Flux européens

Below in simple format and here in easier lay-out, is the program for our conference on the Tangier Statute Centenary Conference, 18 December next in Tanger.

We are very excited.

 

The Tangier Statute Centenary Conference, 18th December 2023

Colloque international à l’occasion du centenaire du Statut de Tanger, 18 décembre 2018

 

Programme

 

Local time/heure locale : UTC+1 (= Central European Time/Heure normale d’Europe Centrale)

Morning/Matinée: Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Économiques et Sociales de Tanger

09:00-09:30:         Registration/Inscriptions

09:30-10:30:         Welcome speeches/Discours de bienvenue

• Welcoming words by the organizers/Mots de bienvenue des organisateurs
• Address by Mr Mounir Lymmouri, President of the Tangier City Council/Allocution de M. Mounir Lymmouri, Président du Conseil de la Ville de Tanger
• Address by a Representative of the Presidence of Abdelmalek Essaâdi University/Allocution d’un.e représentant.e de la présidence de l’Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi
• Address by Prof. Toufik Essaid, Dean of the Tangier Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences/Allocution de M. le Professeur Toufik Essaid, Doyen de la Faculté des sciences juridiques, économiques et sociales de Tanger.

 

10:30-10:45: Keynote speech by Prof. Hamid Aboulas, Vice-Dean of the Tangier Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences/Discours d’ouverture de M. le Professeur Hamid Aboulas, Vice-Doyen de la Faculté des sciences juridiques, économiques et sociales de Tanger

• Quelques aspects de la transformation de la ville de Tanger de 1923 à après l’indépendance

10:45-11:00:         Coffee break/Pause café

 

11:00-12:00:         Panel 1: Between Internationalism and Colonialism: Contextualizing the Tangier Statute/Entre internationalisme et colonialisme : le Statut de Tanger dans son contexte (Chair/Présidence: Fouzi Rherrousse)

• Ambivalences de la souveraineté, impérialisme et droit international : réflexion à partir du statut spécial de la Ville de Tanger (1923-1956) (Oumar Kourouma)
• La souveraineté marocaine à l’épreuve du statut international de Tanger de 1923 (Antoine Perrier)
• The International Situation of the City of Tangier During the Protectorate (Adil Rajaa)

 

12:00-13:00:         Panel 2: The International City as a Product and a Precedent: Connecting Tangier to Other International Spaces/La Ville internationale comme produit et comme précédent : les liens entre Tanger et d’autres espaces internationaux (Chair/Présidence: Michel Erpelding)

• The theory and practice of international administration: Comparison between Tangier and territories administered by the League of Nations (Philip Burton)
• The Statute of Tangier as the inspiration for the Draft Statute for the City of Jerusalem (Fulvio Bontempo and Alessia Tortolini)
• The International Zone of Tangier, 1924-1956: the European Union’s Accidental Incubator? (Willem Theus)

 

13:00-15:00:       Lunch break/Pause déjeuner

 

Afternoon/après-midi : Palace of Italian Institutions/Palais des Institutions Italiennes

15:00-15:20:       Welcome speeches/Discours de bienvenue

• Adress by Mr Marco Silvi, Consul General of Italy in Casablanca/Allocution par M. Marco Silvi, Consul général d’Italie à Casablanca
• Address by Mr Riccardo Finozzi, representative of the association Dimore Storiche del Mediterraneo/Allocution par M. Riccardo Finozzi, représentant de l’association Dimore Storiche del Mediterraneo

 

15:20-16:20:       Panel 3: Implementing the Tangier Statute: The Administration of the International City in Practice/La mise en œuvre du Statut de Tanger : Enjeux pratiques de l’administration de la Ville Internationale (Chair/Présidence: Rachid El Moussaoui)

 

• Tanger : la dimension méditerranéenne de l’économie marocaine (Sersar El Mahdi)
• Structuration et évolution de l’enseignement dans Ville de Tanger (Faiza El Alaoui)
• Les enjeux politiques et juridiques de la planification urbaine et architecturale de la zone internationale de Tanger (1925-1956) (Romain Micalef)

 

16:20-17:20:       Panel 4: Administering Justice in the International City: The Mixed Court of Tangier/Rendre la justice dans la Ville internationale : le Tribunal mixte de Tanger (Chair/Présidence : Geert van Calster)

 

• Capitalism as Juridical Creed: The Uneasy Relationship of the Tangier Mixed Court with Public International Law (Dimitrios A. Kourtis) (online/en ligne)
• Divergence et convergence juridiques: analyse de deux décisions des Tribunaux mixtes de Tanger et du Caire (Aya Bejermi and Adam Belkadi) (online/en ligne)
• Jewish Law in the Mixed Court of Tangier, 1925-1956 (Jessica M. Marglin)

 

17:20-17:40:       Coffee break/Pause café

 

17:40-18:20: Panel 5: Lawyering in the International City: Selected Portraits of ‘Mixed Lawyers’/Pratiquer le droit dans la Ville internationale : Portraits choisis de « juristes mixtes » (Chair/Présidence : Francesco Tamburini)

• Le fabuleux destin de deux bâtonniers tangérois : Alphonse Ménard et Daniel Saurin (Fouzi Rherrousse)
• Incunable d’Europe : Nicola Catalano et la Zone internationale de Tanger (Marco Fioravanti)

 

18:20-19:20:       Panel 6: Flooding the Airwaves from the International City: Tangier as a Broadcasting Platform/Remplir les ondes à partir de la Ville internationale : Tanger comme plate-forme de radiodiffusion (Chair/Présidence : Willem Theus)

• A Case of Strategic Litigation: the 1938-1939 ‘Radio-Tanger’ Case and the Liberalization of Tangier’s Airwaves (Michel Erpelding)
• The Italian Radiotelegraphic Service in the International Zone, 1931-1956: Shattered Dreams for a Mediterranean Power (Francesco Tamburini)
• Radio Frontier: Tangier as the Mediterranean’s Radio Hub, 1939-1963 (Arthur Asseraf) (online/en ligne)

 

19:20-19:30:       Closing remarks/Conclusions

 

NORDIC INFO
Citoyenneté européenne
Covid-19 : la Cour valide certaines interdictions de voyage et obligations de dépistage ainsi que de quarantaine pendant la crise sanitaire

Nacionalinis visuomenės sveikatos centras
Seule une violation fautive du règlement général sur la protection des données peut conduire à l’infliction d’une amende administrative

Luxembourg / Commission
Aide d'État
L’examen par la Commission européenne des tax rulings accordés au groupe Engie par le Luxembourg a méconnu le droit de l’Union

In Case C-497/22 EM v Roompot Service BV, the CJEU has confirmed its strict reading of Article 24 Brussels Ia’s ‘tenancies of immovable properties’ provision, confirming Richard de la Tour AG’s convincing Opinion [ia his reasoning (35) ff].

Proceedings are between EM, domiciled in Germany, and Roompot Service BV, which has its registered office in the Netherlands and operates a holiday park there, comprising tourist accommodation.

[15] Per CJEU Rösler (241/83), Hacker (C‑280/90) and Dansommer (C‑8/98), contracts involving the letting of holiday accommodation abroad generally fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Member State in which the immovable property concerned is situated. An exception can be made to that principle only when the contract concerned is a contract of a complex nature, that is to say, a contract providing for the performance of a range of services in consideration for the lump sum paid by the customer.

[16] the additional services in the present case were the offer, on the internet page of the defendant in the main proceedings, of a variety of bungalows with different facilities, the booking of the bungalow chosen for the customer, reception of the customer at the destination and the handing over of the keys, the provision of bed linen and the carrying out of cleaning at the end of the stay – the question therefore is whether this qualifies the contract as being one of a ‘complex nature’, or [17] whether these are merely minor ancillary services, which arguably do not cancel out A24.

After recalling the restricted nature of A24 in general, the Court [27] repeats what it said most recently in Obala re the ratio legis for A24(1) exclusive jurisdiction:

as regards tenancies of immovable property in particular, it is clear from that case-law that that exclusive jurisdiction is justified by the complexity of the relationship of landlord and tenant, which comprises a series of rights and obligations in addition to that relating to rent. That relationship is governed by special legislative provisions, some of a mandatory nature, of the State in which the immovable property which is the subject of the lease is situated, for example, provisions determining who is responsible for maintaining the property and paying land taxes, provisions governing the duties of the occupier of the property as against the neighbours, and provisions controlling or restricting the landlord’s right to retake possession of the property on expiry of the lease

[29]  core consideration is whether the subject matter of that dispute relates directly to the rights and obligations arising from that tenancy (reference to CJEU Sharewood by analogy).

Two main lines of enquiry have to be pursued:

Firstly, the nature of the services at issue: 

[34] the categorisation of a contract relating to the performance of a range of services, in addition to the short-term letting of holiday accommodation, requires (reference to Richard de la Tour AG (28)) an assessment of the contractual relationship in question as a whole and in its context. [39] Where additional services are offered in return for a lump sum on the same terms as those offered to customers of a hotel complex, A24(1) is not engaged. By contrast, any additional service that is ancillary in nature to such a letting would not necessarily modify the categorisation of the contract concerned to that of tenancy, but would have to be examined in the context of that contract.

[40] neither cleaning at the end of the stay nor providing bed linen are sufficiently weighty services liable to distinguish, on their own, a tenancy from a complex holiday organisation contract. Although it is true that cleaning usually is the responsibility of the tenant at the end of a lease, it cannot be ruled out that, due to the particular nature of seasonal lettings of holiday homes, the lessor may take on that task, without that modifying the nature of the contract as a tenancy of immovable property. The same holds true for providing bed linen and handing over keys.

[41] On the other hand, information and advice, booking and reception services forming part of the offer proposed by a tourism professional, together with the letting, in return for a lump sum, constitute services which are generally provided as part of a complex holiday organisation contract.

Further, the capacity in which the travel organiser concerned intervenes in the contractual relationship at issue in the main proceedings.

[43] Per CJEU Hacker etc, the fact that the travel organiser is not the owner of the accommodation, but is subrogated in the owner’s rights, is not such on its own as to modify a possible categorisation of the contract concerned as a tenancy of immovable property. On the other hand if that travel organiser intervenes as a tourism professional and proposes, in the context of an organised stay, additional services in consideration of which the offer is accepted, that fact may be an indication of the complex nature of that contract.

In conclusion [44], while the national court will have to confirm, the circumstances suggest A24(1) is not engaged.

The judgment is a useful reminder of the A24(1) lines of enquiry.

Geert.

EU private international law, 4th ed. 2024, 2.182 ff.

CJEU confirms restrictive application of A24(1) Brussels Ia 'tenancy' agreements, in case concerning rental of bungalow park accommodation with additional (not merely 'ancillary') services

C‑497/22 EM v Roompot Service BVhttps://t.co/0lv8QdJAVI

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) November 16, 2023

 

Ministero dell’Interno (Brochure commune - Refoulement indirect)
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
Procédures d’asile : la communication de la brochure commune d’information et la tenue d’un entretien individuel s’imposent à tous les États membres ; le risque de refoulement indirect n’est en principe pas examiné par le second État membre saisi

Commune d'Ans
Port de signes religieux sur le lieu de travail : une administration publique peut décider d'interdire le port de tels signes à l’ensemble de ses employés

Neves 77 Solutions
Relations extérieures
Avocate générale Ćapeta : la Cour n’est pas compétente pour interpréter des dispositions générales d’une mesure de l’Union en matière de politique étrangère et de sécurité commune dans le seul but d’en préciser le sens

KS et KD / Conseil e. a.
Relations extérieures
Avocate générale Ćapeta : les particuliers peuvent introduire un recours en indemnité contre l’Union devant les juridictions de l’Union en invoquant de prétendues violations des droits fondamentaux du fait de mesures adoptées par l’Union en matière de politique étrangère et de sécurité commune

Weingut A
Agriculture
Vinification et étiquetage de vins : un viticulteur peut indiquer sa propre exploitation viticole même si le pressurage a lieu dans les locaux d’un autre viticulteur

Provident Polska
Environnement et consommateurs
Protection des consommateurs : obliger le consommateur à payer des coûts du crédit hors intérêts excessifs peut constituer une clause abusive

Ryanair / Commission
Aide d'État
Aides d’État pendant la pandémie de Covid-19 : la Cour rejette définitivement les recours de Ryanair concernant les mesures de soutien mises en place par la France et la Suède au printemps 2020

Del Valle Ruíz e.a. / CRU
Politique économique
Résolution de Banco Popular : les actionnaires et créanciers affectés n’avaient pas droit à un dédommagement du Fonds de résolution unique

Ligue des droits humains (Vérification du traitement des données par l’autorité de contrôle)
Traitement de données à caractère personnel : les décisions prises par une autorité de contrôle dans le cadre de l’exercice indirect des droits de la personne concernée sont juridiquement contraignantes

NC (Transfert d’une étude notariale espagnole)
Le changement du titulaire d’une étude notariale espagnole peut constituer un transfert d’entreprise

A note on RM RENT A CAR v KFZ BRÜNING ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2023:7489 in which the Noord-Holland court of first instance much more readily accepts the escalation of a purely domestic (German) contract to the ‘international’ plain. Clearly in contrast with de la Tour AG in Inkreal.

RM Rent A car argues that the close links it has with The Netherlands, as a result of a number of its directors are domiciled in The Netherlands, as is its mother holding Network4Cars Trading B.V., explain Dutch choice of court and the Dutch governing law clause. It also refers to the Report Jenard, a contrario I assume (for that detail is not given) p.37 in fine (where the report argues that (now) A25 does not apply between to parties domiciled in the same State and designating a court of that State).

KFZ Brüning by contrast argue that the sale between two German corporations, of German registered vehicles, with delivery in Germany, lacks the international element required to trigger Brussels Ia.

The Court goes about the issue in a roundabout way. It says nothing about the ‘international character’ (arguably implicitly acknowledging it), instead merely finding 2.8 that there is no proof that in signing the purchase order, Brüning also consented to the GTCS.

As noted, an interesting judgment in light of the AG’s Opinion in Inkreal.

Geert. EU Private International Law. 4th ed. 2024, para 2.22 ff.

First instance Noord-Holland, A25 Brussels Ia choice of court
Lack of reference to general terms & conditions in Purchase Order = ineffectiveness of choice of court in those GTCs
Implicitly acknowledges 'international' element of prima facie German casehttps://t.co/v8TE2B9SpY

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) August 29, 2023

Still mopping up that blog queue….In Case C-393/22 EXTÉRIA s.r.o. v Spravime, s.r.o.  the CJEU has held that a contract to enter into a future services contract is not itself a services contract within the meaning of Article 7(1) Brussels Ia., rather, a contract whose forum contractus needs to be determined using CJEU 12/76 Tessili v Dunlop‘s ‘looking over the fence’ method.

The applicant in the main proceedings, which provides consultancy services in the field of occupational safety and health, and the defendant in the main proceedings concluded, on 28 June 2018, a contract to enter into a future contract relating to the future conclusion of a franchise agreement. The contract contained, in addition to the obligation to conclude that contract in the future, certain contractual terms and conditions and an undertaking on the part of the defendant in the main proceedings to pay an advance of EUR 20 400, exclusive of value added tax, and, in the event of failure to comply with that obligation, a contractual penalty equal to the amount of that advance.

The contract to enter into a future contract provided for the application of Czech law, without any agreement on jurisdiction having been concluded.

Alleging that the defendant in the main proceedings had failed to fulfil its obligation to pay the advance in question, the applicant in the main proceedings withdrew from the contract to enter into a future contract and claimed payment of the contractual penalty.

(34) The concept of ‘services’, within the meaning of the second indent of Article 7(1)(b), implies, at the very least, that the party providing them 1. carries out a specific activity 2. in return for remuneration (see ia CJEU Kareda).

Re 1, (35) the existence of an activity requires the performance of positive acts, to the exclusion of mere abstentions (see ia CJEU Corman-Collins and Granarolo). re 2, remuneration granted in return for an activity, (36) this cannot be understood in the strict sense of the payment of a sum of money, since the receipt of a package of benefits representing an economic value may be regarded as constituting remuneration (same case-law).

(37) a contract to enter into a future contract, the objective of which was to conclude a future franchise agreement and preserve the confidentiality of the information contained in that contract to enter into a future contract, is not an ‘activity’. Moreover, in the absence of any actual activity carried out by the co-contractor, the payment of the contractual penalty cannot be characterised as remuneration.

(39) that the obligation to pay the contractual penalty is closely linked to the franchise agreement which was to be concluded and under which it would be possible to determine the place where the services concerned should have been provided, does not rescue the issue. This is said (40) to follow from the need to interpret exceptions to A4 restrictively, and from the requirements of predictability.

A useful judgment.

Geert.

EU private international law, 3rd ed. 2021, para 2.412. 4th ed forthcoming January 2024.

 

New #CJEU judgment Jurisdiction Regulation Brussels Ia
Contract to enter into a future services contract is not itself a services contract; jurisdiction to be determined following 'looking over the fence' method, A7(1)(a)

C-393/22 Exteria https://t.co/yZNRz0f9ap

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) September 14, 2023

Butcher J as I noted in my Tweet on the judgment at the time, has largely granted immediate leave to appeal his ruling in London Steam-Ship Owners’ MIA v [Spain] (Re Prestige) [2023] EWHC 2473 (Comm), in which he entertains yet further litigation forming part of the protracted procedures arising from the sinking of the M/T Prestige in 2002. [Of note is that he did not allow appeal on the issue of the effect of the CJEU Judgment in Prestige, on the jurisdiction of Sir Peter Gross as arbitrator in a second set of arbitration proceedings; I imagine permission to appeal that point has been sought separately with the Court of Appeal itself).

I have reported repeatedly on the issues and the trigger for most of the discussions in the judgment is the CJEU Grand Chamber Judgment which I called a parallel universe here. I stand by my criticism in that post, not because I suggest the CJEU is some lawless band of brigands upending the rule of law. Clearly it is not. Rather, I find the CJEU’s lack of consistent treatment of arbitration whether commercial or investment, troubling. I also fail to understand its backdoor disciplining of arbitration procedures (via the res judicata and privity issues which I discuss in my previous posts) if these procedures are principally excluded from the scope of Brussels Ia.

The Prestige saga is an indictment first of all of the failure of environmental law (one of my other academic and practice hats) properly to address one of the most outrageous outcomes of the fossiel fuel area, which is to pollute twice over nature and human health alike in causing environmental catastrophe by spilling crude oil. As for international litigation, it is an indictment of the failure of international and European law alike to develop a systematic approach to the outcomes of litigation in ordinary, and arbitration.

Now to the case at hand. My discussion of same is greatly helped by professor Giles Cuniberti’s post over at EAPIL, and the comments on same, and I would suggest readers refer to Giles’ summary of the case and the issues.

Core to the appeal will be to what degree the English courts (pro memoria: the proceedings are subject to Brussels Ia and were introduced pre Brexit) are bound by all of the findings in the CJEU judgment, particularly those with an impact on what the arbitrator should have checked (the CJEU ordinarily practices judicial economy; in the case at hand some argue it answered questions that were not put to it). This provoked an interesting debate on the extent of the authority of those parts of the CJEU judgment which in a precedent system would likely be called obiter. The preliminary reference procedure however is not like a common law precedent or authority regime. What exactly it is will undoubtedly be discussed upon appeal and as professor Dickinson replies in comment to Giles’ post, there may be a way for the European Commission to use the Withdrawal Agreement’s dispute settlement provisions to clarify how CJEU authority is supposed to work.

Geert.

Unsuccessful appeal of #arbitration award following (and mostly ignoring) #CJEU Prestige judgment (see https://t.co/2ysTMGyzwT)
Permission to appeal largely granted instantly

London Steam-Ship Owners' MIA v [Spain] (Re Prestige) [2023] EWHC 2473 (Comm)https://t.co/VSBL2uQ9ip

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) October 6, 2023

Bundesamt für Fremdenwesen und Asyl e.a. (Femmes afghanes)
Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice
Selon l’avocat général Jean Richard de la Tour, les mesures discriminatoires adoptées à l’égard des femmes afghanes par le régime des talibans constituent, en raison de leur effet cumulé, une persécution

Commission / Irlande e.a.
Aide d'État
Selon l’avocat général Pitruzzella, il y a lieu d’annuler l’arrêt du Tribunal sur les rulings fiscaux adoptés par l’Irlande en faveur d’Apple