Overriding the European Commission's Rulemaking?


Book Description

This article examines the European Parliament’s and Council of Minister’s use of post-Lisbon legislative vetoes to override the European Commission’s rulemaking. Using an original data set of legislative vetoes of Commission acts by both European legislators from December 2009 - April 2017, the contribution shows that levels of the formal exercise of the legislative veto to overrule the Commission’s regulatory policies are very low. Particularly interesting, the level of exercise of legislative veto provisions has not increased significantly since the Lisbon Treaty came into effect, suggesting that the ways in which the Treaty formally augmented the powers of legislative scrutiny have not resulted in appreciably greater formal exercise of these powers ultima ratio. Moreover, no significant differences appear between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.




Intellectual Property Rights


Book Description

This book is the result of the PhD project I started four years ago at Europa-Kolleg Hamburg. I had the great opportunity to work on it for one year at the European University Institute in Florence and to finalise the oeuvre during my stay with the European Commission's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Seville. The subject matter of the book is intellectual property rights, patents in particular, and their process of harmonisation in Europe. At the beginning of the work, the intention was not to focus immediately on one narrow field in the huge realm of intellectual property rights but rather to open my mind in order to capture a broad variety of new ideas and concepts in the book. The work at three different institutes in three different European countries over the period of four years naturally exposed the work to diverging ideas and the exchange of views with many people. This is one reason for the wide spread of topics ordered around the given leitmotif, such as epistemological foundations, political background information,. the protection of biotechnological inventions and the building up process of intellectual property right systems in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In chapter two I take up Polanyi's differentiation of codifiable and tacit knowledge. Applying these concepts to my own work I realise that this book is only the visible and codified part of knowledge I was able to capture.




Enforcement of International Contracts in the European Union


Book Description

The enforcement of international contracts in the European Union is increasingly dependent on Community (rather than national) private international law. This book examines the present status and future prospects of Community private international law in the contractual area. It focuses in particular upon the joint analysis of the Rome Convention of 19 June 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (which is likely to be converted in the near future into the Rome I-regulation) and the Brussels I-regulation. Rather than attempting a comprehensive study of Brussels I and Rome I, this book examines a number of key issues considered particularly pertinent from the point of view of the coherence between both instruments. This approach should contribute to the consistency of Community policy-making and legislation in the field of international contracts, to the benefit of market participants. This book is the culmination of a research project funded by the European Commission (DG Justice and Home Affairs, Framework programme for judicial co-operation in civil matters) and co-ordinated by the University of Antwerp Belgium. Eminent European experts have contributed to the book which should prove of interest to law makers, academics and practitioners concerned with the enforcement of contracts in a cross-border context.




Reinforcing Rule of Law Oversight in the European Union


Book Description

This book provides an analysis of key approaches to rule of law oversight in the EU and identifies deeper theoretical problems.




Maritime Law


Book Description

Now in its fifth edition, this authoritative guide covers all of the core aspects of maritime law in one distinct volume. Maritime Law is written by a team of leading academics and practitioners, each expert in their own field. Together, they provide clear, concise and fully up-to-date coverage of topics ranging from bills of lading to arrest of ships, all written in an accessible and engaging style. As English law is heavily relied on throughout the maritime world, this book is grounded in English law whilst continuing to analyse the key international conventions currently in force. Brand new coverage includes: The impact of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 which amends the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Over one hundred new cases from the English courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Changes to the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Regulations 1993, including the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) (Amendment) (EU exit) Regulations 2019. Discussion of the Incoterms 2020 which are available for incorporation into sale contracts from 1 January 2020. Updates on litigation and amendments to the Admiralty Civil Procedure Rules. This book is a comprehensive reference source for students, academics and legal practitioners worldwide, especially those new to maritime law or a particular field therein.




Boundaries of European Private International Law


Book Description

European private international law is by now based mainly on a large body of uniform rules such as the Regulations Rome I, Rome II, Brussels I, Brussels I bis. This significant legislative output, however, does not take place in a vacuum. Rules of private international law have been earlier (and still are) adopted at national, international and even European level in scattered regulations and directives. The recent plethora of private international law rules gives rise to issues of delineation and calls for some sort of ordering as gaps, overlaps and contradictions become flagrant. At the same time, the resulting interactions can offer new insight, ideas and even opportunities at a more theoretical level. This book gathers a collection of essays resulting out of a series of international seminars held in Lyon, Barcelona and Louvain-la-Neuve. During those seminars, young researchers selected in an open call for papers had the opportunity to discuss their views among themselves as well as with various specialists of the field, such as more senior academics, EU civil servants, national experts and representatives of other international organisations. The book offers the fresh views of those who will in the future shape the dialectic between the various sources of private international law and attempts to launch a discussion on the “living together” of legal sources. Two ranges of topics are addressed in the book: - firstly, the relationship between EU private international law and national law (substantial and procedural) and/or international law (international instruments of private international law or of uniform substantive law); and - secondly, the relationship between EU private international law and other aspects of EU law (internal market rules of primary law, harmonisation through secondary law and other pieces of legislation enacted in the realm of the area of freedom, security and justice).




E-business Law of the European Union


Book Description

Doing business over the Internet may raise a wide array of legal questions that can be crucial to the commercial success of the venture. Recently revised, updated and expanded, the second edition of e-Business Law of the European Union contains the text of the EU legislation which is of particular relevance to e-business, covering a broad spectrum of legal issues such as data protection, distance selling, electronic signatures, liability of online intermediates, electronic money, applicable law and jurisdiction in international disputes.







International Antitrust Litigation


Book Description

The decentralisation of competition law enforcement and the stimulation of private damages actions in the European Union go hand in hand with the increasingly international character of antitrust proceedings. As a consequence, there is an ever-growing need for clear and workable rules to co-ordinate cross-border actions, whether they are of a judicial or administrative nature: rules on jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition as well as rules on sharing of evidence, the protection of business secrets and the interplay between administrative and judicial procedures. This book offers an in-depth analysis of these long neglected yet practically most important topics. It is the fruit of a research project funded by the European Commission, which brought together experts from academia, private practice and policy-making from across Europe and the United States. The 16 chapters cover the relevant provisions of the Brussels I and Rome I and II Regulations, the co-operation mechanisms provided for by Regulation 1/2003 and selected issues of US procedural law (such as discovery) that are highly relevant for transatlantic damages actions. Each contribution critically analyses the existing legislative framework and formulates specific proposals to consolidate and enhance cross-border antitrust litigation in Europe and beyond.




The Rotterdam Rules


Book Description

The Rotterdam Rules represent the most comprehensive overhaul of the law of carriage of goods by sea in more than fifty years. To coincide with the signing ceremony, six members of the Institute of Maritime Law have written a detailed commentary on the Rules. The Rotterdam Rules: A Practical Annotation examines the text of the Rules, all ninety-six articles of the new Convention, and compares them to the text of the Hague-Visby Rules, the instrument currently covering most bills of lading. The authors have also examined the judgments in cases decided in the English Courts under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Acts of 1971 and 1992 and have indicated whether these cases would be decided differently under the new Rotterdam Rules.