Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): towards a legalised regime of privacy invasion?

The European Union, represented by the European Commission, is negotiating – since 2007- a Multilateral Agreement on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade (ACTA) with nine other countries, including the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and Switzerland. The purpose of such an agreement is to strengthen the enforcement of Intellectual Property [...]

The first EU steps towards the accession to the European Convention of Human rights

The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) debated on February 23rd the state of the play of the EU accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The accession is imposed by Article 6 TEU and its main impact will be the creation of an additional layer of protection [...]

Cutting bureaucracy: Simplifying applications of third-country nationals

On the 22 February the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament will hold an orientation vote on the ‘Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set [...]

Basic Reference : EU and Fundamental rights

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty the protection of fundamental rights has become one of the vital aspects of European Union activity and we are now witnessing the fundamental change of the nature of the European construction which was born in 1957 mainly as an economy oriented organisation. Notwithstanding the recent critics [...]

Interlaken declaration and Action plan to reform the European Court of Human Rights

The text below have been taken from the official Council of Europe Press release presenting the result of the Interlaken Conference (19.02.2010) It is worth noting that on Thursday, just before the opening of the Ministerial Conference, the Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov deposited the ratification instrument of Protocol 14 which will therefore enter [...]

Full body-scanners: risks of violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

The recent attempted bombing to the Detroit flight on 25 December 2009 confirmed the weakness in aviation security to detect non-metallic items. As a consequence a reignited interest towards the introduction of full-body scanners in airports is taking place worldwide.  Full-body scanners create an image of the full body which shows the surface of the skin [...]

European Parliament approves Barroso II

The European Parliament has approved by a very large majority, 488 votes in favour, 137 against and 72 abstentions, the Barroso II team on Tuesday 9 February, in Strasbourg. The new Commission begins to work today, Wednesday the 10 February and its mandate will expire on 31 October 2014. The major political groups (the EPP, the Socialist [...]

The bumpy path of the Anti-discrimination Directive restarts

The Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament has finally restarted the legislative works on the Proposal for a Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation by nominating the MEP Mr Raúl Romeva I Rueda of the Green Group as rapporteur. The text had [...]

Setting up of a Panel for the partial renovation of the Judges and Advocates General of the Court of Justice

One of the least known provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon is Article 255 of the TFEU[1] which foresees the creation of a panel who gives an opinion on candidates’ suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the Court of Justice and the General Court. The panel is composed of seven experts chosen among former [...]

American authorities access to banks data: challenges…and perspectives

The EU parliamentary Committee on Civil Liberties provoked a certain sensation by deciding on the 4 February to suggest to the European Parliament plenary not to conclude the interim agreement which allows the Treasury Department of The United States of America to access financial data processed by SWIFT (already published in this blog). What the press [...]