Photo by Matthew Henry Lorna Woods, Professor of Internet Law, University of Essex Background This case concerns the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) from network operators by the security and intelligence agencies (SIAs). It formed part of an action brought by Privacy International challenging the SIAs’ acquisition, use, retention, disclosure, storage and deletion of bulk … Continue reading When is Mass Surveillance Justified? The CJEU Clarifies the Law in Privacy International and Other Cases
European Union Law
The New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Global Compact on Refugees and Solutions
TabareyBarey Camp in Niger By Geoff Gilbert, Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, University of Essex, Chair of the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network The United Nations Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) of 2018 is a document that tries to embrace all aspects of forcible displacement across international borders in the 21st century. This review of the new EU … Continue reading The New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Global Compact on Refugees and Solutions
“You Were Only Supposed to Blow the Bloody Doors Off!”: Schrems II and External Transfers of Personal Data
Photo by Joshua Sortino Prof. Lorna Woods, Professor of Internet Law, University of Essex The Court of Justice today handed down the much anticipated ruling on the legality of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) as a mechanism to transfer personal data outside the European Union. It forms part of Schrems’ campaign to challenge the ‘surveillance capitalism’ model on which … Continue reading “You Were Only Supposed to Blow the Bloody Doors Off!”: Schrems II and External Transfers of Personal Data
National Courts and the Enforcement of EU Law: The Pivotal Role of National Courts in the EU Legal Order
Image by David Mark Prof. Theodore Konstadinides, Professor of Law, University of Essex and Dr. Anastasia Karatzia, Lecturer in Law, University of Essex Prof. Theodore Konstadinides and Dr. Anastasia Karatzia acted as the UK national rapporteurs for the Fédération Internationale Pour Le Droit Européen (FIDE) Congress 2020, one of the most significant conferences on EU … Continue reading National Courts and the Enforcement of EU Law: The Pivotal Role of National Courts in the EU Legal Order
The German Constitutional Court’s Decision on PSPP: Between Mental Gymnastics and Common Sense
The Federal Constitutional Court Professor Theodore Konstadinides, School of Law, University of Essex The 5th of May 2020 will be remembered as a strange day for EU law and German constitutionalism. The German Constitutional Court upheld the constitutional complaints by several groups of individuals against the European Central Bank’s Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP). As explained in yesterday’s … Continue reading The German Constitutional Court’s Decision on PSPP: Between Mental Gymnastics and Common Sense
Weimar-on-Danube: on the Hungarian Enabling Act, the European Response, and the Future of the Union
Image by Hans Hansen Dr. Tom Flynn, Lecturer in Law, University of Essex The current pandemic is testing political, legal, and social systems in significant ways. Europe has faced, among other things, strains regarding the notion of solidarity within the Union, questions as to the ability of economic and financial systems to co-ordinate responses, and … Continue reading Weimar-on-Danube: on the Hungarian Enabling Act, the European Response, and the Future of the Union
Whose Autonomy is it Anyway? Freedom of Contract, the Right to Work and the General Principles of EU Law
Dr Niall O’Connor, Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex, has authored an article exploring the significance, in the employment context, of freedom of contract as a fundamental right in article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter). For the first half of its existence, few could have foreseen that article … Continue reading Whose Autonomy is it Anyway? Freedom of Contract, the Right to Work and the General Principles of EU Law
Exit Britain Enter the Stakeholders: Could Brexit End the Cultural Wars within the EU Company Law and Give Birth to a Truly “European Company”?
Dr. Marios Koutsias, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex, has a new publication in the European Business Law Review entitled ‘Exit Britain Enter the Stakeholders: Could Brexit End the Cultural Wars within the European Union Company Law and Give Birth to a Truly “European Company”?' The history of European Union company law … Continue reading Exit Britain Enter the Stakeholders: Could Brexit End the Cultural Wars within the EU Company Law and Give Birth to a Truly “European Company”?
Reporting as a Means to Protect and Promote Human Rights? The EU Non- Financial Reporting Directive
Dr Johanna Hoekstra, Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex, published an article with Professor Olga Martin-Ortega, Director of the Business, Human Rights and Environment Research Group at the University of Greenwich, entitled Reporting as a Means to Protect and Promote Human Rights? The EU Non- Financial Reporting Directive. The article was published in … Continue reading Reporting as a Means to Protect and Promote Human Rights? The EU Non- Financial Reporting Directive
Analysing the character of the Memoranda of Understanding signed by the European Central Bank
In recent years the use of instruments characterised as “atypical acts” or “soft law” has proliferated in EU law. Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) provide a good case in point as they comprise a convenient way to conclude what are perceived as non-binding agreements negotiated and adopted bilaterally by EU Institutions and third parties. Dr Anastasia Karatzia, … Continue reading Analysing the character of the Memoranda of Understanding signed by the European Central Bank
