News & Articles

02/01/12

The Court of Justice on blocking counterfeit goods by customs

On 1 December 2011, the European Court of Justice rendered its decision in the cases of Philips (C-446/09) and Nokia (C-495/09). The court set the con…

22/12/11

Les nouvelles règles européennes sur les services d’intérêt économique général (SIEG)

16/12/11

CJEU Establishes Framework for Use of Trade Marks in Keyword Advertising

Keyword advertising – the best-known example of which is Google AdWords – is a new and promising way of promoting a business.

16/12/11

Notional Interest Deduction: Recent Developments

Lauded by some yet criticized by others since its introduction, it comes as no surprise that the notional interest deduction (NID) is one of the first…

14/12/11

ECJ Prevents Belgian Court from Imposing General Filtering Obligation to Stop Illegal File Sharing

On 24 November 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) decided in Scarlet Extended SA (“Scarlet”) vs. Société belge des auteurs, com…

08/12/11

Di Rupo I: nieuwe fiscale maatregelen op komst

Afgelopen weekend werd het regeerakkoord van de regering Di Rupo I officieel bekend gemaakt. Hoewel het nog afwachten is hoe dit akkoord in effectieve…

07/12/11

Affaire Airfield : la Cour de justice précise la notion de communication au public par satellite

Depuis plusieurs années, un litige oppose deux sociétés de gestion collective (SABAM et AGICOA) à la société AIRFIELD à propos de la diffusion de cert…

06/12/11

Changes in Belgian tax legislation

On 25 November the various political parties who are in the process of establishing a new Belgian government, agreed on various changes to Belgian tax…

06/12/11

La nouvelle directive européenne sur les droits des consommateurs

Le 23 juin 2011, le Parlement européen a adopté la proposition de directive relative aux droits des consommateurs. Cette directive, encore en attente …

06/12/11

Commission improves procedural rules in competition proceedings

Commission improves procedural rules in competition proceedings with a notice on best practices and a decision on the functions of the role of the hea…

06/12/11

Independence of science in regulatory decision-making

A conference-debate was organised at the European Parliament by ALDE MEPs Corinne Lepage and Antonya Parvanova.

05/12/11

ECJ Clarifies Role of Satellite Package Provider

On 13 October 2011, the Court of Justice of the EU (the “ECJ”) answered a number of preliminary questions referred to it by the Court of Appeal of Bru…

05/12/11

EU Court Rejects Registration of Loudspeaker Shape as Community Trade Mark

On 6 October 2011, the General Court of the European Union (the “GC”) handed down its judgment in a case pitting Bang & Olufsen A/S (“Bang & O…

03/12/11

European Court of Justice rules that banning online sales in selective distribution systems is liable to be a …

On 13 October 2011, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) handed down its preliminary ruling in the Pierre Fabre case (see VBB on Competition Law, Vol…

03/12/11

ECJ finds absolute territorial exclusivity in broadcasting of Premier League matches contrary to competition l…

On 4 October 2011, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) gave judgment in joined cases C-403/08 Football Association Premier League Ltd, NetMed Hellas…

03/12/11

European Union - European Commission Proposes Optional Common European Sales Law

On 11 October 2011, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published a Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (the “Proposal”). …

02/12/11

Ban of BPA in all food contact materials?

On the basis of a Report from ANSES (= French National Agency for Food Safety, Environnement and Labour), France has opened up once again the debate …

02/12/11

ECHA issues a draft of its first Community Rolling Action Plan for substance evaluation

ECHA delivered its homework on time by releasing, before its December 1st 2011 deadline imposed by REACH, a draft for a first Community Rolling Acti…

01/12/11

EU Court Holds that Appeal by Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats Against Commission’s EDF/Segebel Merger Decision is Ina…

On 12 October 2011, the General Court held that an appeal by Belgian consumer organization Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats ("TA") against the European Commis…

25/11/11

Case Scarlet

In its ruling of the 24th of November, in the case Scarlet Extended SA v SABAM (C-70/10), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) stated tha…