Views
Who can bite the Apple? The CJEU can shape the future of online damages and collective actions
Written by Eduardo Silva de Freitas (Erasmus University Rotterdam), member of the Vici project Affordable Access to Justice, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), www.euciviljustice.eu.
Introduction
In the final weeks leading up to Christmas in 2023, the District Court of Amsterdam referred a set of questions to the CJEU (DC Amsterdam, 20 December 2023, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:8330; in Dutch). These questions, if comprehensively addressed, have the potential to bring clarity to longstanding debates regarding jurisdictional conflicts in collective actions. Despite being rooted in competition law with its unique intricacies, the issues surrounding the determination of online damage locations hold the promise of illuminating pertinent questions. Moreover, the forthcoming judgment is expected to provide insights into the centralization of jurisdiction in collective actions within a specific Member State, an aspect currently unclear. Recalling our previous discussion on the Dutch class action under the WAMCA in this blog, it is crucial to emphasize that, under the WAMCA, only one representative action can be allowed to proceed for the same event. In instances where multiple representative foundations seek to bring proceedings for the same event without reaching a settlement up to a certain point during the proceedings, the court will appoint an exclusive representative. This procedural detail adds an additional layer of complexity to the dynamics of collective actions under the WAMCA.
One, Two, Three… Fault? CJEU Rules on Civil Liability Requirements under the GDPR
Marco Buzzoni, Doctoral Researcher at the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) and PhD candidate at the Sorbonne Law School, offers a critical analysis of some recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union in matters of data protection.
In a series of three preliminary rulings issued on 14th December and 21st December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) was called upon again to rule on the interpretation of Article 82 of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). While these rulings provide some welcome clarifications regarding the civil liability of data controllers, their slightly inconsistent reasoning will most likely raise difficulties in future cases, especially those involving cross-border processing of personal data.
Colonialism and German PIL (4) – Exploiting Asymmetries Between Global North and South
This post is part of a series regarding Colonialism and the general structure of (German) Private International Law, based on a presentation I gave in spring 2023. See the introduction here.
As mentioned in the introduction, this series does not intent to automatically pass judgment on a norm or method influenced by colonialism as inherently negative. Instead, the aim is to reveal these influences and to initiate a first engagement with and awareness of this topic and to stimulate a discussion and reflection.
The first post (after the introduction) dealt with classic PIL and colonialism. This second considered structures and values inherent in German or European law, implicitly resonating within the PIL and, thus, expanding those values to people and cases from other parts of the world. The third category discusses an imagined hierarchy between the Global North and Global South that is sometimes inherent in private international law thinking. The fourth and for the moment last (but not least) category deals with PIL rules that allow or at least contribute to the exploitation of a power asymmetry between parties from the Global North and the Global South. For example, this power and negotiation asymmetry, in conjunction with generous rules on party autonomy, can lead to arbitration and choice of law clauses being (ab)used to effectively undermine rights of land use under traditional tribal law.
After the first post, in the comment section a discussion evolved regarding the (non-)application of tribal law. One question asked for an example. This post can also (hopefully) serve as such an example.
News
UNU-MERIT: Seminar on the Children’s Right to be Heard on 25 September 2024 (in English and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation)
The United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) is organising a seminar online on the children’s right to be heard (incl. in cases of international child abduction) on 25 September 2024 from 14:00 to 16:00 CEST.
‘IPRspr’ goes digital: launch and presentation of the new online database on 1 October 2024 (in German)
Since its foundation in 1926, the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg (or its predecessor) has continuously published the collection of PIL decisions by German courts. ‘Die deutsche Rechtsprechung auf dem Gebiete des Internationalen Privatrechts’, or short ‘IPRspr’, offers the complete and systematic documentation of German case law on private international law, including procedural law and foreign law. The decisions are boiled down to their private international law aspects and categorized according to subject matter. Depending on the case, the headnotes are reformulated or completely rewritten.
Conference on International Commercial Courts, State Model(s) of Specialised (Domestic) Courts? (Lyon/online, 8 Oct 24)
On 8 October 2024, Jeremy Heymann and Marylou Françoise (both Université jean Moulin Lyon 3) will be hosting a conference on ‘International Commercial Courts, State Model(s) of Specialised (Domestic) Courts ?’ in Lyon. The conference constitutes the inaugural event of a series of conferences on ‘International Disputes and Specialised Courts’ and features practical and academic perspectives from numerous jurisdictions. It will be held both in Lyon and online.
The programme can be found here; the registration form can be found here.