Usancen Blog
VfGH on Climate Protection: No Right to Heating Oil Ban
Constitutional LawThere is no subjective right to issue an ordinance banning the sale of fossil fuels and heating oil, the Austrian Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof, hereinafter VfGH) has confirmed. The environmental organisation GLOBAL 2000 was one of tho...
GER: Antitrust Fines: Are Managers Personally Liable?
Competition LawManaging directors are not personally liable for cartel fines imposed on a company. This was recently confirmed by the German Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court. There are separate rules on fines in the provisions of cartel law, the court says. The de...
OGH: Right to Information of Heirs
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has clarified that the requirement to provide certain information is fulfilled when formally complete information has been provided. The fact that an individual involved, such as the ...
GER: BAG - Minimum-Wage Liability of GmbH Managers
Labour LawAccording to the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, hereinafter BAG), managing directors are not liable if an employee is not paid their statutory minimum wage. The penalty provisions of the German Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz,...
OGH on Formal Requirements for Testamentary Dispositions
Civil LawFailure to observe proper legal form leads to the invalidity of testamentary dispositions, even if the testator’s intention is clear and can be unequivocally proven. However, the principle of respecting a testator’s true intention has its limits when...
GER: Loan Agreements: Are You Liable for Your Ex’s Car Loan?
Civil LawEven though she is financially unable to cope, a young woman was to be held liable for her ex-boyfriend’s car loan. The immorality of such a loan agreement was recently established by the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court. In the case at hand, a young ...
Are You Liable for Tagged Posts on Instagram?
Civil LawThe operator of an Instagram page may be liable for the fact that tagged posts by third party users violate the Austrian Fair Trading Act. According to the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH), anyone who links their page to...
OGH: Rights of Austrian Owners’ Associations
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has clarified: For the active legitimacy of a condominium owners’ association with regard to an assignment of claims, only the effective assignment is relevant. Internal decisions by ...
OGH: Bad Faith and Building on Third-Party Plots
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has clarified its case law on the original acquisition of land under Section 418 sentence 3 of the Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, hereinafter ABGB). The pla...
VwGH: Wrong Addressee May End in Repeal without Substitution
Data Privacy LawThe Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, hereinafter VwGH) has ruled that it is legitimate for the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, hereinafter BVwG) to revoke a decision if it is found that the person to whom...
OGH: No Official Liability for Unlawful COVID Regulations
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has ruled that there is no official liability for unlawful COVID 19 regulations. The Minister of Health did not act in a culpable manner. The plaintiff was a street paper vendor. Duri...
GER: National Legal Protection: Intra-EU Investor/State ICSID Arbitrations
European LawIn principle, national courts cannot subject ICSID arbitration proceedings to a preliminary review. However, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH) has now ruled that EU Member States can claim upstream national lega...
ECJ on Notifications ahead of Mass Dismissals
Labour LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that failing to send a copy of a written notification to the competent authority (in this case, the German employment agency, Agentur für Arbeit) that collective redundancies are imminent does not constit...
GER: BGH on the Public Nature of the Commercial Register
Corporate LawThe information contained in the electronic commercial register at www.handelsregister.de is public. According to the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter BGH), the register is a reliable and freely accessible source of inform...
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...
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