Applying the EU Charter of Rights to Member States' internal market derogations

By Steve PeersToday’s judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Pfleger confirmed an important issue as regards the scope of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – but also raised some implicit questions about its added value in such cases. The case concerned Austrian restrictions on gambling machines. In fact, the CJEU has decided very many cases relating to national restrictions on gambling, an issue which is not regulated...

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The UK’s Failed Challenge to the Financial Transaction Tax: Keep Calm and Wait

By Steve Peers‘In capitalist countries, the bank robs YOU’. Rightly or wrongly, this phrase sums up the reaction of many EU citizens (as well as many of those outside the EU) to the bank bailouts and austerity of the last few years. The reaction to these concerns has been a series of populist measures by the EU – a restriction on short-selling (upheld by the CJEU), criminal penalties for market abuse, and a possible financial transactions tax (FTT)....

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External processing of applications for international protection in the EU

Steve PeersLast autumn's huge loss of lives near Lampedusa, when hundreds of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean, was one of the latest and most dramatic death tolls in the recent history of irregular crossing of that sea. It ought to have led to a complete rethink of EU policy toward border controls and visas, but did not - doubtless because of the belief that far-right parties would capitalise on the increased public concern about migration that...

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Should the EU ratify the Istanbul Convention on violence against women?

Steve PeersFor many years, discussion as regards the EU and human rights has focussed on the growing role of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the EU’s planned accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. This is understandable, given the importance of these developments. However, the EU’s relationship with other international human rights instruments is also worthy of further examination.The EU is not able to sign up to older UN...

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Are national data retention laws within the scope of the Charter?

By Steve PeersFollowing the annulment of the EU’s data retention Directive by the CJEU, an obvious important question arises: are national data retention laws subject to the same ruling of the Court? The purpose of this post is to set out the reasons why they are.The starting point for this analysis is Article 51 of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states that the Charter applies to the EU institutions and other EU bodies, but to the...

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Can EU law make an effective contribution to the prohibition of forced labour by the ILO?

Steve PeersWhile many employees jokingly refer to themselves as ‘wage slaves’, millions of people worldwide are actually forced to supply their labour – a modern form of slavery. Alongside sexual exploitation, labour exploitation constitutes a particular form of trafficking in persons.In recent years, the chief international actors combatting trafficking in persons have been the United Nations (adopting a Protocol to the Convention on Organised Crime),...

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The CJEU confirms the independence of data protection authorities

Steve PeersYesterday’s second judgment on data protection is not quite as important as the first, but is very interesting nonetheless. In Commission v Hungary, the CJEU built upon its prior rulings in Commission v Germany and Commission v Austria, as regards the independence of data protection authorities. But implicitly the judgment has rather broader resonance than that.BackgroundThe EU’s data protection Directive requires data protection authorities...

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The data retention judgment: The CJEU prohibits mass surveillance

Steve PeersOn July 7, 2005 a relative of mine started her journey to work on a London tube train. Within half an hour, bombs on that train left by terrorists exploded, in conjunction with three other bombs across London. Dozens of people died (although my relative was not injured).Understandably, public concern about terrorist incidents, following on from the earlier outrages of 9/11 and the Madrid bombings, led to further EU anti-terrorist legislation....

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National legal challenges to the Data Retention Directive

Chris Jones, Researcher for StatewatchThis post, which examines the numerous legal challenges against the EU's Data Retention Directive at both national and EU level (not including today's judgment), is the third post in a series examining the EU's mandatory data retention legislation, which was struck down today by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is based on work undertaken by Statewatch as part of the SECILE project (Securing...

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