Usancen Blog
OGH: News on Holiday Leave Limitation
Labour LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has clarified that holiday leave cannot be time-barred if employers do not fulfil their duty to notify and urge employees to take their leave. The plaintiff had been employed by the d...
BMJ: Rules on 'Disqualified Directors'
Corporate LawThe Austrian Company Law Digitisation Act 2023 (Gesellschaftsrechtliches Digitalisierungsgesetz 2023) will now implement another part of Directive (EU) 2019/1151 (Directive on the use of digital tools and procedures in company law). This concerns the...
GER: Delayed Connecting Flight: Passenger Rights
European LawThe German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH) has once again strengthened the rights of air passengers. If you start a flight in an EU country that involves connecting flights, you’re entitled to compensation if delayed, ev...
OGH: International Jurisdiction for Gambling Claims
Procedural LawAustrian courts may have jurisdiction to hear claims against Maltese gambling companies, even if consumers have assigned their claims for enforcement. In the original case, a Maltese company (the defendant) had offered online gambling in Austria with...
ECJ: Freedom to Establish Cannot Be Restricted to Ensure Supply
European LawA restriction on freedom of establishment cannot be justified by the objective of ensuring regional supply of construction materials at local level, according to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Such regional supply does not meet the fundamental ...
Brand Litigation: Jägermeister Prevails in IP Dispute
Competition LawThe packaging of the well-known Jägermeister herbal liqueur was imitated by a discount-label retailer. Jägermeister took action against this by obtaining an injunction throughout the EU. The action was brought by the proprietor of the word mark Jäger...
OGH on Brokerage Contracts via willhaben.at
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) had to decide on the qualification of a brokerage contract as a ‘distance contract’. The crucial issue was that only means of distance communication had been employed in the course of...
GER: More Time for Rent-Cap Tenants, Germany’s BGH Rules
Civil LawIn a recent ruling, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH) decided when a tenant’s right to obtain information from the landlord becomes statute-barred. This means that tenants who live in areas with a rent cap and w...
The European Water Crisis
European LawOne heat record is followed by another heat record. Going forward, more needs to be done to protect and improve the EU’s water resources. For several years, drought and declining water tables have been affecting the entire surface of the EU. The impa...
OGH: Contestability of Association Resolutions
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) refused to rule the non-admission of a nomination for the election of the executive board of an organisation as a gross error leading to the nullity of the election of the executive c...
ECJ: Minimum prices and Prohibition of Cartels
Competition LawThe European Court of Justice (hereinafter ECJ) has clarified its case law on the concept of ‘agreement’ under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The initial facts of the case were as follows: The Portuguese ma...
BVwG: No Obligation to Delete Minutes of ÖH Meetings
DatenschutzrechtThe Austrian Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, hereinafter BVwG) has ruled that no right exists to the erasure of personal data from the minutes of meetings of a public body (in this case, the Austrian National Students Union, Ö...
Air Passenger Rights: Inadequate First Aid Is Part of the Accident
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that where a passenger is injured on board an aircraft and subsequently receives inadequate initial medical care which results in aggravation, this constitutes a single accident under the Montreal Convent...
BGH on Pre-Contractual Disclosure for Former Shareholders
Corporate LawThe German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH) had to decide in several proceedings on the liability of founding partners of a limited partnership (Kommanditgesellschaft). The court distinguished prospectus liability from liabi...
Dieselgate: German BGH on Engine Manufacturers’ Liability
Civil LawEngine manufacturers are not liable for vehicles equipped with illegal defeat devices. This has been ruled by the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH). Liability can only be established if the engine manufacturer has acte...
Austrian Building Cartel: Proceedings against STRABAG to Continue
Competition LawThe Austrian Federal Competition Authority (Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde, hereinafter BWB) was successful in its appeal to the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH). The cartel court of first instance is now obliged to continue t...
OGH Takes a Look at Sky TV’s GTC Clauses
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has overturned inadmissible terms and conditions of Sky Österreich GmbH because a specific clause addressing direct advertising was non-transparent and unfairly disadvantageous to co...
ECJ: German Bottle Deposit Can Be Indicated Separately
European LawThe widespread practice in German grocery stores of displaying the bottle deposit separately had been challenged by consumer protection groups. The European Court of Justice (hereinafter ECJ), however, has ruled that this practice is necessary to pro...
BVwG: COVID-19 a Mitigating Circumstance in GDPR Violations
Data Privacy LawThe Austrian Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, hereinafter BVwG) has considered the COVID-19 pandemic and the fear of contagion a mitigating factor in penalties imposed for violating applicable data protection regulations. In th...
EU Regulation in the Pipeline: Rules for Safe and Transparent AI
European LawAfter two years of negotiations, the European Parliament has adopted the compromise text of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation on 14 June. The next steps will now be to hold discussions with EU Member States on the final form of the law. The...
Austrian Supreme Court: ‘Training’ Was an Employment Relationship
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has defined an unpaid traineeship as an employment relationship and awarded the plaintiff appropriate remuneration. In doing so, the OGH clarified the criteria for distinguishing trai...
ECJ Ruling on Car Service Licensing
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled on the limitation of the number of licences for private hire car services in the Barcelona area. However, the requirement to obtain a licence in addition to that provided for at national level may be nece...
GER: Cartel Office Accuses Deutsche Bahn of Market Power Abuse
Competition LawThe German Federal Cartel Office (hereinafter Bundeskartellamt) has accused German Railways (Deutsche Bahn, hereinafter DB) of abusing its market power. According to the Bundeskartellamt, DB is exploiting its key position. As a result, competition wi...
GDPR: ECJ Clarifies Scope of Right to Information
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has clarified the scope of the right to information under Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Specifically, it was unclear whether the identity of employees of the controller is also covere...
Amendment to the Austrian AVG: Electronic Submissions now Included
Administrative LawThe Austrian Federal Chancellery has submitted a government bill on amendments to the Austrian General Administrative Procedures Act (Allgemeines Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz, AVG), the Austrian Administrative Penal Act (Verwaltungsstrafgesetz, VStG),...
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