Recently in European Law Category

The UK claims that it has secured a breakthrough in negotiations with the EU over the dumping of unwanted fish that do not fit into existing quotas, reports the BBC.

Under the current laws concerning fishing quotas, fish that swim near to the surface and are accidentally caught by fishermen seeking other catches must be put back into the sea dead, rather than landed and sold.

The practice is designed to avoid overfishing, but instead results in tonnes of perfectly good fish being thrown back into the sea every year.

The UK has angered its European counterparts by instigating a legal challenge against a new tax on financial transactions, despite the fact that UK transa ctions are exempt, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The UK Government has launched legal action against the European Commission at the European Court of Justice in protest of a proposed Financial Transaction Tax that has been agreed by 11 EU nations, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

The UK has negotiated a position outside of the Financial Transaction Tax. However, the rules will mean that any trade in financial instruments denominated in Euros, or any trade involving a bank from within the 11 signatory nations, will be subject to the tax, meaning that some transactions in London and elsewhere around the world will be affected.

The Conservatives, reeling from their election drubbing in Eastleigh, make a lurch to the right by announcing a plan to remove the UK from the European Court of Human Rights, reports the BBC.

Fresh from finishing third in the Eastleigh bi-election behind the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the Conservatives have announced plans to pull Britain out of the European Court of Human Rights.

Theresa May had previously strongly hinted that the Tories were losing patience with the ECHR, established in 1959 to enforce the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK became a signatory to the Convention in November 1950.

The European Union looks set to fine Great Britain £250,000 a day for failure to comply with laws on the EU single market, reports The Independent.

The shock revelation comes in the week when David Cameron signalled that the UK will have an 'in or out' referendum on membership of the EU before 2017, but stated that membership of the single market was 'at the heart' of his policy on Europe.

The laws in question concern an agreement made by the European Council back in February 2011 to ensure that all EU electricity and gas directives were enshrined in UK law no later than March 2011. The aim of the remaining directives is to open up the energy market for EU-wide competition.

A leading European justice official has warned Prime Minister David Cameron that his plans to opt out of European policing laws will "allow criminals to run free", reports The Daily Telegraph.

Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, was commenting on the Government's planned opt-out of 135 European-wide policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) that already compels UK police to arrest and deport anyone subjected to the warrant regardless of whether the offence is even a crime in the UK.

Ms Reding believes that the UK police are behind the proposals and claims that UK police officers are dismayed by the Government's position.

Companies who offer competitions with prizes that cost money to claim are breaking EU law according to a judgment delivered yesterday in a test case brought by the Office of Fair Trading, reports The Independent.

The Office of Fair Trading took legal action against company Purely Creative and four other companies for competitions run in newspapers and through the post.

The case went to the Court of Appeal which then referred it on to the European Court of Justice to determine whether the competitions breached EU law included in the Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices in the Internal Market and Amending Directives.

The Home Secretary Theresa May has confirmed that the Coalition plans to use its veto to avoid implementing 130 new European Union legal measures relating to law and order.

The 'opt out' was negotiated by Ireland and the UK during negotiations on the Treaty of Lisbon and covers EU policies on asylum, visas and immigration, as well as the ability to opt-in or opt-out of any policies relating to justice or home affairs.

The opt-out effectively means that the UK has to choose to accept all 130 law and order measures agreed before the Treaty of Lisbon came into effect in 2009, or to opt-out of all of them.

The UK Government has written to the European Commission to set out its views on proposals for tighter regulation of Europe's banks, reports The Telegraph.

The Treasury document seen by The Telegraph recommends that any proposed regulation of EU banks should include smaller institutions, including the German Landesbanks.

The Germans are known to oppose any move to regulate smaller banks, believing that they pose little threat to wider European financial stability. It is thought that the difference in opinion could bring the two powerful EU nations to loggerheads.

Italy's highest court has ruled that hurting male pride is a criminal offence, after hearing a case concerning a row between two cousins, reports the Daily Mail.

The case in question concerned a lawyer, Vittorio and his cousin Alberto, who sits as a Justice of the Peace in the Italian city of Potenza.

Judge Alberto is said to have proclaimed that his lawyer cousin Vittorio had 'no balls' after a heated courtroom argument. Vittorio was so offended that he sued his cousin.

It has slipped from the news in recent wee ks as the Olympics has dominated the news agenda, but behind the scenes work continues on plans to try to stabilise the eurozone economies.

The markets have reacted favourably to the European Central Bank's plans to buy back bonds from troubled economies, effectively combating the problem of the rising cost of short-term borrowing for nations in trouble.

However, many believe that this could be a short-term fix and that the longer term more fundamental problems with the eurozone could resurface. In short, the potential collapse of the Euro is still very much on the cards and with that in mind British businesses are being urged by law firms to consider the consequences of a eurozone collapse.

The Foreign Secretary has announced a government review of all EU legislation which affects UK citizens with the aim of better assessing our relationship with the European Union amid a rapidly changing legal landscape.

The structure of the EU has been shaken to its very foundations in recent months as the crisis in Greece and other vulnerable economies such as Italy and Spain have called the entire Union into question.

EU leaders have responded to the crisis by proposing much greater fiscal union than has ever been seen before, in a bid to shore up the system and prevent a repeat.

The UK is facing legal action from the European Commission for avoiding paying £15m in tax on imports of fresh garlic which the UK had previously claimed was frozen. Under EU law frozen garlic is taxed at a lower rate than in the fresh state.

The mistake was revealed after an inspection by the European Anti-Fraud Office in 2006. They revealed the mistake which was committed on imports between 2005 and 2006.

The UK has had several years to make amends, with the European Commission chasing payment since 2008. However, after repeated non-payment of the bill the patience of the Commission has finally snapped, with the launching of legal acti on to recover the monies owed.

Politicians from across the political divide in America have spoken out to voice their opposition to European Union plans to force airlines to purchase 'carbon credits' in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Emissions Trading Scheme is the largest scheme of its kind in the world, and covers major carbon dioxide producers across all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein. Businesses included in the scheme include factories, large businesses and power generators.

The scheme works by allocating countries a carbon allowance, in the form of permits which allow businesses to produce a set amount of harmful gases. The output of these major carbon producers has been monitored since 2005.

The European Union is set to unveil brand new financial laws on 6 June which will afford national regulators the power to seize failing banks, break them up and impose losses on those who hold their bonds.

The legislation could also oblige member states to bail out struggling banks in other EU countries in a move which could upset some of the Union's more financially stable economies.

The new laws have been prompted by renewed fears that a run on the bank could be about to take place in Greece after they failed to appoint a new executive in their recent parliamentary elections.

Today is the last day for businesses in the UK to alter their websites so that they request users' permission to use cookies on their computers, following a change in the law prompted by EU legislation.

Cookies are small files which contain data about the website user which the site can access later on.

The data stored in cookies is used to enhance the browsing experience, but can also be passed on to advertisers to help them make their marketing more effective.