Thèses sur le sujet « Privacy, Right of – European Union countries »

Defence date: 2 July 2019
Examining Board: Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Elias Dinas, European University Institute; Professor Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Professor Kai Arzheimer, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Does European integration contribute to the rise of the radical right? This dissertation offers three empirical contributions that aid understanding the interplay between political integration within the European Union (EU) and the surge of the populist radical right across Europe. The first account studies the impact that the European Parliament (EP) elections have for the national fortune of the populist right. The findings of a country fixed-effects model leveraging variation in the European electoral cycle demonstrate that EP elections foster the domestic prospects of the radical right when national and EP elections are close in time. The second study demonstrates that the populist radical right cannot use the EP elections as a platform to socialise the most impressionable voters. The results of a regression discontinuity analysis highlight that the EP contest does not instil partisan ties to the political antagonists of the European idea. The third study shows that anti-European integration sentiments that existed prior to accession to the EU cast a long shadow in the present by contributing to the success of contemporary populist right actors. Relying on an original dataset entailing data on all EU accession referenda on the level of municipalities and exploiting variation within regions, the study demonstrates that those localities that were most hostile to the European project before even becoming part of the Union, today, vote in the largest numbers for the radical right. In synthesis, the dissertation approaches the relationship between two major current transformations of social reality: European integration and the surge of the radical right. The results highlight that contention around the issue of European integration provides a fertile ground for the populist radical right, helping to activate nationalistic and EU-hostile sentiments among parts of the European public.

Three models are developed to analyze the state level conditions fostering the rise of far right parties in the European Union in the last two decades. The political background of these parties is examined. This study offers a definition for far right parties, which combines several previous attempts. The research has focused on the effects of the number of the parties, immigration, and unemployment on support for the far right in Europe. Empirical tests, using a random effects model of fifty elections in eight nations, suggest that there are political, social, and economic conditions that are conducive to electoral success. Specifically, increases in the number of "effective" parties favor the far right, while electoral thresholds serve to dampen support. Immigration proves to be a significant variable. Surprisingly, changes in crime and unemployment rates have a negative effect on support for the far right. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2009.
Vita: p. 279. Thesis director: Janine Wedel. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed June 10, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-278). Also issued in print.

The European Union has exclusive competence to negotiate trade agreements with third countries. Using this competence the European Commission developed an extensive policy to conclude free trade agreements with numerous countries around the world. These agreements include regulation of the import and export of food products and also involve developing countries prone to hunger and malnutrition. This thesis investigates the recent trade agreements between the European Union and developing countries from the perspective of the human right to adequate food. This thesis demonstrates that the clauses on import and export of food products of such agreements limit the capacity of the developing countries involved to realise the right to food of their citizens. This outcome does not take into account the normative content of the right to food as contained in international human rights law and is dismissive of the references to human rights contained in European Union funding treaties and in the previous agreements between the European Union and developing countries. This thesis also demonstrates that this outcome is mainly an autonomous policy decision of the European Union and its trade partners independent from the obligations of World Trade Organization law. The thesis concludes with several proposals of reform to conciliate the external trade objectives of the European Union with the human right to adequate food.

The thesis engages with a dynamic discourse on the human rights approach to human trafficking. Building on the traditional doctrine of human rights, the thesis demonstrates that human trafficking is not a human rights violation, save for a state involvement in it, either directly or through a failure to observe its positive obligations imposed by the existent human rights. In situations that do engage human rights law, the thesis defends an argument that conceptually, human trafficking falls within a domain of the right to be free from slavery, servitude and forced labour. This argument is grounded in both a doctrinal and a conceptual analysis. In particular, the thesis conducts a unique conceptual and legal analysis of Article 4 of the European Convention of Human Rights offering an original interpretation of the concept of exploitation in the context of practices associated with trafficking and 'modern slavery'. This type of inquiry is missing in the existent scholarship. The thesis also conducts a detailed analysis of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on positive obligations to protect vulnerable individuals arising out of 'absolute' rights. In addition to providing a complete analysis and classification of these positive obligations, the thesis draws attention to the important difference between the scope of the right and the scope of state responsibility in situations of private infringements of 'absolute' rights. Accordingly, the thesis demonstrates that whereas the prohibition contained in these rights is absolute for the state, positive obligations in situations of their infringements by private individuals are of a limited scope. The analysis of the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court is supplemented by a comprehensive discussion of the obligations established in the trafficking-specific instruments. The thesis explains how victim protection provisions contained in these instruments may inform human rights obligations, yet, it demonstrates that these do not represent such obligations on their own. This analysis provides a roadmap for practitioners and activists when arguing cases before the Strasbourg Court and domestically. In addition to this practical dimension, the thesis intends to provide an important contribution to the scholarship on human rights law, and on human trafficking specifically.

Cette thèse constitue une analyse de contenu des critiques contre l'Union européenne exprimées par plusieurs acteurs politiques et sociaux de gauche en France et en Allemagne, au cours des débats sur le projet de Constitution européenne. Elle s'intéresse plus particulièrement aux idéologies sous-jacentes à ces critiques. Pour comprendre le sens de ces arguments, les comparer entre eux et les classer, certains idéaux-types ont été élaborés sur quatre dimensions (politique, socio-économique, identitaire et stratégique). Cette recherche a permis de combler une lacune importante dans l'analyse des acteurs dits "eurosceptiques", à savoir, l'étude des idéologies animant ces courants. L'essentiel de la littérature se concentre en effet surtout sur l'explication de l'euroscepticisme et, lorsqu'elle aborde leur idéologie, c'est pour construire des taxinomies excessivement globales. La thèse explore aussi en conclusion certaines pistes d'explications de ces résistances à l'UE en essayant d'aller au-delà des visions stratégiques, culturalistes et institutionnalistes, dominantes dans ce domaine, et en insistant davantage sur les dimensions idéelles et structurelles.

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This doctoral dissertation analyses the content of the critiques made by some left-wing social and political actors in France and Germany against the current EU. The study focuses on the debates that surrounded the project of European Constitution and more specifically on the more general ideologies underlying these arguments. In order to understand, compare and classify these critiques, idealtypes have been elaborated on four dimensions (socio-economic, political, identity-related and strategic). This research fills a gap in the literature analysing so-called "eurosceptic" actors by concentrating on the ideas conveyed by these currents. Indeed, most of this literature mostly tries to explain this phenomenon. And when it addresses the issue of ideology, it is only to build too far-reaching categories. The conclusion also aims at exploring possible explanations of theses resistances to the EU beyond the traditional theories, based on strategic agency, culturalism and institutionalism, and insisting more on the role of ideas and material structures.

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Concilier le droit à l'action collective et les autres droits fondamentaux :recours au principe de proportionnalité ?

Difficile équilibre entre efficacité du droit de grève et respect des autres droits fondamentaux

Viviane Vannes

L’objet de la thèse est de vérifier si le principe de proportionnalité, entouré de certains critères fixes et cohérents, permet au juge de justifier de manière plus rationnelle une décision portant sur l’exercice du droit de grève. La proportionnalité est en effet de plus en plus invoquée dans la matière des conflits collectifs du travail soit pour admettre son exercice soit pour le limiter voire le sanctionner.

La première partie de la thèse entend identifier le concept de proportionnalité: notion, champ d’application, critères, limites, avantages et inconvénients. Elle est, aujourd’hui, l’instrument de référence comme mode de résolution des conflits de droit, à un point tel qu’elle est érigée au rang des principes de droit. C’est, la raison pour laquelle nous avons voulu déterminer les tenants et aboutissants du concept. Son inconvénient majeur est de s’appuyer, le plus souvent, sur des critères subjectifs :le raisonnable en droit, l’éthique du comportement et la morale sociale. Nous avons, alors, recherché des critères plus objectifs qui seraient susceptibles d’écarter le risque de subjectivité du juge. Nous avons observé qu’en droit européen, la Cour de Justice apprécie la validité d’un acte communautaire ou d’une mesure nationale en vérifiant s’il répond des critères précis :l’aptitude de l’acte à atteindre l’objectif poursuivi, la nécessité de l’acte en vue de l’atteindre et la proportionnalité intrinsèque de l’acte analysée dans ses rapports à l’égard de son ou ses destinataires. Ces critères sont également appliqués par la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme dans la matière portant sur l’application de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales. L’analyse de cette jurisprudence permet d’affirmer qu’ils présentent une meilleure cohérence et plus d’objectivité que le raisonnable en droit.

La deuxième partie de la thèse s’attache à fixer le statut du droit de grève en Belgique. Compte tenu de l’absence de réglementation générale belge, nous avons, d’abord, pris en considération le droit international et européen. Nous en avons retiré des lignes directives de l’exercice normal du droit de grève. L’analyse de la doctrine et de la jurisprudence belge a, ensuite, permis de fixer les éléments suivants du droit de grève :notion, contours, conditions d’existence, de légalité, de légitimité; compétence du juge du fond et des référés en cas de litige portant sur l’exercice du droit de grève.

La troisième partie de la thèse identifie, dans la matière des conflits collectifs du travail, les droits susceptibles d’être soumis au raisonnement de proportionnalité et ceux qui ne le sont pas. Car, la proportionnalité ne résout pas tous les conflits. Elle ne s’applique pas lorsqu’il s’agit de juger de la légalité de la grève, de sa régularité et dans les situations de grève spontanée déclenchée en réaction aux violations par l’employeur de ses propres obligations. Elle concerne celles où le juge est amené à juger de la légitimité du moment de sa mise en œuvre, des buts poursuivis ou des atteintes que ses modalités causent aux droits subjectifs d’autrui. C’est, alors, le conflit entre des droits de même valeur juridique qui met en œuvre le jugement de proportionnalité :droit de grève et droit de propriété et liberté d’industrie des employeurs ;droit au travail des travailleurs non grévistes ;liberté d’industrie des tiers en relation commerciale avec l’entreprise en grève, fournisseurs, clients, usagers, d’exercer leur commerce, leur industrie ;liberté d’aller et venir des usagers d’un service public.

Dans les situations où elle s’applique, la thèse propose d’inviter le juge à appliquer des critères précis pour juger de la proportionnalité de la grève. Les demandes actuelles du justiciable de rationalité et de compréhension de la décision de justice l’exigent. C’est, dans son application comme mode de résolution des conflits de droit, que notre questionnement est de savoir si, les critères contenus dans le principe de proportionnalité de droit communautaire de l’aptitude, de la nécessité et la proportionnalité de l’acte, peuvent fixer une ligne de conduite destinée à établir les règles de l’exercice normal de la grève ?La réponse donnée est, selon nous, positive.

La thèse n’entend nullement porter atteinte au droit de grève. Il appartient au socle des droits sociaux fondamentaux. La reconnaissance du droit de grève aux travailleurs ou à leurs organisations syndicales est l’un des attributs essentiels des régimes démocratiques. Il n’est donc pas question de remettre en cause un droit fondamental durement acquis. Toutefois, l’essence même d’une société démocratique repose sur le respect d’autres droits, l’intérêt général, la sécurité, la propriété, la liberté au travail, la liberté d’entreprendre. C’est la raison pour laquelle, la thèse s’attache à la difficile question de la conciliation entre, d’une part, droit de grève et efficacité de la grève et, d’autre part, droits d’autrui.

Doctorat en droit
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Defence date: 30 March 2017
Examining Board: Professor Marise Cremona, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Deirdre Curtin, EUI; Professor Anne Flanagan, Queen Mary University of London; Professor Ronald Leenes, Tilburg University
This thesis concerns a specific instance of the trade-off between security and ‘privacy rights’, namely cybersecurity, as it applies to EU Law. The research question is whether, and how, the pursuit of cybersecurity can be reconciled with the protection of personal data and respect for private and family life, which I treat as two independent rights. Classic legal argumentation is used to support a normative critique against the trade-off; an in-depth scrutiny of ‘(cyber)security’ and ‘privacy’ further shows that the trade-off is methodologically flawed: it is an inappropriate intellectual device that offers a biased understanding of the subject matter. Once the terms of discussion are reappraised, the relationship between cybersecurity and privacy appears more nuanced, and is mediated by elements otherwise overlooked, chiefly technology. If this fatally wounds the over-simplistic trade-off model, and even opens up avenues for integration between privacy and cybersecurity in EU law, on the other hand it also raises new questions. Looked at from the perspective of applicable law, technology can both protect and infringe privacy rights, which leads to the paradox of the same technology being both permissible and impermissible, resulting in a seeming impasse. I identify the problem as lying in the combination of technology neutrality, the courts’ avoidance in pronouncing on matters of technology, and the open-ended understanding of privacy rights. To appraise whether cybersecurity and privacy rights can be reconciled, I develop a method that bridges the technological and legal understandings of information security and privacy, based on the notions/methods of protection goals, attributes and core/periphery or essence, and which has the advantage of highlighting the independence of the two privacy rights. A trial run of the method discloses aspects of the ‘how’ question that were buried under the trade-off debate, viz. the re-appropriation of the political and judicial process vis-àvis technology.
Chapter 4 draws upon an article in Neue Kriminalpolitik 4/2013

Defence date: 13 June 2012
Examining Board: Professor Martin Scheinin, European University Institute (EUI Supervisor); Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary University of London; Professor Tuomas Ojanen, University of Helsinki; Professor Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute.
First made available online: 25 August 2021
This thesis examines the added value of the fundamental right to data protection within the EU legal order when law enforcement measures are at stake. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of data protection, its underlying values and aims, and the approaches to this right. It discusses the current theories and the existing case-law on data protection by identifying their shortcomings. It introduces a new theory on data protection that reconstructs the right and reshapes in a clear and comprehensive manner its understanding. The thesis tests the added value of the ‘reconstructed’ right to data protection in the most difficult context: law enforcement and counter-terrorism. Three specific case-studies of data processing in the field of law enforcement are used: 1) the information collection 2) the information storage and, 3) the information transfer case. The information collection case discusses the EU Data Retention Directive and addresses the conceptual confusions between the rights to privacy and data protection that surround it, before turning to a substantive fundamental rights assessment of the Directive. The information storage case examines the added value of the fundamental right to data protection in the context of the access of law enforcement authorities to information stored on EU-scale databases such as the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), the Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. Finally, the information transfer case discusses the role of the rights to privacy and data protection with regard to the transfer of data from the EU to the US for counterterrorism purposes. In this context, it addresses the EU-US PNR and TFTP cases.

Defence date: 15 December 2010
Examining Board: Philip Alston (New York University School of Law); Catarina De Albuquerque (UN Independent Expert, Lisbon); Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann (Supervisor, EUI); Martin Scheinin (EUI)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
As indicated in the title, 'The Rights to Water', this thesis will argue that one self-standing, comprehensive and legally-binding human right to water does currently not exist on the international level. However, it is important to note, that this is not the same thing as stating that 'there is no human right to water'. It is simply to say that this human right does not meet some of the characteristics of many other human rights (in particular: self-standingness, comprehensiveness and legalbindingness) all at once. The research question will be addressed in three steps. A first analytical part will examine the present status of the right to water in international, European and domestic law. A second, theoretical part, will scrutinize whether and in which form it is even conceptually possible and meaningful to consider water as the object of a distinct human right. Finally, a third, applied part will consider how concrete reforms and developments can improve the effectiveness of the right in practical terms, if accepted. Only by considering the right to water in its legal, philosophical and practical context can the present status and future potential of the right to water be addressed fully.

Defence date: 11 September 2000
Examining board: Claus-Dieter Ehlermann (supervisor) ; Bruno De Witte ; Joseph Gilchrist ; Jacques Ziller
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 11 April 2018
Examining Board: Prof. Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute (Supervisor); Prof. Maurizio Ferrera, University of Milan; Prof. Andrew Geddes, European University Institute; Prof. Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Over the last forty years, regions in Europe have acquired an increasingly important role in the provision of rights that were traditionally used by states to define the boundaries of national citizenship. Despite this trend, there are still few comparative examinations of what citizenship means for subnational actors, how these affect the provision of rights, and what the consequences of this process are for internal solidarity, the democratic process, and ultimately the constitutional integrity of modern states. These are important questions at a time when ideas about membership and rights within multilevel polities are vigorously contested in courts, legislative chambers, and election booths. Instances of these contestations are the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decision on the legality of subsequent referendums on Catalan secession in 2014 and 2017; the ongoing standoff between the state of California and the American federal government over who ought to regulate the rights of undocumented immigrants; and the Scottish and UK referendums on independence and exit from the European Union, respectively. This dissertation sets out to explain under what conditions, how, and with what kind of consequences some regions are more inclusionary than others in their approach to what citizenship entails and to whom it applies. This is what I refer to as the politics of regional citizenship. The empirical analysis focuses on subnational variations in the realisation of the right to health care for undocumented immigrants in three multilevel states where regional governments have some control over health care and, within these, on pairs of regions that have been governed by either left- or right-wing parties and coalitions: Lombardy (Italy, conservative government from 1995), Tuscany (Italy, progressive government from 1970), Andalusia (Spain, progressive government from 1980), Madrid (Spain conservative government from 1995), Vaud (Switzerland, progressive government from 2002) and Zürich (Switzerland, conservative government from 1991). Evidence is collected via the analysis of over 31 legislative documents and 62 interviews with policy-makers, health care professionals, and members of NGOs. The comparison shows that the interaction of political ideologies at different territorial levels leads to the emergence of contested ideas about citizenship through the use that regional governments make of the distinct traditions of regional protection of vulnerable individuals like minor children, the disabled, and the homeless. The comparison also shows that the structure of the territorial system of the state plays an important role in determining the direction of the politics of regional citizenship. The value assigned to territorial pluralism within a country, in particular, determines whether regional citizenship is developed against the state, as a strategy to manifest dissent and mark the difference—as is the case in Spain and, to some extent, in Italy—or, instead, together with the state, as an expression of multilevel differentiation—as in Switzerland. Importantly, however, regional citizenship does never develop in complete isolation from the state because it always represents an attempt to weaken or reinforce the policies of the central government.

Defence date: 4 July 2000
Examining board: Renaud Dehousse, EUI (supervisor) ; Bruno De Witte, EUI ; Yves Mény, EUI ; Denis Simon, University Robert Schuman, Strasbourg, and College of Europe
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Defence date: 19 September 2016
Examining Board: Professor Sven Steinmo, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Alexander Trechsel, European University Institute; Professor Henry Farrell, George Washington University; Professor Bastiaan Van Apeldoorn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
This dissertation is a collection of three stand-alone papers each making distinct contributions and addressing different, but closely related, empirical puzzles that contribute to the literature on Internet privacy. The first article starts by exploring some of the tangible consequences of the Snowden revelations and challenges the common-wisdom culturalist theories of Europe’s privacy regime. Then, the second article offers a new explanation of the origins of America’s privacy framework that also defies conventional culturalist explanations. Finally, the third article closes by offering a novel implementation and policy design analysis of the American and European privacy regimes. Each article employs slightly different research methods and uses different yet compatible and complementary theoretical frameworks. In general, this dissertation adopts an institutionalist perspective studying how and why certain institutions change, and “why some flourish in some context and/or why some die out in others” (Steinmo, 2003a). The first article focuses on institutional reform, and resistance to institutional reform by corporate actors, following Culpepper’s quiet politics framework (2011). The second article, borrowing from Steinmo (2003b) and Blyth (2002, 2011), discusses the interaction between ideas and institutions, following perhaps the clearest institutionalist narrative of all the pieces of this dissertation. The third article, building on Rothstein’s general theory on implementation (Rothstein, 1998) discusses the implementation and policy design of the European and American institutions for the protection of privacy.

Defence date: 11 October 1999
Examining board: Prof. Didier Bigo (IEP, Paris) ; Prof. Klaus Eder (Humboldt University, Berlin - Co-supervisor) ; Prof. Adrienne Héritier (EUI-Florence - Supervisor) ; Prof. Thomas Risse (EUI, Florence)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
From the beginnings of intergovernmental co-operation in the 1980s to the Amsterdam Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the developing EU refugee policies have oscillated between the conflicting policy frames of internal security on the one hand and human rights on the other. Taking a multilevel perspective on the process of Europeanisation, this work highlights the entanglement between domestic as In m reforms in Germany and France and European co-operation and investigates the scope for a common refugee policy in the EU. Enlightening and innovative, this much-needed analysis of the Europeanisat ion of asylum policies is essential reading for scholars of European integration. asylum and refugee policy, and all those interested in the prospect of political unification in Europe.

Defence date: 12 December 2008
Examining Board: Professor Donatella della Porta, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Virginie Guiraudon, European University Institute, Université de Lille II (Co-Supervisor) Professor Didier Chabanet, Triangle - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon Professor Andrew Geddes, University of Sheffield
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
This PhD dissertation concerns the processes of Europeanization of French and German associations mobilizing around the asylum issue. It seeks to analyse how these associations have been evolving since the start of the harmonisation of European asylum policies in the beginning of the 1990s. It focuses on a panel of associations (23 in total) representing the French and German pro-asylum movements. Their process of Europeanization is analysed through the examination of three fundamental dynamics: the Europeanization of their networks (the construction of inter-associative linkages across Europe), discourses (the construction of framing-processes having a European dimension) and collective actions (the construction of mobilizations addressing the European institutions). This thesis is situated at the intersection between three domains of research: social movements, European integration and migration policies studies. It aims to analyse a process of Europeanization 'from below' (as it concerns civil society actors) and 'from the margin' (as it concerns issues linked to the definition of its borders). Relying on an approach that is comparative (the analysis of France and Germany as different fields of mobilization on the asylum issue) and dynamic (the progressive definition of the EU level as a new field of mobilization), it analyses the question of knowing if associations having differentiated profiles and/or coming from different national contexts tend to have differentiated paths and degrees of Europeanization. Through the use of the concept of field of European mobilizations (associations constructing Europeanized collective actions evolve in a particular social space, defined by specific resources, rules and issues at stake), it shows that the Europeanization of social movement organizations corresponds to a process of inclusion into - and exclusion from - a particular field: that of the organizations gravitating around European institutions since the beginning of the 1990s. It shows then that associations having differentiated profiles and coming from differentiated national contexts follow a process of Europeanization from below, contesting the definition of EU borders that power-holders let prevail. They evolve in distinct fields of European mobilizations and use different resources and strategies to mobilize against EU asylum policy. Two main sources are used: semi-structured interviews and associative publications. The data collected was analysed through different methods developed in social movements studies: frame analysis, network analysis, protest-event analysis.

The main purpose of this study is to understand the effect of the government’s political orientation on the countries’ tax burden, testing if the left-right political binomial has a positive or negative effect on this variable. To do so, we collected information of the last three decades of the European Union countries using the OECD and ParlGov databases. The results showed that on average, for the European Union countries, right-wing parties tend to obtain lower levels of tax burden when compared to left-wing parties. One of the main reasons that justify this statement is the fact that non-socialist parties usually have lower levels of public expenditure leading them to lower necessity of tax revenue and consequently to lower levels of tax burden. Yet, the same results indicate that the parties located to the right side of the political spectrum tend to collect more direct than indirect taxes, preferring to tax the income of the people and companies instead of their consumption. This study can be useful for the companies and individual taxpayers, once it allows them to predict if their tax burden will increase or decrease, just by analyzing their government political orientation, creating the possibility of better tax planning.
O principal objetivo deste estudo é entender o efeito da orientação política dos governos na carga fiscal dos respetivos países. Para isto testou-se se o binómio político esquerda-direita tem um efeito positivo ou negativo na variável anteriormente referida. Foi reunida informação relacionada com o tema, com período correspondente às últimas três décadas, e relativa aos países que compõem a União Europeia, recorrendo às bases de dados da OCDE e ParlGov. Os resultados mostraram que, em média, para os países da União Europeia, os governos dominados por partidos de direita tendem a obter menores níveis de carga fiscal quando comparados a governos de esquerda. Uma das principais razões que pode justificar esta afirmação é o facto de os partidos de direita por norma incorrem em menores níveis de despesa pública, o que conduz a uma menor necessidade de maiores níveis de receita fiscal. Este mesmo estudo indica também que os partidos de direita tendem a preferir uma maior coleta de impostos diretos do que indiretos, preferindo taxar o lucro das pessoas e empresas em vez do consumo das mesmas. Considera-se que este estudo poderá ser bastante útil para os sujeitos passivos individuais e coletivos, uma vez que permite que seja feita uma previsão do aumento/redução da carga fiscal a que estão sujeitos, apenas através da análise da orientação política do governo eleito.

Defence date: 13 July 2017
Examining Board: Professor Loïc Azoulai, EUI Supervisor; Professor Marise Cremona, EUI; Associate Professor Evelien Brouwer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Professor Daniel Wilsher, City University of London
This research considers State control and legal responsibility for the violation of migrant’s fundamental rights at the hands of privatised or externalised procedures of European Union (EU) Member State migration control and border management. The assertion is made that a migrant’s access to justice can be frustrated based on who (privatisation) it is that is implementing the procedure or because of where (externalisation) it is being implemented. Access to justice is frustrated by the failure of a court to overcome certain key preliminary issues which must be established before the merits of the case – the alleged rights violation – can be considered. These preliminary issues therefore represent triggers for greater consideration of State legal responsibility. Privatisation’s trigger is a court’s potential application of a narrow reading of the State such that a private actor is deemed to be liable for rights violations arising out of the implementation of a procedure. This decision can be made even when the State holds a significant amount of control and authority over the implementation of the procedure in question. Externalisation’s trigger is that a court may pursue a restrictive reading of extraterritorial jurisdiction such that the State is not interpreted as having engaged its jurisdiction and as a result that court will not consider the alleged violations and thus legal responsibility will not be established. The State’s exercise of ‘compulsory powers’, the use of physical force in the implementation of a migration control and border management procedure, has been relied upon as the indicator as to whether legal responsibility should be triggered for the State. This research argues that the exercise of compulsory powers is an arbitrary tool by which to decide legal responsibility and results in the neglect of other, more subtle indicators that State legal responsibility should be established. In the absence of a silver bullet resolution to the challenges posed by the triggers of legal responsibility for both externalisation and privatisation, doctrinal solutions are proposed. These solutions enable the courts to provide easier access to justice for migrants and better reflect State legal responsibility for the State’s exercise of control.
Chapter 3 ‘The distance explored I – Externalization' and Chapter 1 ‘Control and legal responsibility for externalised and privatised procedures' of the PhD thesis draw upon an earlier version published as an article 'Member State responsibility for migration control within third states : externalisation revisited' (2013) in the journal ‘European journal of migration and law’
Chapter 2 ‘Externalisation and privatisation - the procedures' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Do good fences make good neighbours?' (2014) in the journal ‘This century's review : journal for rational legal debate’

Defence date: 18 July 2003
Examining board: Prof. Gráinne de Búrca, Supervisor ; Prof. Elspeth Guild ; Prof. Steve Peers ; Prof. Bruno de Witte
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

With the increasing population heterogeneity and rising tensions in Western nations, the governments of those nations have sought ways to manage conflict between different groups. This often comes in the form of laws criminalizing certain speech, and numerous Western nations have passed bills strengthening sanctions against hate speech or adding previously unprotected groups. However, when the European Union attempted to pass strict hate speech legislation, many EU member states disagreed with its provisions and, due to the structure of the EU, managed to substantially change the resulting legislation. This study examines how proponents and opponents of hate speech legislative change frame the issue and the role the EU.
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Defence date: 31 March 2017
Examining Board: Professor Pepper Culpepper, formerly EUI/University of Oxford (Supervisor); Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI (Co-Supervisor); Professor Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg; Professor Maurits Van der Veen, College of William & Mary
This dissertation deals with the question of how the partisan nature of government still matters in the current globalized and post-industrial world. In particular, it compares the representativeness of two contemporary centre-left governments with that of two centre-left executives from the 1970s in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. According to the more provocative theories about the state of contemporary representative democracy, these countries should be forerunners of a general European trend in which governments care more about technical competence rather than political representation and responsiveness. These tendencies are expected to particularly affect the partisanship of Labour ministers. In order to test these theories, I do a comparative content analysis of how Labour finance ministers/Chancellors justify the yearly government budget in front of the parliament. The justifications are divided into those that characterize the government as representative of the partisan redistributive preferences (input-justifications) VS those that profile it as a competent caretaker of public finances (output-justifications). Following the above-mentioned theories, the hypothesis is that today the output-justifications are more important than in the past. As this approach is relatively novel with regards to the study of responsiveness, the thesis also dedicates one chapter to the justification strategies of a technical and a neoliberal government. The purpose of this extra comparison is to have more empirical evidence of what renders an output-justification different from an input-justification. By incorporating these two cases, thus, I get a deeper comparative insight into what is a typical left-wing/partisan discourse characteristic and what constitutes governmental/institutional talk. This extra comparison, consequently, allows me to reflect more deeply on the findings emerging from the overtime comparison of Labour governments. The findings of my research tell a two-sided story. On the one hand, contrary to my hypothesis, the contemporary cases feature slightly more input-justifications than the governments from the 1970s. On the other, the logic of the discourses suggests that, while in the 1970s the responsiveness to social needs was presented as a policy goal per se, today the input-justifications tend to be more subordinated to justifications about economic and financial considerations. The findings thus speak both to theories according to which today we are not witnessing a decline of political representation, but simply a change in kind, as well to the theories speaking of a gradual hollowing out of political competition. In the iv conclusion of my dissertation I reflect on what is right and wrong on the two sides of the debate.

This study explores the international obligations of the European Union to the unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee child. In doing so, it involves an investigation into the concept and content of durable solutions for the refugee child. As such, it analyses the effect of the temporary European relocation scheme in the search for durable solutions. To that end, it engages a comprehensive explanation of the relevant refugee law, the law of the rights of the child and the European legislative framework governing the reception and protection of refugees. Cumulatively, an assessment is made as to the effectiveness of the durable solutions that currently exist. This study seeks to establish whether, in an attempt to relieve the pressure from the frontline member states by creating a system for effective integration, Europe encourages the development of a children’s rights perspective and ultimately, provides a path for the unaccompanied child’s development and self-fulfilment.
Public, Constitutional and International Law
LL. M.

Deux décennies après l’adoption de la Convention relative au statut des réfugiés en 1951, l’affluence du nombre de réfugiés réclamant l’asile aux frontières occidentales a mené les États européens à instaurer des règles restrictives pour dissuader les demandeurs d’asile à se réclamer de cette protection internationale au sein de leurs territoires respectifs. Une des mesures préventives récentes est la directive sur « Pays d’origine sûrs » (POS) dont l’objectif est d’identifier les requérants non éligibles à recevoir la protection internationale, car issus de pays considérés sécuritaires. Ce travail de recherche propose une étude comparative entre les directives de l’Union européenne adoptées en 2005, puis réformées en 2013 et la Loi sur l’immigration et la protection des réfugiés en vigueur au Canada. D’une part, nous analysons l’impact néfaste de cette directive dissuasive sur les droits fondamentaux des demandeurs d’asile en provenance de pays d’origine désignés, notamment en ce qui a trait à leur droit à une entrevue individuelle ainsi que leur droit d’en appeler de la décision qui a été prise et leur refusant l’asile. D’autre part, nous démontrerons comment l’étendue des limites substantielles à l’égard des droits fondamentaux des demandeurs d’asile en provenance des POS est contradictoire avec les obligations constitutionnelles de l’UE et du Canada, notamment celles formulées dans la Charte des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne, la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme et la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés. Bien que l’élaboration et l’application des règles adoptées par les systèmes juridiques mentionnés souffrent de plusieurs défauts violant les droits fondamentaux des demandeurs d’asile en provenance de pays d’origine désignés, nous démontrerons que l’approche du Canada a des conséquences plus draconiennes sur des demandeurs d’asile en provenance de POS que celles découlant de la loi commune applicable dans l’UE. Finalement, nous conclurons que les États occidentaux ne devraient pas se limiter à une solution à court terme telle celle du POS. Ces États devraient avoir plus de responsabilités et offrir une protection internationale accrue en soutenant les pays près de zones de conflits tout en établissant un programme réaliste permettant d’accueillir un nombre précis de réfugiés tous les ans. Mots Clés : Pays d’origine sûrs – Pays d’origine désignés – Droits humains – Droits procéduraux – Droit à l’entrevue individuelle – Droit d’appel – l’Union européenne – Canada – Réfugiés requérants – Demandeurs d’asile
Two decades following the adoption of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the growing number of asylum seekers arriving at the Western countries’ borders convinced European States to put in place new asylum rules to prevent asylum seekers from reaching their borders and dissuade the potential refugee applicants from seeking international protection in their respective territories. One of the most recent preventive measures has been the “Safe Countries of Origin” rule (hereafter SCO) whose main purpose is to identify and reject refugee applicants who are not in real need of international protection since they originate from countries which are deemed generally safe. In this research, we conduct a comparative study between the European Union’s Directives adopted in 2005 and recasted in 2013, and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act enacted by the Canada. At the first step, we intend to verify the adverse impact of this deterrent rule, during the expeditious determination procedure, on the SCO asylum seekers’ fundamental human rights including the right to personal interview and the right to appeal. At the second step, our objective is to demonstrate to which extent the fundamental human rights limitations imposed on SCO asylum seekers are in contradiction with the EU’s and Canada’s constitutional obligations undertaken respectively in EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Based on this comparative research we illustrate that, while the elaboration and the application of the SCO rule in both the above-mentioned legal systems suffer from inherent flaws which infringe the basic human rights of SCO refugee applicants, Canada’s approach has had more drastic consequences on the SCO refugee applicants than those resulting from the EU’s common asylum law. Finally, we conclude that, instead of a short-term solution such as the SCO rule, the Western States must accept more responsibilities in providing international protection by supporting the countries that border the crisis zones, and establishing a workable program to accept a specific number of asylum seekers every year. Keywords: Safe Countries of Origin - Designated Countries of Origin - Human Rights -Procedural Rights - Right to Personal Interview - Right to Appeal - the European Union - Canada - Refugee Applicants - Asylum Seekers

In present-day society more and more personal information is being collected. The nature of the collection has also changed: more sensitive and potentially prejudicial information is collected. The advent of computers and the development of new telecommunications technology, linking computers in networks (principally the Internet) and enabling the transfer of information between computer systems, have made information increasingly important, and boosted the collection and use of personal information. The risks inherent in the processing of personal information are that the data may be inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant, accessed or disclosed without authorisation, used for a purpose other than that for which they were collected, or destroyed. The processing of personal information poses a threat to a person's right to privacy. The right to identity is also infringed when incorrect or misleading information relating to a person is processed. In response to the problem of the invasion of the right to privacy by the processing of personal information, many countries have adopted "data protection" laws. Since the common law in South Africa does not provide adequate protection for personal data, data protection legislation is also required. This study is undertaken from a private law perspective. However, since privacy is also protected as a fundamental right, the influence of constitutional law on data protection is also considered. After analysing different foreign data protection laws and legal instruments, a set of core data protection principles is identified. In addition, certain general legal principles that should form the basis of any statutory data protection legislation in South Africa are proposed. Following an analysis of the theoretical basis for data protection in South African private law, the current position as regards data protection in South-Africa is analysed and measured against the principles identified. The conclusion arrived at is that the current South African acts can all be considered to be steps in the right direction, but not complete solutions. Further legislation incorporating internationally accepted data protection principles is therefore necessary. The elements that should be incorporated in a data protection regime are discussed.
Jurisprudence
LL. D. (Jurisprudence)

Defence date: 6 July 2011
Examining Board: Professor Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute (EUI Supervisor); Prof. Andrew Murray, London School of Economics and Political Science; Prof. Hans-W. Mickltz, European University Institute; Dr. Alfonso Scirocco European Economic and Social Committee
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
In the context of the continuous advance of information technologies and biomedicine, and of the creation of economic blocs, this thesis is devoted to the analysis of the role data protection plays in the integration of markets, with a special emphasis on financial and insurance services. Moreover, it is also concerned with the identification of differences in the data protection systems of EU member states and with the development of common standards and principles of data protection that could help to build a data protection model for Mercosur, keeping in mind the need to establish a high level of data protection without creating unnecessary constraints for the flow of information. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first one deals with the evolution of the right to privacy, focusing on the last few decades, taking into account the development of new technologies. In this part an analysis of the European framework of data protection and of its standards developed is carried out. Then, in the second part, the interaction between data protection and the industries selected as case studies, namely insurance, bank and credit reporting, is discussed. This discussion concentrates on specific issues, such as generalisation and discrimination, adverse selection and the processing of sensitive and genetic data. The focus of the third part is the analysis of the legislation of three EU member states (France, Italy and UK). In order to perform this comparative exercise, some important issues are taken into account: the concepts of personal and anonymous data, data protection principles, the role of the data protection authorities, the role of the data protection officer, data subjects’ rights, the processing of sensitive data, the processing of genetic data and the experience of the case studies in processing data. Moreover, issues related to the specific member states are also considered. Subsequently to the comparative analysis, some recommendations are proposed for updating EU legislation on data protection, so as to reduce the barriers to the establishment of an internal market, mainly for financial and insurance services. Finally, the proposal of a model for data protection that could be adopted by Mercosur, taking into account the different levels of data protection that exist in its member states, is conducted in the last part. The thesis concludes by emphasising the important role data protection can play in the process of markets’ integration.

Defence date: 7 May 2007
Examining Board: Prof. Neil Walker (Supervisor, European University Institute) ; Prof. Marise Cremona (European University Institute) ; Prof. Pieter Boeles (Leiden University) ; Prof. Dora Kostakopoulou (University of Manchester)
First made available online on 10 July 2018
From a sociological point of view, camps or transit zones may present the institutionalisation o f temporariness as a form of radical social exclusion and marginalisation in modem society and a conservation of borders as dividing lines

EU citizenship has been introduced in the Maastricht Treaty, which had entered into force on November 1, 1993. In 2018, therefore, this legal institution will have existed for a total of twenty five years. This long of a period is sufficient enough to evaluate the institution's development and its effects on the legal status of the citizens of the Member States of the European Union. However, it should be noted that the legal status of EU citizenship is not a fully formed institution, but rather, an ongoing process which is primarily shaped by the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. This doctoral dissertation verifies the general thesis on the changing model of integration connected with holding the status of an EU citizen in light of the evolution of the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. The aforementioned case-law bears a direct influence on the nature of the relationship between EU citizens and both their host states and their states of origin. The dissertation goes on to verify additional theses formulated in the Introduction, which shape the considerations of the subsequent chapters. The research undertaken has been divided into nine chapters, while the research findings have been included in the Conclusion to the dissertation. The First Chapter has the form of an extended introduction. It presents the history of the institution of EU citizenship, its character, and correlation with the citizenship of the state of origin. The chapter also provides brief commentaries on terms formed during the the preceding stage of European integration, which nonetheless bear significance for understanding case-law in regard to EU citizenship. The subsequent three chapters focus on the process of delineating the scope of rights of EU citizens in regard to host states in the case-law of the Court of Justice. This process has been divided into three stages of development. The first cutoff point is the signing and entering into force of Directive 2004/38, and the second – the ruling in Case C-140/12 Brey. Chapter Five discusses relevant case-law in regard to the relationship of migrating EU citizens with their state of origin, and in particular the 2 consequences of applying the real link test. Chapter Six evaluates the influence of EU citizenship on the rulings of the Court of Justice in the scope of the free movement of persons in the internal market. The unifying factor behind the issues described in the subsequent chapters is the right to the private and familial life of EU citizens. Chapter Seven goes into the development of the rights of the family members of migrating EU citizens. The scope of possibilities of traveling and residing with family members bears a direct influence on the status of migrating EU citizens. Chapter Eight discusses Court of Justice case-law pertaining to the spelling of first and last names of EU citizens. In this regard, member states bring up arguments on their constitutional identity, with the aim of influencing the scope of protection of individuals stemming from EU law itself. The last chapter goes into detail on the so-called Zambrano doctrine, or the possibility of issuing the derivative right of residence to family members of a EU citizen in cases when refusal thereof could prevent said EU citizen from enjoying the substance of the rights.
Obywatelstwo Unii Europejskiej wprowadzone zostało przez Traktat z Maastricht, który wszedł w życie 1 listopada 1993 r. W 2018 r. minie więc dwadzieścia pięć lat funkcjonowania tej instytucji prawnej. Okres ten jest wystarczający do dokonania podsumowania jej rozwoju i skutków dla statusu prawnego obywateli państw członkowskich. Należy jednak mieć na względzie, że status prawny związany z obywatelstwem Unii nie jest jednak ostatecznie ukształtowany, a jest raczej ciągle trwającym procesem, na który wpływ wywiera przede wszytkim orzecznictwo Trybunału Sprawiedliwości. W niniejszej rozprawie doktorskiej dokonano weryfikacji ogólnej tezy mówiącej o zmieniającym się wraz z ewolucją orzecznictwa Trybunału Sprawiedliwości modelu integracji związanym z posiadaniem statusu obywatela Unii. Orzecznictwo to wpływa bezpośrednio na kształt relacji obywateli Unii zarówno z państwami przyjmującymi, jak i państwami pochodzenia. Zweryfikowane zostały także dalsze tezy postawione we wstępie, które stały się sednem rozważań w poszczególnych rozdziałach. Problematyka badawcza podzielona została na dziewięć rozdziałów, natomiast podsumowanie i wnioski ujęte zostały w zakończeniu. Pierwszy rozdział ma formę rozbudowanego wprowadzenia. Przybliżono w nim historię instytucji obywatelstwa Unii, jej charakter i korelację z obywatelstwem krajowym. Omówiono pokrótce także pojęcia ukształtowane na wcześniejszym etapie integracji europejskiej mające znaczenie dla zrozumienia orzecznictwa dotyczącego obywatelstwa Unii. Następne trzy rozdziały koncertują się na procesie kształtowana się w orzecznictwie Trybunału Sprawiedliwości zakresu uprawnień obywateli Unii wobec państw przyjmujących. Wyodrębniono trzy etapy kształtowania się tego orzecznictwa. Pierwszym z przyjętych punktów granicznych jest przyjęcie i wejście w życie dyrektywy 2004/38, a drugim wydanie orzeczenia w sprawie C-140/12 Brey. Rozdział piąty dotyczy orzecznictwa w zakresie relacji migrujących obywateli Unii z państwem pochodzenia, a w szczególności konsekwencji zastosowania do nich testu rzeczywistego związku. W rozdziale szóstym omówiono zaś wpływ obywatelstwa Unii na wyroki Trybunału zapadające na gruncie osobowych swobód rynku wewnętrznego. Elementem łączącym zagadnienia omawiane w kolejnych rozdziałach jest prawo do poszanowania życia prywatnego i rodzinnego obywateli Unii. W pierwszej kolejności ukazano kształtowanie się uprawnień członków rodziny migrujących obywateli Unii. Zakres możliwość przemieszczania się i pobytu wraz z członkami rodziny w sposób bezpośredni wpływa bowiem na status migrujących obywateli Unii. Przedmiotem rozdziału ósmego jest orzecznictwo Trybunału dotyczące pisowni imion i nazwisk obywateli Unii. Na tym tle pojawia się także problem wpływu podnoszonych przez państwa członkowie argumentów dotyczących ich tożsamości konstytucyjnej na zakres ochrony wynikający dla jednostek z prawa unijnego. Ostatni rozdział poświęcony został tak zwanej doktrynie Zambrano, a więc możliwości przyznania pochodnego prawa pobytu członkom rodziny obywatela Unii w przypadku, gdy odmowa mogłaby pozbawić go możności korzystania z istoty praw związanych z obywatelstwem unijnym.

Os direitos fundamentais ao respeito pela vida privada e à proteção dos dados pessoais, num mundo cada vez mais rendido à comunicação eletrónica, têm sido tema de conversa quotidiana e de intenso debate jurídico, quer a nível interno quer a nível europeu. A comunicação eletrónica tornou-se um meio prioritário, utilizado diariamente, muitas vezes sem a consciência de que os dados pessoais daí resultantes podem ser alvo de retenção. No contexto da UE, a proteção dos dados pessoais está devidamente consagrada, enquanto direito fundamental, mas vê-se ameaçada perante o sistema de vigilância que a União criou e regulou, essencialmente com fins de prevenção e repressão criminais. Levanta-se, assim, a questão de até que ponto poderemos estar perante uma violação do direito da UE. A complexidade e atualidade deste problema levou-nos a investigar, com base na jurisprudência do TJ, de que forma a União tem vindo a harmonizar estas duas realidades em constante confronto – a proteção dos direitos fundamentais dos cidadãos e a necessidade dos Estados de reter os seus dados de comunicação. Pretendemos, com esta investigação, clarificar os complicados contornos das vertentes em contraposição e explorar o debate em torno do caminho jurisprudencial que temos observado.
The fundamental rights to respect for privacy and protection of personal data, in an increasingly surrendered to electronic communication world, is a topic that has been the subject of daily dialogue and intense legal debate, both at internal and European level. Electronic communication has become a preferred medium, used daily, often without the awareness that the resulting personal data may be retained. In the context of the EU, the protection of personal data is properly enshrined as a fundamental right, but it is threatened by the surveillance system that the Union has set up and regulated, mainly for the purposes of criminal prevention and prosecution. Therefore, the question arises as to the extent to which we may be facing a violation of EU law. The complexity and presentness of this problem led us to investigate, based on the jurisprudence of the ECJ, how the EU has been harmonizing these two realities in constant confrontation – the protection of citizens’ fundamental rights and the need for States to retain their communication data. With this investigation, we intend to clarify the complicated traits of the opposing aspects and explore the debate around the jurisprudential path that we have been observing.

Entitled "The Protection of Personal Data in the Global Era: The Schrems Case ", this thesis is an analysis of the difficulties that entails the creation of a framework for transatlantic data transfers that conforms with the European requirements for personal data protection and the respect for privacy and family life. Adopted by the Court of Justice on 6th October 2015, the Schrems Case marked a turning point in trade relations between the European Union and the United States by declaring invalid the “Safe Harbor" Decision, which until then allowed the free movement of personal data from the European Union to the United States. Due to its importance, the Court of Justice’s judgement will be the starting point of this thesis. At a time when data transfers acquired a leading role in the international economy, European and North-American officials devised a new legal framework to replace the previous mechanism and gave it the name “EU-U.S. Privacy Shield". However, there were several criticisms to this agreement. Most stated that it maintained the same elements that led to the invalidation of the “Safe Harbor" Decision. The possibility of this agreement being declared invalid by the Court of Justice is real. Based on the research which is going to be done in this thesis about the reasons that made invalid the “Safe Harbor” Decision, as well as the reasons which justify the fears that the “EU-U.S Privacy Shield” has the same end, we are going to be able to answer the following question: should we qualify the “EU-U.S. Privacy Shield” as a viable legal framework for transatlantic data flows?
Com o título “A Protecção de Dados Pessoais na Era Global: o Caso Schrems”, a presente tese tem como objectivo analisar as dificuldades que acarreta a construção de um quadro jurídico para as transferências transatlânticas de dados pessoais que esteja conforme aos requisitos europeus de protecção de dados pessoais e de respeito pela privacidade e vida familiar. Proferido pelo Tribunal de Justiça a 6 de Outubro de 2015, o Acórdão Schrems marcou uma viragem nas relações comerciais entre a União Europeia e os Estados Unidos, ao declarar como inválida a intitulada Decisão “Porto Seguro”, que até então permitia a livre circulação de dados pessoais da União Europeia para as empresas norte-americanas que subscrevessem os princípios que tinham sido previamente definidos na decisão de adequação da Comissão Europeia. Pela sua importância, este acórdão será o ponto de partida do estudo a realizar neste trabalho. Numa época em que as transferências de dados adquiriram um papel determinante na economia internacional, fruto do desenvolvimento tecnológico, as autoridades europeias e norte-americanas conceberam um novo quadro jurídico que substituísse o mecanismo precedente, ao qual deram a designação de “Escudo de Protecção da Privacidade UE-EUA”. Contudo, surgiram várias críticas ao pacto alcançado, afirmando que este mantinha os mesmos elementos que determinaram a invalidação da Decisão “Porto Seguro”, o que contraria as exigências expressas no Acórdão Schrems e cria a possibilidade de o novo quadro normativo ser novamente declarado inválido pelo Tribunal de Justiça. Com base na investigação que será feita ao longo da tese aos motivos que justificaram a declaração de invalidade da Decisão “Porto Seguro”, bem como aos que fundamentam os receios de que o “Escudo de Protecção da Privacidade UE-EUA” tenha o mesmo fim, seremos capazes de responder à seguinte pergunta: será que se pode qualificar o “Escudo de Protecção da Privacidade UE-EUA” como um quadro jurídico viável para as transferências transatlânticas de dados pessoais?