A critical evaluation of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union ('CJEU') that has interpreted the provisions of the Acquired Rights Directive. Is the case law emerging from the CJEU deficient, and why?

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: A, University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Law School), course: European Labour Law, language: English, abstract: In this essay I will argue that the jurisprudence emerging from the CJEU in relation to key concepts of the Directive has largely been deficient. Deficient in the sense that the CJEU has not been consistent in its decisions in course of time, shifting its thinking, providing a lack of clarity and therefore leaving national courts with suboptimal legal certainty in the interpretation of the law. Since its adoption in 1977 the Acquired Rights Directive (hereinafter the 'Directive') has generated a generous amount of case law, both in the national courts of the Member States of the European Union as well as at European level before the CJEU. This was owed to the vague drafting of its original provisions and the lack of clarity or definition even of key concepts such as the 'transfer of undertakings'. Furthermore, the way of doing business in a globalised economy has changed over the years leading to corporate restructuring and the creation of atypical contracts (e.g. leasing, contracting-out, franchising) which the European legislator may not have thought of at that time. Consequently, national courts involved in transfer of undertakings litigations have been forced to request the CJEU for preliminary rulings and interpretation in rather fact-specific matters since a settlement based solely on the law text of the Directive or the corresponding national implementation was not possible. At the end, some of the Court's case law itself has generated new uncertainty among the interpretation of the provisions of the Directive which has resulted in more case law. This prompted the European Council to amend the Directive in 1998 in order to reflect inter alia the case law of the CJEU and ultimately to repeal it in 2001 'in the interests of clarity and rationality'. The corresponding law and the evolvement of the jurisprudence of the CJEU will be analysed in more detail below.

Thomas Böhm ist ein deutscher Jurist und Rechtsanwalt. Während seines Studiums der Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität Passau spezialisierte er sich auf die Rechtsgebiete Kapitalgesellschaftsrecht, Wertpapier- und Kapitalmarktrecht sowie Internationales Privat- und Verfahrensrecht. Nach erfolgreichem Abschluss des Rechtsreferendariats im Oberlandesgerichtsbezirk Nürnberg arbeitete er mehrere Jahre als Rechtsanwalt in einer internationalen Großkanzlei. Dort beriet er schwerpunktmäßig nationale und internationale Investoren, Fonds und Unternehmen im Rahmen von Immobilientransaktionen, Mergers & Acquisitions sowie im Bereich des gewerblichen Mietrechts. Thomas Böhm absolvierte ein Master of Laws (LL.M.) Studium an der University of Edinburgh im Schwerpunkt Corporate Law. Hierbei beschäftigte er sich eingehend mit dem Englischen Gesellschaftsrecht sowie dessen Ökonomie, Corporate Governance, Europäisches Arbeitsrecht sowie Internationales Handelsrecht. Derzeit arbeitet Thomas Böhm als Rechtsanwalt in einer international ausgerichteten Wirtschaftskanzlei im Bereich Gesellschaftsrecht / M&A. Thomas Böhm is a German corporate lawyer. During his law studies at the University of Passau, he specialized in the fields of corporate law, securities and capital markets law as well as international private and procedural law. After successfully completing his legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg, he worked for several years as a corporate lawyer in a major international law firm. His practice focused on advising national and international investors, funds and companies on real estate transactions, mergers & acquisitions and commercial tenancy law. Thomas Böhm graduated with a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in corporate law at the University of Edinburgh. He focused on UK company law, corporation law and economics, corporate governance, European labour law and international trade law. Currently Thomas Böhm works as a corporate lawyer in an internationally oriented commercial law firm in the field of corporate law / M&A.