Undergraduate Examinations 2020-21
LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – Take Home Exam
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All Level 5 exams must be second-marked.
Question Number Mark
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SECTION A
QUESTION 1
The EU is a system of limited government, and can act only when the Member States have conferred upon it the power to do so. How do we know whether the EU has competence to act in a given area?
How does the doctrine of subsidiarity relate to this?
QUESTION 2
The CJEU has determined that Directives cannot have horizontal direct effect under EU law.Explain why this is so. Please also explain how the doctrine of indirect effect has nevertheless worked to expand the direct effect of Directives to situations that might seem at first glance to be ‘horizontal’.
QUESTION 3
Leonardo — an Italian national — qualified as a lawyer in Italy, and wishes to work in other member states of the EU to acquire international experience in the practice of law. He has made the following discoveries about various provisions in the laws of different Member States:
a) He cannot be employed in Ireland as he does not speak Irish. The Irish authorities claim that they need to protect this minority language, despite the fact that the working language in all Irish law firms is English.
b) If he goes to work in Sweden, he believes that he cannot take his Brazilian wife and child with him. Swedish national law prohibits bringing third country spouses into the country;
c) He is quite concerned about this as his friend Sven — a Swedish national who was born and who has lived, studied and worked in Sweden during his entire life — was not able to bring his Mexican wife into Sweden either.
d) He would like to work at a particular law firm in Greece, but has discovered that the Greek authorities will not grant him a residence permit as he has a previous conviction for smoking cannabis in his second year of law school in Rome, Italy.
Advise Leonardo and Sven as to whether they could challenge these legal provisions on the grounds of incompatibility with EU Law.
QUESTIONS CONTINUE ON THE NEXT PAGE
QUESTION 4
Turkey Slice Ltd is a French company, which trades turkeys. It wishes to begin selling in Italy. The following rules apply according to Italian law:
a) Turkeys are subject to a 25% tax rate in Italy. All other poultry—mainly chicken—is subject to a 10% tax in Italy. Turkey Slice Ltd insists that this tax rate renders the exportation of its products to Italy impossible. The Italian government argues that it has the right to set its own tax rates and, in any case, they are applicable to everyone with no discrimination against importers.
b) In early December 2019 the Italian government introduced a ban on the importation of all poultry in order to protect its domestic flocks from a disease which affected millions of its poultry. Italy introduced a slaughter policy to eliminate the infected animals and banned importation of poultry to prevent the spreading of the disease by potentially infected imports. Italy had previously employed a vaccination policy, which it replaced with the slaughter policy. Turkey Slice Ltd finds that this could place an end to its efforts to penetrate the Italian market.
Advise Turkey Slice Ltd as to whether it may challenge either of these two rules on the basis of EU Law.
END OF SECTION A
SECTION B
QUESTION 5
The principle of effectiveness has been important in ensuring the full exercise of EU rights before national courts. Discuss this principle by referring to the main cases of the Court of Justice and the problems that may arise from the principle’s application.
QUESTION 6
Article 101 TFEU prohibits anticompetitive agreements and concerted practices. Explain the legal definitions of these two anticompetitive practices, as elaborated by the Court of Justice, and discuss:
• What problem the prohibition of concerted practices aims to address; and
• The distinction between anticompetitive agreements ‘by object’ and ‘by effect’.
QUESTIONS CONTINUE ON THE NEXT PAGE
QUESTION 7
‘The EU’s objectives of legal harmonisation would be entirely unachievable without the existence of Article 267 TFEU.’ Discuss.
QUESTION 8
The organisers of the planned ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’ (ie the EU) have asked you to write a memo outlining what amendments, if any, should be made to the text of Article 50 TEU. Explain the main points that you would make in your memo.
END OF SECTION B
END OF QUESTIONS
Please note down the question number. You may write up to 1500 words for this paper. We advise that you divide this equally between the questions. Penalties will be applied if you exceed the total word count.
QUESTION NUMBER:
Please note down the question number. You may write up to 2250 words for this paper. We advise that you divide this equally between the questions. Penalties will be applied if you exceed the total word count.
QUESTION NUMBER: