Law & Justice

ECJ Limits Tax Exemptions to Religious Institutions

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has ruled that it considers tax exemptions by EU member states for religious institutions, such as the Catholic Church, as unlawful state aid if the activities for which the exemptions are granted are economic, rather than religious, in nature.
ECJ: Hungary Discriminated Against Online Betting Company

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that Hungary discriminated against a company that offers online "games of chance," in violation of EU law, by blocking access to that company's betting site without offering it a sufficient opportunity to register with Hungarian authorities as a legal operation.
ECJ: EU Members Must Offer Benefits to Foreign Workers

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that an EU member state must provide a national of a non-EU country who holds a permit to work in that member state the same welfare and social security benefits as it offers to its citizens.
ECJ Permits Broad Leeway for Vaccine Litigation

August 09, 2017

CNN reports that the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has ruled that, even in the absence of scientific evidence supporting the claim, courts in EU member states have a sufficient basis to find that a vaccine caused an illness if the vaccination occurred just before the illness, the patient was previously healthy, and a significant number of vaccinated people also became ill.
Legal Challenges Bog Down EU-US Data Privacy Deal

August 08, 2017

Politico reports that, nearly a year after its initial implementation, the EU-US Privacy Shield, which regulates the transfer of personal data between the two jurisdictions, faces significant legal challenges in the Court of Justice of the EU based on allegations that the US does not uphold EU data protection standards.
EU Faces Limited Options in Polish Controversy

August 08, 2017

An article in The Economist explains that the EU’s formal options for sanctioning the Polish government over controversial judicial reforms remain limited with Hungarian President Viktor Orbán likely to veto any sanctions, which require unanimous consent by all member states.
Governments Agree to EU Public Prosecutor's Office

August 07, 2017

20 EU member states have agreed to the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor's Office, a centralized, independent entity that will investigate and prosecute alleged fraud against the EU budget in the territories of participating countries, with the help of re-purposed national prosecutors, while taking no instructions from political authorities.
ECJ Official Disapplies Regular EU Asylum Procedure

August 07, 2017

In a June opinion, an Advocate General for the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) advised that, in the exceptional circumstances of the EU migration crisis, the EU member in which a migrant first filed an asylum application, rather than a country that permitted the migrant to travel across its territory to reach that EU member, is responsible for examining the migrant's asylum request.
EU Official Links Cohesion Funds, Migrant Settlement

August 03, 2017

In a June speech in Prague, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker linked EU infrastructure funding to compliance with the bloc's migrant resettlement policies, warning that those countries who "benefit from solidarity, such as in the form of European cohesion funds, must be prepared to show solidarity."
EU President Rejects Push to Withhold Funds over Rule of Law

August 03, 2017

At a conference hosted by the German foreign ministry, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that a German proposal to block access to EU funding for countries that fail to pursue the bloc's fiscal or democratic principles would be unhelpful in that it would divide EU member states.