Procedural aspects of european consumer protection law and the case law of the CJEU from the perspective of insurance law

Questions about the necessity to introduce uniform European consumer protection instruments in national procedural law count among the most divisive topics of contemporary consumer protection law. Thus, even though several European Union (EU) acts contain procedural provisions on the protection of consumers, the introduction of new procedural and remedial tools in this area of law remains controversial, as the Commission's initiatives on collective redress mechanisms clearly show. Against this background, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) plays a double role. On the one hand, the CJEU rules on the interpretation and the application of existing procedural consumer protection provisions of EU law, such as the provisions of the Brussels I Regulation on consumer contracts, which were interpreted in Pammer and Hotel Alpenhof. On the other hand, the CJEU has developed a significant line of case law on the duties of national courts and tribunals in cases concerning the judicial enforcement of individuals' rights derived from the consumer protection directives. This case law, which started with Océano Grupo and culminated in VB Pénzügyi Lízing, can entail far-reaching duties for national courts and tribunals to take positive action in order to support consumers in their legal proceedings aimed at the enforcement of their rights. Nevertheless, as the ruling in Banco Español de Crédito has again made clear, it would be premature to analyse this line of case law of the CJEU as a one-way evolution towards an ever deeper intrusion in the procedural law systems of the Member States

Civis Europeus Sum : Union Citizenship and the Influence of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Since its formation in 1950s as the economic community, the EU has created the monetary union and is increasingly evolving also into a political union – part of which is also a union or Europe of citizens. This article explores the development and the existing EU legislation and case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on Union citizenship. The article emphasises the importance of the case law of the CJEU for the development of this concept, focusing especially on the case law pertaining to access to social security benefits in another Member State, the rights of students, tax relief, and personal rights such as the right to write a name in a certain way and the right to family life. Case law of the CJEU has, inter alia, confirmed that even economically inactive Union citizens lawfully residing in another Member State have a right to access to social benefits under the same conditions as the Member State’s own nationals. The concept of the Union citizenship is of key importance in the development of EU law, as it expands the scope of the applicability of the provisions on free movement of persons and other fundamental freedoms. New challenges and questions linked to Union citizenship are arising over time, which should also be regulated at the EU level in the future. Therefore, further development of this concept can still be expected in the EU

Europäische Grundrechtecharta - Perspektiven für die vorsorgende Rechtspflege der Notare

Die 24. Europäischen Notarentage, die am 12. und 13. April 2012 in Salzburg stattgefunden haben, waren dem Mensch und seinen Rechten in Zusammenhang mit Privat- und Familienleben in der Europäischen Union gewidmet. Erbrechtsverordnung, Vorschläge zum Güterrecht von Ehepaaren und eingetragenen Partnerschaften mit Auslandsbezug, Grundrechtecharta – all das sind Themen, die die notarielle Beratung und Betreuung der Unionsbürger in ihren familiären Beziehungen vor dem Hintergrund der Freizügigkeit in der Union betreffen

Das Urheberrecht im Spiegel der europäischen Rechtsprechung

„YouTube, Tauschbörsen, Plagiate“ – Turbulente Zeiten für das Urheberrecht. Denn als Folge der Entwicklung elektronischer Medien und der dadurch bedingten Änderungen des Verhaltens der Nutzer einem tief greifenden Wandel unterworfen

National sovereignity and the principle of primacy in EU law and their importance for the Member States

mental principles of EU law. It signifies that in case of a conflict between EU law and the law of the Member States, the EU law prevails. Its fundamental goal is to assure a unified and effective application of EU law in all Member States. The principle of primacy has been established by the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. This article discusses the principle of primacy, as developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, and focuses on its importance for the Member States. The le-gal theory divides Member States into three groups with regard to what their position on the primacy of EU law in relation to the national constitution is: Member States that acknowledge full primacy, Member States that acknowledge limited primacy of EU law in relation to the national constitution, and Member States that principally assume primacy of the national constitution over EU law. Within the context of the European hierarchy, the constitutional courts of the Member States are left with the central role and power of review of constitutionality, but it remains to be seen whether in future more constitutional courts will enter a dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union in the form of a preliminary ruling procedure

The ‘Instruments’ for Implementing European Private Law – The Influence of the ECJ Case Law on the Development and Formation of European Private Law

After Lisbon, European integration has moved towards new and more ambitious objectives, with the aim of strengthening the Union’s institutional architecture as well as rationalising and legitimising its legal order. Within this broad context, the making of European private law is a challenge that faces basic questions, such as:"Why European private law is needed?","How European private law could and should be set up?","What areas, to what extent and what policy objectives could and should be involved?" and"Who carries the responsibility of making it?". The book, through a variety of thematic contributions, offers several insights for a wide-ranging reflection on such issues, together with a more specific analysis of the most recent Commission’s proposal for a regulation on a "Common European Sales Law" (CESL)