Insights

Last Thursday, Deminor closed the registration for its new Arco case in view of the upcoming time-bar in January 2023. The Arco case, which commands much media attention, concerns an investor dispute in which 800,000 Arco shareholders are at risk of losing their full investment after Dexia’s bankruptcy in 2011. The investors allege among others that the contracts concluded with the Arco companies are null and void on the basis of fraud (or at least error).

 

On November 17, 2022, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued four important decisions (here) relating to parallel imports of branded products within the internal market of the European Union (EU). This is a complex topic at the crossroads of free movement of goods and trademark enforcement in the EU.

In a judgment of August 1, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) provided further guidance on two important aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (CJEU C-184/20). In summary, the CJEU held that, first, for a national law that imposes a legal obligation to process personal data to be able to constitute a legal basis for processing, it needs to be lawful, meaning that it must meet an objective of public interest and be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued, and second, that non-sensitive data that are liable to reveal sensitive personal data need to be protected by the strengthened protection regime for processing of special categories of personal data.

On 29 September 2022, a panel discussion on new development in space law and arbitration was held in the context of the second World Arbitration Update conference (see www.worldarbitrationupdate.com). The key take-away from the panel discussion was that the space industry is currently booming and that it will face a likely rise in the number of disputes between commercial space actors.

On April 28, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a judgment that is expected to significantly improve the chance of patent owners being granted a preliminary injunction before national EU patent courts, and, most likely, also before the future divisions of the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

On March 7, 2022, a law amending the Belgian Competition Act and transposing the ECN+ Directive (EU Directive 2019/1) was published. Notable changes include the introduction of merger filing fees (EUR 52,350 for the normal procedure and EUR 17,450 for simplified notifications), fines for violating the notification obligation, and new provisions concerning cooperation with other national competition authorities, judicial remedies, dawn raids and leniency. The amendments enter into force on March 17, 2022.

A new Belgian law, passed on August 14, 2021, has introduced several important changes to the 2002 law on combating late payment in commercial transactions. These changes entered into force on February 1, 2022.

Compensation claims for data breaches have become increasingly common in the UK in recent years. However, 2021 may come to be seen as a turning of the tide, as the English Courts made a number of decisions that will substantially reduce the scope of such claims and/or make them less attractive to funders. This alert looks at a few such decisions and their potential consequences.

Caudalie operates a selective distribution network for the sale of cosmetic products. To protect its luxury image, Caudalie included certain restrictive clauses in its distribution agreements. For example, the distributors were prevented from applying labels to the front of the products and from using words such as “discount” or “reduced prices” on posters. In addition, distributors were only permitted to expand sales into other countries with the written consent of Caudalie. In principle, the agreements did allow Caudalie’s distributors to set the retail price of the products; Caudalie provided only a recommended resale price.

On November 25, 2020, the EU adopted a new Class Actions Directive, covering representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers. By creating at least one effective and efficient procedural mechanism for representative actions across all member states, this new Directive will enhance the protection of consumers against both domestic and cross-border “mass harm.” However, you should be aware that it could also increase the risk of litigation for your company.

On March 4, 2020, the French Supreme Court (“the Court”) rendered a new decision on the legal classification of the agreement existing between Uber and one of its drivers, in line with its previous ruling in the Take Eat Easy case (Ruling n°374 of March 4, 2020 – Appeal n° 19-13.316 and Ruling n°79 of November 28, 2018 – Appeal n° 17-20.079).

In Belgium, calculating the notice period for (‘higher’) white collar workers in case of termination of an employment contract has always been a difficult and uncertain business. Even the entry into force of the Uniform Status Act of December 26, 2013 (2014) – legislation that was intended to fix equal notice periods for all blue collar and white collar workers and to create legal certainty – did not end the debate around this issue. For the second time, the Constitutional Court has ruled that the Uniform Status Act partially violates the Belgian Constitution and has given guidance on how to deal with individual agreements, entered into before 2014, about notice periods for higher white collar workers (June 6, 2019 (nr. 93/2019).