On September 8, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) ruled that it is lawful for the United Kingdom and Ireland to participate in the Schengen acquis in a limited manner. According to Articles 4 and 5 of the Schengen Protocol (Protocol), the U.K. and Ireland can request to participate in measures developing the Schengen acquis, subject to approval by the Council. Neither country had exercised its option to participate in provisions on external border crossings. Spain initiated the proceedings before the Court to annul Article 19 of the Eurosur...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On September 17, 2015, the European Court of Justice (Court) decided Commission v. Italy and ordered Italy to pay a fine for its delay in recovering state aid incompatible with the common market. In 1999, the Commission initiated proceedings against Italy for granting reductions in and relief from social security contributions to firms, which it argued amounted to impermissible state aid. After having unsuccessfully ordered Italy to recover the aid, the Commission began legal action against Italy for failure to comply with its decision, which led to a 2011 judgment by the Court...
On September 16, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Court) overruled a lower court’s class definition in a class action suit brought by bondholders against Argentina. The case arose out of litigation by bondholders seeking repayment after Argentina’s default on its sovereign debt in 2001. The lower court’s decision in this instance had “simply [modified] the class definition by removing the continuous holder requirement and expanding the class to all holders of beneficial interests in the relevant bond series without limitation as to time held.” The Court stated that...
On September 15, 2015, a court in Toulouse, France turned down an extradition request for Joseph Habyarimana, a Rwandan who is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Mr. Habyarimana is accused of identifying monks of the Tutsi ethnic group to their killers. According to a news report, the court denied the request, arguing that the actions were not considered crimes at the time of their commission and holding that laws cannot be applied retroactively. The President of CPCR, a group of Rwandan plaintiffs, expressed dismay at the ruling saying, “France never reacts positively to...
On September 15, 2015, the European Court of Justice (Court) ruled that member states of the European Union may exclude Union citizens who go to that state in search of a job from certain non-contributory social security benefits without violating the principle of equal treatment. The Alimanovic family, Swedish citizens originally from Bosnia, moved to Germany in 2010. After their arrival, two family members had held several temporary jobs lasting less than one year and had received unemployment and subsistence benefits from 2011 to 2012 when German authorities stopped the payments,...
On September 10, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled in R.H. v. Sweden, that the deportation of R.H. from Sweden to Somalia does not violate Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights. R.H., a woman from Somalia who had unsuccessfully petitioned the Swedish authorities for asylum, sought to stop enforcement of her deportation order claiming that upon her return to Somalia she would face marginalization as a single woman and be sentenced to death if she did not go back to the man she had been forced to...
On September 8, 2015, the European Union and the U.S. finalized negotiations on a data protection “Umbrella Agreement” dealing with high data protection standards for transatlantic law enforcement cooperation. In a statement, EU Commissioner Věra Jourová described the Umbrella Agreement as an “important step to strengthen the fundamental right to privacy effectively and to rebuild trust in EU-US data flows,” highlighting that the Agreement will “guarantee a high level of protection of all personal data when transferred between law enforcement authorities across the Atlantic. It will in...
On September 8, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) ruled in Ministry of Energy of Iran v. Council to dismiss the application of the Ministry of Energy of Iran (the Ministry) to be removed from the EU sanctions list. The Ministry was initially included in Iranian anti-nuclear proliferation sanctions as it is “[r]esponsible for policy in the energy sector, which provides a substantial source of revenue for the Iranian Government.” The Court found that the Ministry’s “right of defense” had been infringed when the Council took fifteen months, “an unreasonable...
On September 8, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the Court) upheld an award by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) granting ConocoPhillips ownership of Venezuela state oil company PDVSA’s 50% share of the Sweeney, Texas refinery. After PDVSA failed to supply its partner with crude oil according to the joint venture agreement, ConocoPhillips announced it would exercise its contractual right to buy out Venezuela. In response, PDVSA commenced arbitration under the ICC Rules on Arbitration. The arbitral panel ruled that ConocoPhillips was indeed...
On September 8, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) issued its decision in Ivo Taricco and Others, finding that by preventing the imposition of effective and dissuasive penalties in cases of serious VAT fraud, Italian law is liable to affect the financial interests of the European Union. The case concerned the criminal proceedings in Italy against Mr. Taricco and others that arose from a criminal conspiracy to acquire goods VAT free and below market price, thus distorting the market. According to the press release, the Court stated that member states must...