The seminar will feature a case law discussion by Annalisa Volpato (PhD candidate). The case at stake is C-613/14, James Elliott Construction Limited v Irish Asphalt Limited, EU:C:2016:821. Mariolina Eliantonio will act as a discussant.

Board Room, Faculty of Law

Abstract
In the case C-613/14, the Court of Justice was asked to give a preliminary ruling concerning the application of a harmonised standard, issued in compliance to a New Approach Directive, in a contractual dispute between two Irish undertakings. In its judgment, delivered on 27 October 2016, for the first time the Court of Justice established its jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings on the interpretation of harmonised standards, but clarified that said standards cannot be used for interpreting general contractual clauses in national law. The case sheds light on important issues concerning the role of standardisation in relation to the EU legal system, such as the judicial review of harmonised standards, the relation between harmonised standards and EU law, and the position of the standard-setting bodies within the institutional framework.Although not directly addressed in the judgment, this case reignites the debate on the delegation of powers to the standard-setting organisations.

At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Aalt Willem Heringa will give a short presentation of the Law research blog page.