News

The Commission’s website contains links to the many responses it received to its April 2008 White Paper on antitrust damages, including
that of the Joint Working Party of the Bars and Law Societies of the UK (“JWP”) to which the Bar contributed. See:
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/antitrust/actionsdamages/white_paper_comments.html The EP vote on the White Paper is expected to take place in early 2009, and the Commission has indicated that it will not take any decisions until after that.

PRESSURES on legal aid, access to a career at the Bar and the need for diversity were among the issues addressed at the Young Bar Conference in central London. 

The Bar Council has announced the election of its new officers for 2009. The trio, who have been elected by the members of the Bar Council, are: Chairman: Desmond Browne QC Vice Chairman:Nicholas Green QC Treasurer: Andrew Mitchell QC They take up their posts on 1 January 2009. 

The Commission has undertaken a lengthy pre-consultation on the feasibility of creating a system of collective redress at EU level in consumer cases. It is expected to formally adopt a Green Paper on the subject around the time of reading. 

Efforts were underway at the time of writing to identify just how many Member States would be willing to proceed with enhanced cooperation on this controversial 2007 proposal, to see whether there are enough of them to garner the support of the Commission college to proceed. If the answer is positive, an adopted regulation could result in a matter of weeks, based on the agreements reached when the file stalled in the summer. 

In mid-December, the European Parliament is set to formally approve, with some amendments, the Commission’s plans as set out in its 2008 Communication on e-justice - the term used to cover a wide range of internet-based EU initiatives in the justice field, from video conferencing, to the availability of EU procedural documents in electronic form. 

See: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5637102 

JAMES Lewis, writing for Legal Business, and Clive Coleman, of BBC Radio Four, have won the Bar Council’s Legal Reporting Awards for 2007 - 2008. Since 1991, the Bar Council has presented an annual award in both print and broadcast categories for outstanding legal reporting. The judging panel this year consisted of: 

Proof of candidates sitting and passing the IELTS test is a new requirement that has been introduced by the BVC Review Working Group for prospective BVC students. 

By the time of reading, the European Parliament should have adopted this 2008 proposal to establish a system to facilitate the crossborder enforcement of sanctions for speeding, drink-driving, not using a seat belt, and failing to stop at a red light. See:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5616632 

The JHA Council has recently adopted this directive, which, in line with ECJ jurisprudence, calls for Member States to provide for criminal sanctions that are “effective, proportional and dissuasive” in the event of serious breaches of environmental law. See:
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st03/st03639.en08.pdf