Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (JD Supra European Union)

In a potentially major setback to judicial cooperation across Europe, the European Commission has issued a statement that the UK should not be allowed to join the 2007 Lugano Convention (the “Convention”). In their non-binding recommendation, the European Commission held the European Council should block the accession of the UK to the Convention, an agreement outlining which country’s courts may...

The European Parliament formally endorsed the text of a new collective actions legislation, “Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers and Repealing Directive 2009/22/EC” (November 24, 2020), which provides the potential for collective consumer lawsuits to the...

The U.K.’s exit from the European Union may appear to be a fait accompli, but despite the monumental size of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) agreed by the two sides, many details were left to be thrashed out at a later date. As a result, not a week goes by without one or another U.K. lobbying group highlighting the somewhat unsatisfactory position their sector of the U.K. economy finds...

Following on from this week’s big announcement by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on its expectations for international data transfers after the European Court of Justice’s July 16 Schrems II decision, the European Commission released a draft set of new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and a draft implementing decision. The Commission’s draft set of clauses allows for two new types...

On November 11, 2020, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued two much-anticipated guidance documents, outlining the approach it expects organizations to take when transferring data out of the EU. Although these guidances provide a welcome step-by-step process for reviewing and evaluating data transfers, the conclusions ultimately drawn by the EDPB create a challenging framework....

At £20 million, the fine imposed on British Airways (BA) for its infringement of the General Data Protection Regulation is the biggest fine of its kind in the history of the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Whilst markedly lower than the fine initially proposed, the process by which the revised figure was reached provides some interesting insights on the factors that regulators...

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) recently launched a consultation into new guidelines on the roles of data controllers, joint controllers and processors under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The guidelines review some of the basic concepts of the GDPR and are not intended to make fundamental changes to the legal position in respect of these three roles.

On July 16, the highest court in the European Union (EU), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), issued a landmark judgment in the case of Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximillian Schrems (Case C-311/18) (Schrems II). The decision upholds the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for transfers of personal data outside the European Economic Area,...

The 27 European Union member nations gave majority approval on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 to allow non-essential travel from its initial "safe list" of countries. People travelling from the countries on the “safe list” can travel to the EU for business or leisure. The countries on the safe list are...

Between April 20 and 24, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) conducted the second round of negotiations on their future trading relationship. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, described the talks as slightly “surreal”. However, both the EU and U.K. remain keen to continue the talks, since two important deadlines are approaching this year.

Following a referendum in June 2016 , the United Kingdom (U.K.) finally leaves the European Union (EU) today, which is the start of a transition period to new relationships with both the EU and the U.S.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides that personal data may only be transferred to a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) if that country ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data. Although this was also the long-held position under the previous Data Protection Directive, many international organizations only focused on cross-border data transfer...

On 21 March 2019, an advocate general (AG) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered an opinion that sheds light on key issues related to websites’ use of cookies — data packets that can be used by websites to track individuals’ browsing histories and other data. ? This followed a request for a preliminary ruling from the Federal Court of Justice in Germany (FCJ) regarding...

It only took hours for the first-ever GDPR complaint to be filed on 25 May 2018, with Google in the firing line. The investigation into the complaint concluded on 21 January 2019, and a decision was rendered: Google would be fined €50 million (approximately $57 million), the highest regulatory fine for a breach of EU data protection laws.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) significantly expanded the territorial scope of EU data protection law. This was intended to ensure comprehensive protection for EU data subjects’ rights and establish a level playing field for companies active in the EU marketplace. To have access to the world’s largest single marketplace and its 500 million consumers, non-EU entities must play by...

Six months have now passed since the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR has raised awareness of the importance of personal privacy as a fundamental right and placed data protection high on the agenda of many management boards, both within and outside the European Union (EU).

The advent of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has prompted other countries and regions to work to enhance their privacy regulations to meet the GDPR standards. On July 17, Japan became the latest major economy to align with the EU, when both parties signed the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

On March 14, 2018, the European Commission published its Proposal for an EU Directive containing a substantive package of measures designed to facilitate the management by banks of existing and future stocks of non-performing loans (NPLs) on their books. A loan is classified as an NPL where payment is more than 90 days overdue or where the loan is assessed as unlikely to be repaid by the borrower.

Almost a month has now passed since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. Apocalyptic predictions of huge global fines and regulatory action against businesses located outside the European Union have not materialized as yet, although the world of data privacy is in some state of confusion.

In Petter v EMC Corporation [2015] EWCA Civ 828, a U.K. subsidiary and its U.S. parent company were prevented by the English courts from continuing non-compete proceedings against an employee in the court of Massachusetts. The employee in question was protected by a European Union (EU) regulation, which stipulated that an employee may only be sued in the jurisdiction in which he is domiciled (in...

In King v The Sash Window Workshop Ltd and another (C-214/16), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) considered whether a worker was entitled to be paid on termination for periods of accrued but untaken holiday going back several years where he was deterred from taking holiday because it would have been unpaid.

In Otero Ramos v Servicio Galego de Saude (C-531/15), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) considered the obligation of employers towards breastfeeding mothers. Ms Otero Ramos was a breastfeeding mother employed as an Accident & Emergency nurse by a hospital in Spain. She raised concerns with her employer regarding the possible adverse impact of certain of her working conditions on her...

In Barbulescu v Romania (Application no. 61496/08) [2017] ECHR 742, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) clarified the right of employers to monitor employees’ private communications in the workplace.

On October 18, 2017, the EU Commission released its report of the first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. The Privacy Shield is the successor of the Safe Harbor Agreement which was invalidated by the Court of Justice of the European Union in October 2015.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has clarified the law surrounding the monitoring of employees’ private communications in the workplace. The decision overturns the earlier ruling of the lower court, which held that the Romanian courts failed to give effect to the employee’s privacy rights in their treatment of his original claim.

A year from today, radical changes to data privacy laws in the European Union will come into effect. Businesses should start preparing now, given the significant changes. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will impact U.S. businesses regardless of whether they have a corporate presence in the EU or use EU-based assets to process data (which are the current tests). If a U.S. business...

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Mohamed Daouidi v Bootes Plus S.L. (Case C-395/15) (2015/C 354/22) considered whether the dismissal of a worker due to temporary incapacity (but of unknown duration) could constitute direct disability discrimination. Mr Daouidi was employed as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant in Barcelona. He slipped whilst at work, dislocating his elbow. He later...

In Achbita v G4S Secure Solutions NV (Case C-157/15) and Bougnaoui v Micropole SA (Case C-188-15), two Advocate Generals (AG) of the European Court of Justice provided conflicting opinions when considering whether bans on religious headscarves amounted to religious discrimination.

After months of negotiations with the U.S. government, the European Commission (the EU’s executive arm) has announced a new scheme for data transfers, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. This is intended to replace the Safe Harbor framework and address some of the concerns following a landmark ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in October which made it much more difficult for businesses

In Barbulescu v Romania 61496/08 [2016] ECHR 61, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) considered whether an employer’s monitoring of an employee’s private communications had breached his right to privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights.