EU Law Enforcement

By Kelly Blount, Zlatina Georgieva and Miroslava Scholten

Today, our blog celebrates its 100^th blog post. Since September 2016, we issue at least one blog post per month, always on the last day of the month. The blog is open to anyone wanting to contribute, also in a different language than English. Our aim is to create a central point for information, research and discussion on the pertinent issues related to the so far understudied theme of the enforcement of EU law. Until now, we have had blog posts, which would announce a new book, idea or project, discuss a recent court judgement or legislative proposal or act, give a comment on a publication or summary of a recent event, to name but a few of our topics. The form of the blog post is thus flexible and inclusive.

This special blog post presents a discussion on some of the pertinent questions that the editing team sees as important in their respective research fields and warrants our further attention and investigation. This post is thus also a call for future blog posts and other initiatives, which could support and enhance the main theme of the blog – ultimately, to aid legislative and enforcement practices (in the EU as well as other jurisdictions) and to promote beneficial policies for society. Ideas for blog posts and full texts could be sent directly to the editors, whose contact details are to be found in the right pane on this website.

But first of all, why blogging?

Continue reading “100th Blog Post on EU Law Enforcement: pertinent questions that deserve our future research and societal attention. Call for Blog Posts”

The EU body of law counts more than 100,000 pieces of legislation and some argue that the legislative activity of the EU has been declining. However, are these laws being followed and do they bring the expected results? To answer these questions, it is important to investigate relevant implementation processes.

Enforcement is a process of monitoring compliance with laws, investigating possible violations and responding to the proven violations via corrections and sanctions. Upon an invitation from Edward Elgar publishing, I have organised a research handbook on the enforcement of EU law, which was written by 50 experts from relevant fields. This blog post gives a succinct overview of the main findings of this book, which has aimed to present the state-of-the-art in research and practice and outline directions for future research and policy. The book shows an evolution of the concept of enforcement of EU law and observes interesting trends. Based on a comparative methodology, it argues for an increasing importance of the preventive function of enforcement and shows an insightful variety of approaches that can be taken in this regard. Finally, the book discusses the question of success of enforcement by pinpointing the factors that could promote or hinder it.

With the prominent role of digital platforms nowadays, switching has become a habit common to many users. A provider can come out of fashion very easily, as users migrate from one service to another in constant search for the best digital service and following the trend. Also “network effects” contributed to the wide spreading of the phenomenon. Against this backdrop, the concept of “portability” has first been articulated as a user right in Article 20 GDPR. This blogpost will portray the different roles acquired by the concept of “portability” throughout the years and spot its intricate relationship with digital platform law and regulation.

In the realm of mergers & acquisitions (“M&A”) transactions, corporations almost always undergo due diligence, wherein the buyer conducts a thorough investigation and evaluation of the target company before entering into a transaction. In the context of due diligence operations, antitrust challenges may arise in specific situations, such as when the involved parties are direct competitors. The purpose of this post is to illustrate the instances when antitrust risks emerge during due diligence concerning M&A operations between competitors and to propose suggestions mitigating these risks.

In 2018, EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker stated that the EU “had been sleepwalking from one crisis to another without waking up.” These crises have no doubt had a range of detrimental effects on the EU, and I argue that crises make it harder for the Commission to enforce EU law. Why? Crises require resources, including time. Time is a fixed and finite resource, and if the Commission is spending time on a crisis, there is less time for enforcement. However, crises do not inevitably lead to lax enforcement. Other actors, including the European Parliament and EU citizens can help overcome the constraints of time.

This month, we have the pleasure of re-posting a contribution by Clémence van Muylder, Senior Associate at Loyens&Loeff, Brussels. Have a pleasant read!

In its Grand Chamber judgment of 21 December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union rendered its very first decision on the functioning of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). The decision provides valuable guidance on the conditions for cross-border acquisition of evidence by the EPPO.

Begin april verscheen de tweede druk van het boek “De Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming in Europees en Nederlands perspectief”. Het is een bijgewerkte versie van de eerste druk die verscheen rond de tijd dat de Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming (de “AVG”, ook wel bekend onder de Engelse afkorting: “GDPR”) van toepassing werd.