On 25 February 2022, the European Union (EU) has agreed upon further sanctions against Russia as a reaction to, as the European Council put it, “the Russian Federation’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine.” :

While generally, sustainability initiatives and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) become increasingly important for both consumers and investors, the line between strengthening cooperation to achieve sustainability goals and compliance with competition law remains a fine one (see also our briefing of 7 February 2021). The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has recently examined three sector initiatives aimed at sustainability gains. While the agency did not publish detailed decisions or case reports, some guidance can still be concluded from its findings.

The new work State Aid and the Energy Sector edited by Leigh Hancher, Adrien de Hauteclocque and Francesco Maria Salerno has been published by Hart Publishing and is now available for purchase.

BLOMSTEIN partner Max Klasse has co-authored the chapter on “Aid to Nuclear and Coal” with Professor Leigh Hancher (Tilburg University), which focuses on energy aid with a distinguished historical pedigree: aid to nuclear and coal. The chapter also provides insights into the relation between the EU State aid rules and the Euratom Treaty, which governs most aspects of the nuclear sector.

British Parliament approved Theresa May’s roadmap for Brexit negotiations on 7 December 2016. Under this roadmap, the UK will commence withdrawing from the EU on 31 March 2017. Article 50 TEU puts a cap of 24 months on the withdrawal process. If and how the UK and the EU will cooperate in the post-Brexit world has been the subject of much speculation.

In the following we assess these possible forms of cooperation. Further updates on Brexit’s implications on public procurement, international trade and competition law will follow.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently emphasised the importance of the general principles of EU law – in particular the principle of proportionality – for the interpretation of the excise duty directives. The fact-based and flexible interpretation is a welcome development and should lead to a limitation of the overly formal interpretation of excise duty legislation in many EU member states, based on a proper assessment of individual cases.

On 7 April 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirmed the position of our client ADM in a legal dispute with the German customs authorities (case C-294/14). ADM had brought action against an import duty assessment of the Regional Customs Office of Hamburg before the Finance Court of Hamburg, which submitted the case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling. The CJEU now confirmed ADM’s legal interpretation of EU customs laws.