Tag Archive for: European Union

EJN: Children from Ukraine — Civil Judicial Cooperation

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The European Judicial Network on civil and commercial matters has just published information and resources relating to civil judicial cooperation in the context of children from Ukraine. The “Children from Ukraine — civil judicial cooperation” webpage is available on the e-Justice Portal in all EU languages and provides:

  • a summary of the legal rules that apply to judicial cooperation in cross-border cases involving Ukrainian children (i.e. questions of jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions, and cooperation between authorities);
  • relevant information on Ukrainian family law;
  • useful links and resources.

The information is intended for judges, lawyers, notaries, and central authorities, as well as child protection officials and others dealing with the registration of children arriving in EU Member States.

For more information, see the following link: https://e-justice.europa.eu/38593/EN/children_from_ukraine__civil_judicial_cooperation

EU Survey on Protection of Vulnerable Adults

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In February 2021, the European Commission launched a study to assess the need for more effective legal protection of vulnerable adults within the European Union. As part of this study, a survey has now been published online for all legal practitioners working in the area: judges, lawyers, notaries, and other relevant authorities. Input from practitioners will be important in shaping any future legislative initiative.

The survey is open until 4 June 2021 and available at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/vulnerable_adults_practitioners.

Although the survey is in English, respondents are welcome to submit responses in any of the official EU languages.

For more information, see the survey link above or for more specific questions contact the project team at: < crossborder.adults@milieu.be >.

HCCH Monthly Update: March 2021

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Meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy

The Council on General Affairs and Policy (CGAP) of the HCCH met online from 1 to 5 March 2021, with over 350 participants. Over the course of five days, HCCH Members reviewed progress made to date and agreed on the work programme for the year ahead. More information is available here.

Several important developments relating to Membership and HCCH Conventions occurred during the meeting:

  • Thailand deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Statute, becoming the 88thMember of the HCCH.
  • El Salvador applied to become a Member of the HCCH. Following a six-month voting period and provided a majority of votes have been cast in its favour, El Salvador will be invited to become a Member by accepting the Statute of the HCCH.
  • Israel signed the HCCH 2005 Choice of Court Convention and the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention. The 2005 Choice of Court Convention, which currently binds 31 States and the EU, will enter into force for Israel only after it deposits an instrument of accession or ratification. Although the 2019 Judgments Convention is not yet in force, Israel is the third signatory to the Convention.

More information on these developments is available here.

Finally, as customary the meeting coincided with the publication of the Annual Report of the HCCH. The 2020 Annual Report can be downloaded or ordered here.

Other Meetings & Events

On 15 and 18 March, the HCCH and the International Union of Judicial Officers co-hosted a webinar on the application of the 1965 Service Convention and the 2019 Judgments Convention aimed at judicial officers and other legal professionals. Recordings of the webinar are available here in English and here in French.

On 18 March, the HCCH and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan co-hosted a webinar on the HCCH 1980 Child Abduction Convention in the Asia Pacific, attended by judges and officials of Central Authorities from 12 countries and regions in the Asia Pacific. More information is available here.

On 30 March, the HCCH participated in the virtual High Level Conference “Protecting Vulnerable Adults across Europe – the Way Forward”, organised by the Ministry of Justice of Portugal, the European Commission and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The recording of the conference is available here.

These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.

Article on special jurisdiction in IP matters, including a comment on Coty

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DavidoffThe previously reported CJEU decision in Coty Germany GmbH v. First Note Perfumes NV, concerning the infringement of the rights in the 3D Community trade mark, unlawful comparative advertising and unfair imitation, is the subject of a comment by Prof. Annette Kur, in her article Durchsetzung gemeinschaftsweiter Schutz-rechte: Internationale Zuständigkeit und an-wendbares Recht, fortcomming in GRUR Int., Issue 7/8, 2014.

Her criticism is primarily addressing the answer to the first question in which the CJEU reiterated that jurisdiction under Article 93(5) of CTM Regulation may be established solely in favour of CTM courts in the MS in which the defendant committed the alleged unlawful act. This is because she finds an interpretation of the provision contrary to the principle of territoriality of intellectual property rights, both national and unitary. She explains that the effect of this principle is absence of any possibility that there might be a single infringement of an intellectual property right with the event causing damage in one country, and the damage occurring in another. In such a situation there would be two distinct acts of infringement, one in each of the countries. Kur qualifies the CJEU reasoning as a fundamental misunderstanding of the structural features of the intellectual property law that distinguish it from other areas of tort law.