Law & Justice

EU Institutions Plan Comprehensive ePrivacy Rules

May 24, 2018

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl of DIGITALEUROPE examines the development by EU institutions of an ePrivacy Regulation that would go farther than the onerous General Data Protection Regulation in imposing requirements aimed at maintaining privacy in electronic communications, thus determining "how all present and future digital technologies and devices function."
German Church Faces Employment Lawsuits After ECJ Ruling

May 24, 2018

The Catholic Herald reports that the German Catholic Church is reviewing its employment policies for conflicts with EU anti-discrimination laws after the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) placed limits on the ways in which churches can use religious affiliation as an employment qualification and subjected such employment decisions to judicial review.
Facebook Limits Exposure to EU Data Rules

May 23, 2018

The Irish Times reports that, due to the tight restrictions on the collection and use of data under the EU's new data-protection law, social-media giant Facebook has decided that users outside Europe will no longer be governed by its European terms of service, as the company seeks to limit the number of global complaints to which it would be subject in the EU under the new rules.
NGO Pushes EC Not to Accept Polish Compromise

May 22, 2018

Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch has called on the European Commission (EC) not to accept "cosmetic changes" to Poland's laws reforming the judiciary as sufficient progress in acceding to EU demands on the rule-of-law situation in the country, pushing the EC to "insist" that Poland fully implement all EU recommendations to resolve the conflict over the courts.
ECJ: Courts Must Review Religious Qualifications for Church Positions

May 21, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that EU member states must offer effective judicial review in cases in which a prospective employee challenges a church's inclusion of a particular religious affiliation as a job qualification, ruling such a requirement must be "necessary and objectively dictated," proportionate, and be relevant to the "ethos of the church."
ECJ Adviser Seeks Extension of Parental Access Rights

May 21, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU's (ECJ) Advocate General Maciej Szpunar has advised the ECJ to rule, as a matter of harmonization and uniformity of parental access rights throughout the EU, that parental responsibility rights of access extend to grandparents as a matter of EU law.
ECJ Rules Against Poland in Logging Case

May 18, 2018

AP reports that the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has concluded the Government of Poland violated EU environmental law by permitting an increase in logging in one of the country's eastern forests, despite the government's argument that logging was necessary to combat an insect infestation in the region.
EC Threatens Hearings on Rule of Law in Poland

May 16, 2018

The European Commission's (EC) First Vice-President Frans Timmermans has warned the Government of Poland that if it fails to roll back controversial changes to the Polish judicial system by the end of June, the EC will initiate a hearing before the European Council to determine whether to consider sanctions against the country.
EU Committee Report Calls for Sanctions on Hungary

May 16, 2018

Bloomberg reports that the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee is considering the adoption of a draft report calling on EU institutions to initiate a sanctions process against Hungary that could result in the country's government losing its EU voting rights, due to what the report says is the government's "clear risk of a serious breach" of the bloc's democratic values.
CoE Group Objects to Romanian Justice Legislation

May 15, 2018

A report from the Council of Europe's (CoE) Group of States against Corruption objects to the expedited passage in Romania of legislation reforming the country's justice system and warns that certain provisions could weaken the independence of prosecutors and go beyond EU standards on the presumption of innocence, thereby endangering international justice cooperation.