A selection of cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court during the week of 6 to 10 September.

Tuesday 7 September

- Opinion in C-159/09 Lidl. Unfair commercial practices. In 2006, Vierzon Distribution, a French sales outlet, published in a newspaper a comparative advertisement that reproduced cash register receipts for 34 food products bought from Vierzon and from Lidl, respectively. Lidl took legal action for unfair competition because the different characteristics of the products included qualitative and quantitative differences that were not made clear, thus making the price differences hard for consumers to understand. The Court of Justice is asked to determine whether such advertising is in breach of Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices.

Wednesday 8 September

- Judgements in C-409/06 and joined Cases C-316/07, C-358/07, C-359/07, C-360/07, C-410/07 and C-46/08. Free movement of services/Sports betting. These cases concern restrictions on free movement of the services of sports betting companies, which dispute the monopoly practiced by different German Länder. Several German courts have referred questions to the court on the compatibility of such restrictions. Case C-409/06 concerns Winner Wetten, which places bets on behalf of Tipico Co. Ltd, a firm licensed in Malta for this activity. Winner Wetten's activity was banned in the absence of an authorisation issued by Rhineland-North Westphalia. Joined Cases C-316/07 Markus Stoß and others concern betting intermediaries who challenge the German authorities' refusal to allow them to offer sports betting in Hessen or Baden-Wurtemberg organised by the Austrian firms Happybet Sportwetten and web.coin, Tipico and the British firms Digibet and Happy Bet. C-46/08 concerns Carmen Media Group, based in Gibraltar, which holds an offshore licence authorising it to organise betting only outside of Gibraltar. It too was refused authorisation to provide online sports betting activities in Germany.

- Judgement in T-29/05 Deltafina v Commission. Competition/Tobacco. An Italian tobacco processor and eight other companies active in tobacco processing in Spain were found guilty by the European Commission, in October 2004, of collusion on prices paid to tobacco producers and on quantities bought from them between 1996 and 2001. Deltafina, ordered to pay the highest fine (€11.88 million of the total of €20 million) due to its role as the largest buyer and leader of the cartel, has applied to the General Court for annulment of the Commission decision and/or a reduction of its fine.

Thursday 9 September

- Judgement in C-64/08 Engelmann. Freedom to provide services. German national Ernst Engelmann operated gaming establishments in Austria in 2004 and early 2005 without a license. He was fined, in 2007, because Austrian legislation establishes concessions for the organisation of lotteries and the operation of gaming establishments. Concession holders must be public limited companies established in Austria. Engelmann appealed the decision before the Landesgericht Linz, which has asked the court to rule on whether the Austrian regulation is in conformity with EU law.

- Judgement in T-319/05 Switzerland v Commission. Air transport/EU/Switzerland. Switzerland has applied for annulment of the Commission decision of December 2003 on application of the agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on air transport, which approved the German measures relating to approaches to Zurich airport, situated near the German border. These restrictions aim to reduce noise pollution by preventing low-altitude flights over German territory near the Swiss border between 21:00 and 7:00 on working days, making impracticable during those times the main approaches used by aircraft landing at Zurich airport and take-offs in a Northerly direction, previously used late at night and early in the morning

- Judgement in T-348/07 Al-Aqsa v Council. Inclusion on terrorism black list. Stichting Al-Aqsa, a foundation established under the laws of the Netherlands in 1993, which defines itself as an institution engaged in Islamic social assistance, was placed by the Council on the list of persons and entities whose funds must be frozen with a view to combating terrorism. It appealed the decision before the General Court and won its case, the court ruling that the Council had failed to respect certain fundamental rights and guarantees. In June 2007, however, the Council adopted a new decision maintaining Stichting Al-Aqsa on the list. The foundation has consequently launched another action before the General Court.

Also of interest

- Oral arguments in C-27/09 France v People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. Inclusion on terrorism black list. This case concerns the maintenance of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) on the EU list of persons and entities considered as terrorists by the 27 member states, with the main consequence of the organisation's funds being frozen in spite of two General Court decisions annulling the freeze orders (T-228/02 and T-256/07).