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The Infringement Procedure: How to Respond to Commission Investigations and Avoid Court Cases
Make your national administration a winner in EU infringement procedures: respond succesfully to Commission allegations, avoid the risk of a court case, a condemnatory ruling and potential financial sanctions for your national administration.
Are you a national official in charge of or involved in the transposition of EU law? Are you preparing the defence of your state in the infringement procedure? Or you just wish to update your knowledge on the infringement procedure?
This highly practical course will provide you with a clear understanding of the infringement procedure. You will learn about the practical aspects of the procedure and acquire the skills needed to answer to the inquiries of the Commission, to remedy the alleged infringement and avoid a potential court case against your state or even a condemnatory ruling and financial sanctions.
Our legal experts will explain:
- The role of the Commission and the position of the Member States.
- The powers and rights of both actors, determining the different respective administrative and procedural strategies, which they can resort to throughout the procedure.
- How to improve the capacity and quality of your national administration’s responses to Commission investigations on alleged infringements.
- How to select the right defence strategy to improve your state’s position during the litigation, in the scenario of the initiation of the jurisdictional phase of the procedure.
- How to comply with the judicial decision as swiftly as possible and avoid a new procedure under Article 260 TFEU, in case of a final condemnatory ruling.
Course methodology
The course will be conducted by EIPA legal experts with extensive knowledge on infringement matters who will discuss key topics, illustrated with examples and cases from litigation practice.
All sessions will be followed by Q & A sessions where participants from various Member States will have the opportunity to share their professional experiences.
The various group exercises, workshops and discussions will promote a high level of interactivity and provide enhanced learning opportunities.
By participating in this course, you will learn about:
- The practical insights of the infringement procedure.
- Acquire the professional skills required to give persuasive answers to the inquiries of the Commission, to remedy the alleged infringement and avoid a potential court case against your state and, ultimately, a condemnatory ruling and potential financial sanction.
Prior to the course, you will be given access to the course materials on our digital learning platform. These materials consist of the relevant legal texts, key decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Unions (CJEU), Commission communications, PP slide shows, etc.
- Public sector employees, in charge of or involved in the transposition of EU law and state officials and legal counsellors answering / preparing the defences of the state in all stages of the infringement procedure, irrespective of the level of government or origin of the case (i.e. national, regional and local level).
- State agents acting before the CJEU and pleading on behalf of their states in infringement proceedings.
- Private practicing lawyers, consultants and other interested actors from the private sector, who wish to obtain a comprehensive overview on the infringement procedure.
Project number: 2452201
Course venue
European Centre for Judges and Lawyers – EIPA Luxembourg
8 rue Nicolas Adames
1114 Luxembourg
Programme Organiser
Mr Naoise Crowley
Tel: +352 426 230 306
n.crowley@eipa.eu
Fee
The fee includes documentation, refreshments and lunches. Accommodation and travel costs are at the expense of the participants or their administration.
Discounts
EIPA member fee
EIPA offers a discount to all civil servants working for one of EIPA’s supporting countries, and civil servants working for an EU institution, body or agency.
Who are the supporting countries?
Civil servants coming from the following EIPA supporting countries are entitled to get the reduced fee: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden.
For all other participants, the regular fee applies.
Early bird discount
The early bird discount is not cumulative with other discounts or promo codes, except for the EIPA member fee.
Loyalty coupon
As a token of appreciation we offer all our participants a loyalty coupon for one of our future courses. The offer can be shared with colleagues and relevant networks. The coupon will expire one year after its release. This discount is not cumulative with other discounts, except for the EIPA member fee.
Meals
Dietary preferences can be indicated on the registration form.
Hotel reservations
EIPA has special price arrangements with a number of hotels. Most rates are including breakfast and tourist tax. Should you wish to make use of this possibility, please book directly via the links below. Payment is to be made directly and personally to the hotel upon checking out.
Kirchberg
- Hotel D’Coque***, via https://www.coque.lu/coque-hotel-superior/online-booking, tel.: +352 43 60 60 222
Luxembourg Centre
- Hotel Parc Plaza****, at the rate of €182, (Reservation code: EIPA0118): https://www.goereshotels.com/parc-plaza-en
- Hotel Parc Bellevue***, at the rate of €150, (Reservation code: EIPA0118): https://www.goereshotels.com/belle-vue-en: +352 44 23 23 23 23; e-mail: reservation@goereshotels.com;
- Hotel Simoncini****, at the rate of €190, tel.: +352 22 28 44; e-mail: simhotel@pt.lu or simoncinihotel@pt.lu; https://www.hotelsimoncini.lu/.
Confirmation
Confirmation of registration will be forwarded to participants on receipt of the completed online registration form.
Payment
Prior payment is a condition for participation.
Cancellation policy
For administrative reasons you will be charged €150 for cancellations received within 15 days before the activity begins. There is no charge for qualified substitute participants. EIPA reserves the right to cancel the activity up to 2 weeks before the starting date. In that case, registration fees received will be fully reimbursed. EIPA accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred (travel, accommodation, etc.).
A few days before the start of the course you will receive the log-in details for accessing the course materials. You can log in here.
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Our experts
Programme
| 09.00 | Registration of participants |
| 09.30 | Welcome and introduction to the course Juan Diego Ramírez-Cárdenas Díaz, Senior Lecturer, European Centre for Judges and Lawyers, EIPA Luxembourg |
| 09.45 | The infringement procedure – a commented introduction
|
| 10.30 | Q & A Session |
| 10.45 | Break |
| 11.15 | Dealing with the Commission during the pre-litigation phase (1) Investigation phase by the Commission
Letter of formal notice:
|
| 11.45 | Q & A Session |
| 12.00 | Dealing with the Commission during the pre-litigation phase (2) Reasoned opinion
|
| 12.30 | Lunch break |
| 14.00 | The litigation phase: practical guide on the procedure before the Court
|
| 15.00 | Q & A Session |
| 15.15 | Summary of main contents of 1st day |
| 15.30 | End of first day |
| 09.00 | Introduction to the second day |
| 09.15 | Workshop: Possible defences of the Member States In an interactive way, participants will have the possibility to analyse different potential defences Member States may resort to and to compare with the Court of Justice’s reaction to those defences.
|
| 10.00 | Break |
| 10.30 | The decision of the Court and its effects
|
| 11.00 | Q&A Session |
| 11.15 | Sanctions for failure to comply with the judgment
|
| 12.15 | Q & A Session |
| 12.30 | Lunch Break |
| 14.00 | Practical exercise: the infringement procedure in 10 case studies In this session, participants will have the opportunity to work with different case studies that deal with all phases of the procedure presented during the online workshop and to analyse the Court of Justice’s decision in each case. |
| 15.15 | Conclusions and evaluation |
| 15.30 | End of the course |