Posts tagged #ECJ
All PostsAirline Required to Refund Commission after Cancelling Flight
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued a decision regarding whether travel agencies should be reimbursed for commissions on flights that are cancelled. In the case at hand, multiple travellers had acquired return flight tickets from Austria t...
Austrian Police: Time Spent Changing and Gearing up Is Work Time
Administrative LawThe Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, hereinafter VwGH) has recently examined whether putting on your uniform and equipment counts as part of working hours. In the case at hand, the appellant police officer submitted a request fo...
ECJ: Travel Time Counts as Working Time
European LawThe European Court of Justice has determined that, under specific circumstances, travel time constitutes working time. This interpretation extends to situations where employees are traveling as passengers in the back seat. In this scenario, the emplo...
EU: Amazon is a 'very large online platform'
European LawThe Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has rejected Amazon’s legal objection to the designation of the Amazon Store as a ‘very large online platform’ pursuant to the Digital Services Act (DSA). As a result, Amazon is required to adhere to ...
ECJ: Disabled Children’s Parents Protected from Discrimination
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has extended its case law concerning workplace discrimination by recognizing that parents of disabled children may refer to the prohibition of indirect discrimination. Employers are required to consider the needs o...
EU: ECJ to Transfer Jurisdiction to General Court
Civil LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) is overburdened with work. For years, it has had to deal with numerous preliminary ruling requests. That is why, as of October, the General Court will take over responsibility for preliminary rulings in six specifi...
ECJ: More Time for Pregnant Employees to Challenge Dismissal
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been asked to rule on the time frame pregnant women have to contest being dismissed, in order to comply with the EU Directive on pregnant workers (Directive 92/85/EEC). The plaintiff had been employed by the de...
ECJ: Damages for Suspected Data Misuse?
Data Privacy LawStrengthening the rights of consumers, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has once again ruled on non-material damage under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The plaintiffs in the original case were clients of a tax advisory firm and ha...
ECJ: Time Limits for Consumer Debt Repayment
European LawThe start of the limitation period for consumers’ claims for repayment of money owed to them under unfair contract terms has been ruled on by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The case at hand arose out of a mortgage contract that the plaintiffs h...
ECJ: Fingerprints on ID Cards Are Legal
European LawFingerprints can continue to be included on ID cards. This has been decided by the European Court of Justice (hereinafter ECJ). The encroachment on fundamental rights is justified. In 2021, a man applied to the German city of Wiesbaden for a new ID c...
ECJ: Access to Harmonised Standards for All
European LawA recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling has caused uncertainty. EU standards, which define how products should work, fall under EU law. Therefore, they must be freely and publicly available to EU citizens. The implications of the ruling could...
ECJ Considers Immaterial Damages under GDPR
European LawArticle 82 of the GDPR is not punitive, but compensatory. Compensation in money should be a full compensation for the actual damage suffered. The plaintiff was the purchaser of an electrical household appliance in the defendant’s store. The plaintiff...
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...
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...
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...
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...
GER: No Equal Pay – Temporary Workers May Get Paid Less
Labour LawIn principle, it is possible to pay temporary workers less than permanent employees. However, such a measure must be compensated for, according to the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, hereinafter BAG). Collective agreements may depa...
GER: ECJ Ruling for German Autobahn Charging Stations Requested
European LawThe legal dispute over electric fast-charging stations between providers of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and the Federal Republic of Germany is now going to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). 200 fast-charging stations at German fr...
ECJ: Compensation for Cancelled Flight Due to Co-Pilot’s Death
European LawThe cancellation of a flight due to the unexpected death of the co-pilot does not exempt the operating air carrier from its compensation obligation towards the passengers. This was decided by the European Court of Justice (hereinafter ECJ), citing th...
OGH on the Right of Access under Art 15 GDPR
Data Privacy LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has clarified: The framework of Art 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter GDPR) includes the right to information as to whether personal data has been disclosed to...
ECJ: No Transfer of Working Times Compliance to Third Parties
European LawRoad transport operators cannot discharge themselves of their responsibility for compliance with the driving and rest times of drivers by transferring this responsibility to third parties, according to a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice...
OGH: Disclosing Data Recipients under GDPR
Data Privacy LawIn the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) examined a consumer request concerning the disclosing of personal data to third parties. In 2019, the plaintiff had requested information from the defendant about...
ECJ: Compensation Rights for ‘Dieselgate’ Car Owners
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has found: Buyers of motor vehicles equipped with illegal defeat devices are entitled to claim for compensation from vehicle manufacturers. The plaintiff in the main proceedings pending before a German court had bo...
ECJ Advocate General on the Montreal Convention
European LawThe Advocate General of the European Court of Justice gave opinion on questions concerning the scope of the Montreal Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (hereinafter MC). The plaintiff had been a passenge...
ECJ on Confidentiality Protection in Public Procurement
European LawIn its most recent ruling on public procurement, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled as follows: Protection of confidentiality must be weighed against the requirement of transparency and effective judicial protection. National legislation requi...
ECJ: Can Temp Workers Be Paid Less?
Labour LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that temporary agency workers can only be paid less than permanent employees if any such unequal treatment is compensated for by means of a collective agreement. This is intended to ensure the overall pro...
ECJ Strengthens Right to Paid Annual Leave
Labour LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) is boosting the rights of employees with regard to the expiry of employee leave entitlement. If an annual leave entitlement is acquired during a year in which work is carried out before an employee’s continuous inc...
ECJ: Data Retention vs. Quick Freeze – What Is Legal?
European Law“I talked to Lisa on the phone for 30 minutes yesterday and was logged into the Munich-Pasing radio cell.” According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), such suspicion-independent storage of network data (so-called data retention) by the state is...
DE: ECJ Decision – Do Late Flight Arrivals Constitute Cancellation?
European LawThe Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) must currently decide by way of preliminary ruling to what extent compensation under the EU Passenger Rights Regulation requires a passenger’s appearance at check-in in cases where passengers know that...
ECJ: Tourist card is a voucher within the meaning of the VAT Directive
Tax LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a card which allows tourists to visit certain attractions up to a certain value at a reduced price during a certain period of time is a voucher within the meaning of Art 30a of the VAT Directive. The...
BMJ adjusts late withdrawal for life insurance policies
Civil LawThe Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice has presented a government bill to amend the Insurance Contract Act (Versicherungsvertragsgesetz, VersVG). It is now to be clarified that in the event of a late withdrawal from a life insurance policy, all pre...
ECJ: Air passenger rights in the event of a delay in a third country
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) was called upon to clarify whether the EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation also applies when a flight departs with a transfer in the EU but the delay only occurs on the second leg of the flight, which takes place in...
ECJ on the "order with obligation to pay" button
Civil LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided that, for the purpose of determining whether, when concluding a distance contract by electronic means, a phrase used on the order button corresponds to the words "order with obligation to pay", solely t...
ECJ: Applicability of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation for stopovers in EU
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the EU Passenger Rights Regulation (Regulation No. 261/2004) does not apply if a flight is operated with an EU airline, but a landing at an airport in the EU is merely a stopover of a journey from on...
ECJ: Labelling of the nutritional values of a chocolate muesli
Public Law EuroparechtThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has assessed whether it is permissible to specify nutritional values per portion for foods that can be prepared in different ways. The German Federation of Consumer Centres and Consumer Associations (Bundesverban...
ECJ: On-call duty as working time
ArbeitsrechtThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has once again examined the question of whether on-call duty is to be considered working time. In the case at hand, a reserve firefighter worked part-time for the city of Dublin. He is available to his duty station...
ECJ - Air passenger rights: Compensation in case of group strike
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) handled the question of whether a strike by the cabin crew of a subsidiary company in solidarity with the striking staff of the parent company is to be considered an "extraordinary circumstance" under Article 5 par...
ECJ: Hard aircraft landing does not constitute an "accident"
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to decide in the course of damages proceedings on the request for a preliminary ruling by the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) whether a hard aircraft landing can constitute an accident within...
ECJ: Diversion to a nearby airport is not a cancellation
A passenger shall not be entitled to compensation for cancellation if his flight has been diverted and he lands at an airport which, although not the same as the destination airport provided for in the original booking, serves the same place, city or...
Antitrust law: Advocate General in favor of "descending" liability for damages of the cartelists' subsidiaries
In a case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the theory of economic unity in antitrust law could take on a new dimension: While up to now parent companies have been punished for cartel violations committed by their subsidiaries ("ascending" ...
OGH to ECJ: Right to information: categories of recipients under GDPR
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) has referred a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling regarding Art 15 (1) (c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The question is whether the data controller has the ri...
ECJ: Embedding content as communication to the public
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to decide on the interpretation of Art 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the in...
ECJ on the essential facilities doctrine
Competition LawAccording to the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), under certain circumstances a company abuses its dominant position if it denies competing companies access to its infrastructure. In a dispute in the telecommunications sector, the ECJ...
ECJ on the minimum rest period
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the minimum daily rest period applies to all of a worker's employment contracts with the same employer taken together and not to each contract separately. In the case at hand, experts were employed a...
ECJ: passenger compensation in case of unionized pilots' strike
European LawIn the case at hand, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made a decision diametrically opposed to the Advocate General's opinion in a relatively rare case. This was triggered by a passenger's claim for compensation under the European Air Passenger Re...
ECJ on the classification of on-call time as working time
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the assessment of whether on-call time is working time or rest time requires a consideration of the individual case. It thus followed the Advocate General's opinion in the case. In the present case, ...
ECJ: The right to remain silent does not justify dilatory tactics
European LawIn a reference for a preliminary ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a refusal to appear at a hearing, for example, cannot be justified by the right to remain silent. The Italian Corporate and Stock Exchange Commission fined one pe...
OGH refers 1st COVID-19-JuBG to ECJ
The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) referred the question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling whether the interruption of all procedural time limits pursuant to Sec. 1 (1) of the 1st COVID-19 Accompanyin...
ECJ: Internet tariffs with unlimited data consumption for certain apps violate net neutrality
European LawFor the first time, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is addressing the question of whether Internet tariffs that do not include data consumption for certain applications in the tariff-agreed volume violate the open nature of the Internet (net neut...
ECJ on cancelled flights: Airline is not liable for injuries of passengers staying in hotels provided free of charge
European LawThe ECJ dealt with the question of what kind of obligation an airline has when providing hotel accommodation to guests of cancelled flights. In the present case, the flight of a passenger with reduced mobility (plaintiff) of the airline NIKI was canc...
Does § 10 (2) of the Leave Entitlement Act conform to Union law?
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) has asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling on the question of whether § 10 (2) of the Austrian Leave Entitlement Act (Urlaubsgesetz, UrlG) is compatible with Union law. Pursuant to § 10 (1)...
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