Assignment:
Read the fictitious scenario below and answer the questions below in order to provide a legal analysis of the situation. Your answers should be based on legal arguments. Please bear in mind that the assignment does not require research on the facts included in the fictitious scenario:
The Portuguese company Designer Custom Lanyards (DCL) imports a wide selection of beaded and woven face-mask lanyards (straps to retain face masks) from Russia, where they are produced. DCL sells these lanyard together with color-matching medical-grade face masks to a Latvian supermarket chain Ebia , which offers it on its shelves. While the masks and the lanyards are sold together, the instructions on the transparent packaging of the masks is in Portuguese and in Russian for the lanyards. The Riga Police issues an order for Ebia to stop selling the masks and lanyards and a fine of 2 000 EUR. Several violations are listed the lanyards produced in Russia would need to be subject to a safety check by Latvian authorities before being sold in Latvia, the masks count as personal protective equipment (PPE) and can only be sold in pharmacies, the instructions in a foreign language leave Latvian consumers without knowledge as to the medical properties of the product, the lack of Latvian instructions makes the tax classification of the offered products unclear, the Russian instructions might provide an undue benefit to the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia. The notice served to Ebia by the police indicates that further reasons can be provided upon request.
One of the co-owners of Ebia asks you for legal advice. She argues that the Latvian authorities are infringing EU law by not allowing Ebia to sell the masks and lanyards Your legal advice should include:
– all the legal provisions that support Ebias claim (primary law, secondary law and case law where appropriate),
the possible defences the Latvian authorities may raise, and
counter-arguments for why these defences should not hold.
Mention any relevant case law.
Questions:
– Which market freedoms could be invoked? (3 points) max.300
– Is there an interference with those freedoms? Is the measure adopted by Latvian authorities justified? Which legitimate aims can it pursue and is the adopted measure necessary and proportionate? (6 points) max. 600 words
– Does Ebia have access to the Court of Justice of the EU in this dispute? Outline the potential procedural paths (1 point) max. 150 words
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I have uploaded the assignment on word, as well as all the required readings. Lastly you’ll find a homework answer key so you’ll know what kind of style it should be in! Thank you!
