Approximation of laws
Failure to provide information on the right of withdrawal: a consumer is exempt from any payment obligation if he or she withdraws from a service contract concluded off-premises which has already been performed

TAP Portugal (Décès du copilote)
Transport

L’annulation d’un vol en raison du décès inopiné du copilote n’exonère pas la compagnie aérienne de son obligation d’indemniser les passagers

Bezirkshauptmannschaft Lilienfeld
Transport
A road transport undertaking cannot discharge its responsibility for compliance with the driving times and rest periods of drivers by transferring it to a third person.

Inspecţia Judiciară
External relations
Rule of law: the body in charge of disciplinary proceedings against judges must be independent and impartial

Ryanair v Commission (Lufthansa ; COVID-19)
State aid
The General Court annuls the decision of the Commission to approve the recapitalisation of Lufthansa by Germany, amounting to €6 billion euros, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Commune d'Ans

According to Advocate General Collins, a public body may, under certain conditions, prohibit its employees from wearing any visible sign of political, religious or philosophical belief in their workplace

Luxembourg v Commission
State aid
Tax rulings: Advocate General Kokott considers that the Commission erred in finding that Luxembourg had granted unlawful State aid to the Engie group in the form of tax advantages

Daimler (Responsabilité des constructeurs de véhicules munis de dispositifs d’invalidation)
Environment and consumers
The purchaser of a vehicle equipped with an unlawful defeat device has a right to compensation from the car manufacturer where that device has caused damage to that purchaser

Saatgut-Treuhandverwaltung (KWS Meridian)
Agriculture and fisheries
Protection of plant variety rights: no minimum level of compensation set

SCHUFA Holding and Others (Scoring)
Principles of Community law
Advocate General Pikamäe: the automated establishment of a probability concerning the ability of a person to service a loan constitutes profiling under the GDPR

Colt Technology Services and Others
Telecommunications operators may be obliged to provide, upon request from a judicial authority, communication interception operations in return for a fixed rate

Commission v Bulgaria (Double manquement - Pollution par les PM10)
Law governing the institutions
The Commission’s first action for a twofold failure to fulfil obligations in relation to air pollution is inadmissible

Towercast
Competition

The prohibition of abuse of a dominant position laid down by the Treaties permits an ex post control, at national level, of a concentration of undertakings with a non-Community dimension

Royal Antwerp Football Club
Freedom of movement for persons
Football: according to Advocate General Szpunar the UEFA rules on home-grown players are partially incompatible with EU law

Les Mousquetaires and ITM Entreprises v Commission
Competition
The Court sets aside in part the judgments of the General Court and, consequently, annuls the decisions of the Commission ordering inspections at the premises of a number of French undertakings in the distribution sector on account of suspicions of anticompetitive practices

Prigozhina v Council
External relations
The General Court annuls the restrictive measures applied to Ms Violetta Prigozhina, mother of Mr Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine

Judicial statistics 2022: proceedings marked by the major issues facing today’s world (the rule of law, the environment, the protection of privacy in the digital era and so forth) and by the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union in the context of the war in Ukraine

Bank M. (Conséquences de l’annulation du contrat)
Approximation of laws
Advocate General Collins: after the annulment of a mortgage loan agreement due to unfair terms, consumers may assert claims against banks that go beyond reimbursement of monetary consideration; banks may not