In a landmark EU’s General Court’s ruling, Google successfully overturned a 1.5 billion euros fine imposed by the European Commission (EC) in 2019. The fine was tied to allegations that Google abused its dominant position in online advertising through its AdSense platform. The EC claimed that Google restricted third-party websites from displaying ads from competitors, a practice that allegedly stifled competition. The Case The case revolved around Google’s AdSense for Search, where the company had exclusive agreements with websites, preventing them from using rival ads. The EC argued this restricted competition in the online search advertising market. Google, however, maintained […]
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The recent case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) could shake the world of football governance, urging FIFA to change its regulations. Defining the player-clubs’ relations was never an easy task. However, the football industry is continuously growing. FIFA, the sport’s governing body, implemented multiple rules to regulate the status and transfers of professional football players. However, specific articles of those regulations could contradict the EU principles of Competition Law and Freedom of Movement. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar published his opinion on this case, suggesting that specific articles potentially contradict the EU law. The case revolves […]
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Last year, the top 12 European football clubs formally agreed to organize a separate competition. Gecić Law has already given legal insights on establishing the European Super League (“ESL”) – the football league that may never start. The ESL aims to compete with – if not completely replace – the current UEFA Champions League, the elite European football championship organized by the UEFA. The ESL has experienced tremendous pressure from the fans, officials, coaches, players, other stakeholders and especially UEFA, which resulted in (temporary) stopping the initiative. Much of the opposition to the ESL stemmed from fears of elitism and […]
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The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU“) delivered two judgments on 22 March 2022. By those judgments, the CJEU ruled on the scope of the protection afforded by the prohibition of ne bis in idem principle in competition law. The CJEU recalled in both cases that the application of the ne bis in idem principle is subject to a twofold condition. First, there must be a prior final decision and secondly, the prior decision and the subsequent proceedings must concern the same facts. The CJEU clarified that the limitations may be imposed on the exercise of a fundamental right, such as the prohibition against double […]
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In late 2021, the Romanian Constitutional Court issued a statement regarding the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (”Judgment”) in Cases C-357/19 Euro Box Promotion and Others, C379/19 DNA – Oradea Territorial Service, C-547/19 “Romanian Judges Forum”, C-811/19 FQ and others and C-840/19 NC. The Judgment established that national judges are entitled to disregard the decisions of the Romanian Constitutional Court that are not aligned with the EU law without any risk of disciplinary measures. Moreover, it addressed the Romanian justice reforms and pointed out the mandatory character of the EU’s recommendations, embedded in the Cooperation and […]
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The German Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) have been at odds lately. In June 2021, the European Commission brought infringement proceedings against Germany over an alleged breach of the principle of primacy of EU law by the German Federal Constitutional Court. Namely, the German Federal Constitutional Court has delivered a landmark decision that is precedent-setting and has tremendous repercussions for the question of the power dynamics between the European Union (“EU”) and a Member State. Before getting into the nitty-gritty details of this legal conundrum, let us take a look at how things played […]
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As the famous Arabic proverb says, ‘Silence is golden’. And it seems that this nugget of ancient wisdom still holds true today – even in law; even when it comes to a high-profile case before the European Court of Justice. To find out why would silence be so important as to cause a stir among lawyers throughout Europe, we must track back to the beginning. What happened? On February 2, 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) released a landmark ruling on due process rights in preliminary reference from the Italian Constitutional Court in DB v Commissione Nazionale per le […]
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On September 20, 2017 the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU“) issued so far the most significant judgment concerning the loans denominated in Swiss francs (the “CHF”). Namely, by judgment in case C-186/16 (Ruxanda Paula Andriciuc and Others v. Banca Românească SA), the CJEU ruled that a financial institution which grants a loan denominated in a foreign currency is liable to provide the borrower with sufficient information, in order to enable him to make a thorough assessment of economic risks and consequences of entering into such contract, and to make a prudent decision on this issue. The […]
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Results of one of the latest surveys recently carried out by British Regus, global work-space provider, have revealed that commuting is being experienced as a time waste for nearly one third of UK professionals, given that it does not fall within their working hours. Said survey led to the actualization of a pivotal judgment rendered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter: ECJ) in 2015, according to which such daily journeys undertaken by workers without a fixed or habitual place of work between their homes and the premises of their customers constitute working time. After processing obtained […]
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