Europe – In a judgment delivered on 13 May 2026 (Case C-286/25), the Court of Justice of the European Union held that, where a Member State infringes EU law by unlawfully depriving individuals of property rights, the persons concerned must be granted full, effective, and adequate compensation. Consequently, a compensation scheme based solely on the value of the property at the time the rights were withdrawn does not satisfy that requirement, since it fails to take into account the loss of profit suffered by the rights holders, in particular the income they could have derived from the use or lease of the property concerned. The Court further held that EU law, in particular Article 63 TFEU and Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, precludes national legislation that makes it excessively difficult to obtain full compensation for damage caused by a sufficiently serious breach of EU law
HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’avocats In a judgment delivered on 13 May 2026 (Case C-286/25), the Court of Justice of the European Union held that, where a Member State infringes EU law by unlawfully depriving individuals of property rights, the...
Europe – In a judgment of 30 April 2026, (No. 3768/18 – Nikolaou and Others v. Cyprus), the European Court of Human Rights held that even where an expropriation has been lawfully carried out, a refusal to return the expropriated land which is not justified by the public interest may upset the fair balance between the demands of the general interest and the protection of individual property rights, and thus constitute a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights
HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’avocats In a judgment of 30 April 2026, (No. 3768/18 – Nikolaou and Others v. Cyprus), the European Court of Human Rights held that even where an expropriation has been lawfully carried out, a refusal to return...
Europe – The Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgment of 16 April 2026 (Case C-58/24 – NE and Others v Ireland), held that a Member State may impose a strict time limit for challenging an environmental derogation (regarding a protected species), provided that this time limit complies with the principles of equivalence and effectiveness, meaning that it must not render judicial review impossible or excessively difficult
HAVET & VANHUFFEL – Association d’avocats The Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgment of 16 April 2026 (Case C-58/24 – NE and Others v Ireland), held that a Member State may impose a strict time limit for challenging an environmental...