Geert Van Calster
gavclaw.bsky.social
Geert Van Calster
@gavclaw.bsky.social

Geert is a practising lawyer and full professor at KU Leuven, and a visiting prof i.a. at Monash University, Melbourne. Mostly law. Just law. Blogs at www.gavclaw.com

Geert Van Calster is a Belgian lawyer and legal scholar, focusing on conflict of laws, international trade law, EU and international environmental law, EU economic law, and investment and commercial arbitration. He is full professor of Law at KU Leuven, was the head of its department of European and International Law for 11 years between 2009 and 2020, and is a senior fellow at KU Leuven's Centre for Global Governance Studies. He is a former director of the Centre for Advanced Legal Studies at KU Leuven and former program director for the Master of Energy and Environmental Law (2002-2012). He is also a visiting professor at Monash University (Melbourne), at King's College London, and a senior fellow at Melbourne University School of Law. He is adjunct professor at American University, a former visiting lecturer at the University of Oxford and a former visiting professor at the China-EU School of Law in Beijing and Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Between 1994 and 2015, he was affiliated as of counsel (practising) with international law firms, respectively SJ Berwin; Andersen Legal; Dibb, Lupton, Alsop; and DLA Piper. He now runs his own, independent legal practice. He was called to the bar in 1999. He hosts a blog posting mostly on international dispute resolution at www.gavclaw.com. .. more

Political science 30%
Law 23%

Your trade, investment, public, private International law exam question right here.

Blogged.

The CJEU does not follow its AG in 'Apple App store'. Stretches the statutory provisions of Brussels Ia to support collective action under the Dutch WAMCA.

gavclaw.com/2025/12/03/t...
The CJEU does not follow its AG in ‘Apple App store’. Stretches the statutory provisions of Brussels Ia to support collective action under the Dutch WAMCA.
If you do use the blog for research or database purposes, citation would be appreciated, to the blog as a whole and /or to specific blog posts. Many have suggested I should turn the blog into a pai…
gavclaw.com

CJEU Judgment in Apple i-store
Representative action
Diverges from AG (see gavclaw.com/2025/05/01/s...)

Holds Dutch WAMCA collective action can be concentrated ex post despite Dutch CPR not foreseeing this ex ante.
More later
Judgment so far FR and NL only curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...
Sánchez-Bordona AG in the ‘Apple App store’ case. Sticks to de lege lata justifiable insistence on territorial jurisdiction being linked to the original claim. (Despite the clear disadvantage for coll...
If you do use the blog for research or database purposes, citation would be appreciated, to the blog as a whole and /or to specific blog posts. Many have suggested I should turn the blog into a pai…
gavclaw.com

Reposted by Geert Van Calster

EU trade/immigration law

EU Member States and European Parliament agree on amendments to EU trade preferences for developing countries - including withdrawal of preferences in the event of insufficient readmission of migrants (in the EU's opinion)
www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...
Trade: Council and Parliament strike a deal to reinforce rules on trade preferences to developing countries
Council and Parliament reached a provisional deal on the revised GSP regulation, linking trade preferences for developing countries to stronger commitments on human rights, environment and migration c...
www.consilium.europa.eu
📣 NEWS! Last week a key paper defending #glyphosate, ghostwritten by #Monsanto (now #Bayer), is retracted after undermining safety decisions for 25 years!

👉 This should lead to the EU to reconsider glyphosate's permit on the EU market.

😡 But EC and Big Polluters team up to weaken safety rules

Domestic illegality (Ralli Bros principle)
Confirmation of the approach in Litasco v Banque El Amana (see gavclaw.com/2025/05/25/l...)

Beneathco DMCC v R.J. O'Brien Ltd [2025] EWHC 3079 (Comm) bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Litasco v Banque El Amana. Open questions on the lex causae to determine a change in governing law (Article 3 Rome I), and for lois de police a full assimilation of Article 9 Rome I with Ralli Bros.
In Litasco SA v Banque El Amana SA [2025] EWHC 312 (Comm) Hutton DJ engaged (on an application for summary judgment) ia with an issue that one does not see all too often in litigation: a change in …
gavclaw.com

Uitstekend overzicht.
Naar aanleiding van de beschuldigingen van grensoverschrijdend gedrag aan het adres van een gynaecoloog kreeg ik de vraag of justitie de meldingen in beslag mag nemen. Een kort antwoord op die vraag in het artikel van De Morgen, een uitgebreid antwoord hieronder 👇
‘Die artsen kunnen nu niet verbaasd zijn over de nieuwsberichten. Dit was geweten’: al twee klachten bij politie over gynaecoloog uit Tienen
Het parket van Leuven is een gerechtelijk onderzoek gestart naar G.D., de gynaecoloog uit Tienen die in opspraak kwam wegens grensoverschrijdend gedrag. Minstens twee patiënten hebben intussen klacht ...
www.demorgen.be

Reposted by Geert Van Calster

Reposted by Geert Van Calster

Naar aanleiding van de beschuldigingen van grensoverschrijdend gedrag aan het adres van een gynaecoloog kreeg ik de vraag of justitie de meldingen in beslag mag nemen. Een kort antwoord op die vraag in het artikel van De Morgen, een uitgebreid antwoord hieronder 👇
‘Die artsen kunnen nu niet verbaasd zijn over de nieuwsberichten. Dit was geweten’: al twee klachten bij politie over gynaecoloog uit Tienen
Het parket van Leuven is een gerechtelijk onderzoek gestart naar G.D., de gynaecoloog uit Tienen die in opspraak kwam wegens grensoverschrijdend gedrag. Minstens twee patiënten hebben intussen klacht ...
www.demorgen.be

Earlier successful s69 Arbitration Act point of law appeal to LMAA arbitration award, itself reversed on appeal
Discusses ia res inter alios acta principle in the context of damages

Skyros Maritime Corp v Hapag-Lloyd (Re 'SKYROS' & 'AGIOS MINAS') [2025] EWCA Civ 1529 www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
Access denied
www.bailii.org

Investment law, Russia sanctions
National Security & Investment Act 2021 NSIA
Requirement of compensation viz forced sale re security interest (Russia sanctions)
A1P1 rights
Absence of Strasbourg authority

L1T FM Holdings v [HMG] [2025] EWCA Civ 1528
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
Access denied
www.bailii.org

Reposted by Steve Peers

Migration, 'Brexit' law
A24, 25 Withdrawal Agreement
'Zambrano', other derivative rights
Baker LJ ia emphasising [82] core beneficiary of derived residence rights: person benefitting from free movement in the first place
Ayoola v [HMG] [2025] EWCA Civ 1519 www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
Ayoola v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1519 (28 November 2025)
www.bailii.org

I still don’t get why this was never a bigger hit here in Australia.
open.spotify.com/track/6ILOO5...
Moustache
open.spotify.com

Heirs, standing, conflict of laws and jurisdiction challenges
Court of Appeal confirms PISS v Al Jaraan
The Public Institution for Social Security v Al Rajaan & Ors [2025] EWCA Civ 1505
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...

For background see gavclaw.com/2024/11/19/d...
Access denied
www.bailii.org

Interesting appeal (allowed)
A8 ECHR (right to family life), extended 'family' (siblings and niece/nephews) for migration purposes
Confirms tribunal's trias politica view: their task is to apply, not to create policy

IA & Ors v [HMG] [2025] EWCA Civ 1516 bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
IA & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1516 (26 November 2025)
www.bailii.org