GLE Europe
Legal intelligence across Europe every fortnight
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Good morning from the GLE Editorial desk. This fortnight Europe’s enforcement machinery did the talking. Brussels referred Ireland, Spain, France and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice over NIS2 and asked for daily penalties until they transpose, the Grand Chamber handed down two GDPR judgments within a week that redraw the line on publishing personal data, one on naming doping offenders and one refusing the journalism exemption to a paid criminal-conviction database, the Commission sent the review of the EUR20.35bn SFR break-up down to the French Autorité de la concurrence, and Poland put a bill before the Sejm that would outlaw generic “eco” claims. For counsel running data protection, competition, consumer and regulatory work across Europe, several long-running questions were settled at once.
Joel Gordon, Editorial · Global Law Experts
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Quick digest
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Four member states are now at the Court of Justice over NIS2, with the Commission asking for a lump sum plus daily penalty payments running until each notifies complete transposition, nearly two years after the 17 October 2024 deadline.
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The Grand Chamber ruled twice on publishing personal data in five days, requiring a documented proportionality balance before naming doping offenders on 14 July, and holding on 9 July that a paid conviction database is not journalism.
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The EUR20.35bn three-way carve-up of SFR goes to Paris rather than Brussels under Article 4(4), and the Autorité has signalled the review will run at least 18 months.
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Jurisdictions covered
European Union · Ireland · Spain · France · Netherlands · Austria · Sweden · Poland · Germany · Italy · Portugal · Hungary · Bulgaria · Cyprus
Lawyers featured in this edition
Stéphane Daniel · Diogo Capela · Henrietta Virág Burus · Manuela Purnarova · Christos Voniatis
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What mattered this fortnight
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EUROPEAN UNION · CYBERSECURITY & REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT |
Brussels Takes Four Member States to the CJEU Over NIS2, and Wants Daily Penalties
On 8 July 2026 the European Commission referred Ireland, Spain, France and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice for failing to notify full national transposition of the NIS2 Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2555), whose transposition deadline was 17 October 2024. The Commission is asking the Court to impose financial sanctions consisting of a lump sum plus daily penalty payments running until each state notifies complete transposition, having already sent letters of formal notice on 28 November 2024 and reasoned opinions on 7 May 2025.
Why it matters for counsel: In-house and advisory counsel in these four jurisdictions cannot wait for domestic law to land. NIS2 covers 18 critical sectors including energy, health, transport, public administration and digital infrastructure, and the direct-effect and state-liability exposure now sharpens: map which of your entities are “essential” or “important”, build the incident-reporting and risk-management governance now, and treat the local implementing bill as imminent rather than optional.
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EUROPEAN UNION & AUSTRIA · DATA PROTECTION |
Naming Doping Offenders Is Lawful Only After a Proportionality Balance, the Grand Chamber Rules
On 14 July 2026 the Grand Chamber handed down its judgment in Case C-474/24 (NADA Austria and Others), holding that member states may allow publication of an athlete’s name, sport, anti-doping rule violation and sanction, but only where the publishing body first balances the competing interests and ensures the publication is proportionate, including as to its duration. The Court confirmed that anti-doping publication is subject to the GDPR and that data revealing health is sensitive data attracting heightened protection.
Why it matters for counsel: Any client that publishes disciplinary outcomes, sanctions registers or “name and shame” lists, whether a sports body, a regulator, a professional association or an employer running misconduct disclosures, now has a binding template: a documented, case-by-case proportionality assessment before publication, with a defined take-down horizon. Data-protection and sports regulatory counsel should audit standing publication practices against this test immediately.
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EUROPEAN UNION & SWEDEN · DATA PROTECTION |
Selling Conviction Data Online Is Not Journalism, and Gets No GDPR Exemption
On 9 July 2026, in Case C-199/24 (Legal Newsdesk Sweden), the Court of Justice held that the paid online publication of criminal conviction decisions does not, in principle, amount to processing “for journalistic purposes”, so it cannot rely on the journalism derogations in Article 85 GDPR. The Court set out that journalistic processing requires an objective of informing the public prepared according to editorial ethics or codes of conduct, and that a fee-based conviction database, the case arising from Sweden’s Lexbase, falls outside that concept.
Why it matters for counsel: This narrows the “journalism” shield across the EU for data brokers, legal-intelligence platforms, litigation-tracking services and background-check providers that monetise court and conviction records. Counsel advising any such client should re-paper the lawful basis, drop reliance on the journalistic exemption where the product is a paid data feed, and re-run necessity and proportionality on publishing conviction and offence data.
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FRANCE · COMPETITION & M&A |
Brussels Hands the EUR20.35bn SFR Break-Up to Paris, and the Clock Runs 18 Months
On 15 July 2026 the French Autorité de la concurrence announced that the European Commission had, at Iliad’s request, referred to it under Article 4(4) of the EU Merger Regulation the review of Iliad’s proposed acquisition of certain Altice France (SFR) telecoms assets, part of a wider three-way carve-up of SFR among Iliad, Bouygues Telecom and Orange valued at about EUR20.35bn. The Autorité indicated the investigation is likely to last at least 18 months given the complexity of the mobile, fixed, broadband and ultra-fast-broadband markets involved.
Why it matters for counsel: This is a live worked example of Article 4(4) referral strategy, where parties argue a deal principally affects competition in one national market and the case is pulled from Brussels to the national authority. Competition and M&A counsel structuring EU-wide deals with a strong single-market nexus should factor the referral route and its timing consequences into filing strategy and deal timetables, and telecoms and infrastructure advisers should watch the French remedies analysis closely.
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POLAND · CONSUMER PROTECTION & ESG |
Poland Moves to Ban Generic “Eco” Claims With a Greenwashing Bill Before the Sejm
On 10 July 2026 the Polish government submitted a bill to the Sejm amending the Act on Counteracting Unfair Market Practices and the Consumer Rights Act, which would restrict environmental labelling to recognised certification schemes and prohibit generic environmental claims. The move tracks the EU-level direction on substantiating green claims and lands alongside a separate Ministry of Finance tax-deregulation package unveiled on 6 July 2026, covering electronic receipts, pre-filled VAT returns for around 2 million taxpayers, a 30-day appeal window and five-year validity for tax rulings.
Why it matters for counsel: Consumer-facing clients selling into Poland should audit product packaging, marketing copy and ESG claims now, because unsubstantiated “green”, “eco” or “climate-neutral” wording not tied to a recognised scheme is set to become an unfair market practice. Advertising, consumer and ESG counsel should build a claims-substantiation file and flag reliance on self-declared environmental labels before the bill advances.
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GERMANY – EMPLOYMENT
Germany’s 34-Point Reform Package Would Buy Out High Earners and Stretch Fixed Terms to Four Years
On 2 July 2026 Germany’s coalition committee unveiled a 34-point reform package, “A Programme for Economic Recovery and Employment”, proposing from 1 January 2027 severance-for-dismissal for high earners above 1.75 times the pension contribution ceiling at 12 to 18 months’ pay, fixed-term contracts without objective grounds for up to 48 months and six renewals, abolition of the written-form requirement for fixed terms, and an end to telephone sick notes. German employment teams should model the high-earner exit mechanism and revisit fixed-term templates now, while treating everything as proposal until draft legislation appears.
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FRANCE – COMPETITION
A Record 328 Merger Decisions and EUR379.3m in Fines: the French Enforcer’s 2025 Scorecard
On 9 July 2026 the Autorité de la concurrence presented its 2025 annual report, recording a record 328 merger decisions, up 11 per cent year on year and covering over EUR31bn in total transaction value, alongside EUR379.3m in antitrust fines across nine decisions, including EUR187.4m for a Corsican road-fuel cartel and EUR150m against Apple for abuse of dominance in iOS mobile-app advertising. The numbers signal an active French enforcer, so build merger-notification lead time and antitrust compliance training into 2026 deal and commercial planning.
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POLAND – TAX & INVESTMENT INCENTIVES
One Set of Records Will Do: Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court Simplifies SEZ Bookkeeping
On 8 July 2026 the Polish Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a taxpayer may keep a single set of records for income exempt both under a special economic zone permit and under an investment support decision, simplifying record-keeping for incentive beneficiaries. Clients operating under SEZ permits and Polish Investment Zone decisions can revisit their bookkeeping approach and reduce parallel-record burdens.
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EU-WIDE – EMPLOYMENT
Four Out of Twenty-Seven: the Pay Transparency Transposition Gap Is Now a CEE Problem
As of the 7 June 2026 EU Pay Transparency Directive deadline, only four member states, Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania and Malta, had transposed, with most CEE states and the large economies missing it and leaving employers exposed to direct-effect arguments and eventual infringement risk. Employers across non-compliant states should not wait for local law to begin pay-gap reporting readiness and job-advert pay-range practices.
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SWEDEN – COMPETITION
Sweden’s New Competition Tool Switches On 1 August
Sweden’s package of competition-law reforms adopted on 5 May 2026, comprising amendments to the Competition Act, a new “competition tool” chapter and a new law on public-sector sales activities, enters into force for most provisions on 1 August 2026. Firms trading in Sweden should map exposure to the new market-investigation tool and review any public-sector commercial activity before the 1 August switch-on.
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SWEDEN – ANTITRUST DAMAGES
Stockholm Sets a New Private-Enforcement Benchmark With a $1.97bn Award Against Google
On 1 July 2026 the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm ordered Google and Alphabet to pay Klarna’s PriceRunner around $1.97bn, Sweden’s largest-ever antitrust award, finding that Google had favoured its own comparison-shopping service and diverted traffic from PriceRunner across the UK, Swedish and Danish markets between 2008 and 2023. Competition litigators advising platform-dependent businesses should reassess the viability of follow-on and standalone damages actions against this new self-preferencing benchmark.
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SPAIN – EU & CONSTITUTIONAL
Luxembourg Backs Spain’s Amnesty Law, but Refuses to Set the Clock for Spanish Courts
On 16 July 2026 the Court of Justice ruled that Spain’s 2024 amnesty law for Catalan separatists is, in principle, compatible with EU law and the anti-terrorism directives, while cautioning that Spanish courts cannot be forced to lift financial-responsibility measures or halt preliminary proceedings within a fixed two-month window pending broader EU questions. Spanish disputes and regulatory counsel should note the Court’s carve-out on procedural timeframes, as the arrest-warrant position still rests with the Spanish Supreme and Constitutional Courts.
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ITALY – EMPLOYMENT & PLATFORM WORK
Italy’s Rider Work Ledgers Became Compulsory on 1 July
Under Italy’s Decree-Law No. 62/2026, in force from 1 May 2026, the obligation for delivery platforms to maintain individual work ledgers for each rider, recording monthly deliveries and total amounts paid, took effect on 1 July 2026, alongside a rebuttable presumption of employment where the platform exercises algorithmic control. Platforms operating in Italy should confirm rider work-ledgers, monthly pay statements and algorithmic-transparency processes are live, and reassess worker-classification risk.
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Member spotlight
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Stéphane Daniel
{d&a} partners · France · Corporate and digital assets
“In France we had about 120 players registered under the national regime. Under MiCA we think there will be only about 30. You can see how strict the regulation is.”
On how far an EU regime can thin a national market, a useful lens on a fortnight in which France drew both the SFR merger review and an NIS2 referral. Watch their GLE Q&A.
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Diogo Capela
Lamares Capela & Associados · Portugal · Immigration
“The policy discourse has shifted from an open-doors approach to one of regulated migration aligned with integration capacity and labour-market needs.”
On the direction of travel in Portuguese and wider European migration policy, on a GLE Q&A. Watch their GLE Q&A.
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Henrietta Virág Burus
Dr. Burus Henrietta Virág Law Office · Hungary · Contract and Corporate
“ESG is becoming a practical and governance question in Hungary, not just theory. The main challenge is the mindset of the boards and management. Education is the most important challenge we face.”
A board-level read on ESG in Central Europe, the region that also sits at the centre of this edition’s pay-transparency transposition gap. Watch their GLE Q&A.
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Manuela Purnarova
Purnarova Law Office · Bulgaria · Corporate
“Under Bulgarian law, transfer of shares in an LTD requires a written agreement with notarised signatures covering identity, capacity and the contents of the agreement, not just signature authentication as in many other jurisdictions.”
A reminder that local corporate formality still diverges sharply across CEE, even where the EU-level rules are common. Watch their GLE Q&A.
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Christos Voniatis
C. Voniatis & Co LLC · Cyprus · Insurance
“Climate-related risks are reshaping insurance law. Regulators now treat climate risk as a financial solvency issue, so insurers are pushed to integrate it into underwriting and reserving.”
A Southern Europe view on environmental risk moving from disclosure into hard prudential requirements. Watch their GLE Q&A.
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What we’re tracking next
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EU AI Act enforcement over general-purpose AI goes live on 2 August 2026, when the Commission’s AI Office gains supervision powers including information requests, model evaluations, corrective measures and fines up to EUR15m or 3 per cent of global turnover under Article 101. GPAI obligations have applied since 2 August 2025, and models placed on the market before that date have until 2 August 2027 to comply. |
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Sweden’s competition reforms take effect on 1 August 2026, with most provisions of the 5 May package, including the new competition tool and the public-sector sales rules, switching on together. |
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The EU Data Act’s next tranche applies on 12 September 2026, covering accessible-by-design data pathways for connected products and enhanced cloud interoperability, while member states designate divergent competent authorities and penalty regimes, with Germany’s BNetzA able to fine up to EUR5m or 4 per cent of global turnover and Malta up to 5 per cent of turnover. |
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Open calls for commentary
Every edition of this briefing reaches senior lawyers across the global legal community, together with the in-house counsel and business decision-makers who turn to Global Law Experts for verified intelligence on the developments shaping their markets. When you contribute, your reading of a development becomes the practitioner voice that audience reads, published under your name, your firm and your jurisdiction.
We are sourcing practitioner takes on three questions for the next edition.
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IRELAND, SPAIN, FRANCE OR THE NETHERLANDS – CYBERSECURITY: with the NIS2 referral now at the Court of Justice, what should an in-scope entity in your jurisdiction be doing before the national implementing law lands?
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EU-WIDE – DATA PROTECTION: after the 9 and 14 July judgments, how should a regulator, professional body or employer document the proportionality balance before publishing a name and a sanction?
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POLAND – CONSUMER & ESG: if the greenwashing bill passes in its current form, which common marketing claims would become unlawful first, and what does a defensible substantiation file look like?
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Reply to this email with your jurisdiction and your take. We attribute every contributor by name, firm and country.
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Contributors this fortnight
Stéphane Daniel, {d&a} partners, France
Diogo Capela, Lamares Capela & Associados, Portugal
Henrietta Virág Burus, Dr. Burus Henrietta Virág Law Office, Hungary
Manuela Purnarova, Purnarova Law Office, Bulgaria
Christos Voniatis, C. Voniatis & Co LLC, Cyprus
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