CYIL Vol. 4, 2013

WHEN THE SUIT DOESN’T SUIT THEM: JURISDICTIONAL IMMUNITIES OF STATES… WHEN THE SUIT DOESN’T SUIT THEM: JURISDICTIONAL IMMUNITIES OF STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF EU LAW Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent the concept of jurisdictional immunity of States is acknowledged in the context of European Union law and in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU. The article first looks at the concept of jurisdictional immunity and its recent developments under international law, and then it deals with the structural relationship between international law and EU law (i.e. to what extent is the EU obliged to respect the principles of international law). Finally, it analyses specific Court of Justice cases where the jurisdictional immunity of States was raised and evaluates whether there are any actual or potential conflicts between the international law and EU law approaches to jurisdictional immunity. Resumé: Cílem tohoto článku je prozkoumat, do jaké míry je koncept juris- dikčních imunit států uznáván v rámci práva Evropské unie a v judikatuře Soud- ního dvora EU. Článek se nejprve zabývá konceptem jurisdikčních imunit a jeho nedávným vývojem v mezinárodním právu a poté se věnuje strukturálnímu vztahu mezi mezinárodním a unijním právem (tj. do jaké míry je EU vázána dodržovat principy mezinárodního práva). Nakonec jsou analyzovány jednotlivé případy před Soudním dvorem, v nichž byly jurisdikční imunity států namítány, a je hodnoceno, zda dochází ke skutečným nebo potenciálním konfliktům mezi přístupem meziná- rodního práva a práva EU k jurisdikčním imunitám států. Key words: Jurisdictional immunity of States, European Union, Court of Justice of the European Union, international law, customary law, International Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights, relative (restrictive) immunity, EU legal order, principle of primacy, right to an effective judicial remedy. On the Author: Emil Ruffer was born in Prague in 1974. He graduated from the Charles University Faculty of Law in 2001. He also read English and American Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. From 1996 to 1997 he studied European Law and Politics at Cardiff Law School under the Tempus (PHARE) programme; for the academic year 2000-2001 he received a Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship for studies of European and International Public Law at Humboldt University in Berlin. He has been working in the EU Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since 2003 and became its 1 The author is the Director of the EU Law Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (MFA). However, the opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily correspond with the official position of the MFA and do not bind this institution in any way. Emil Ruffer 1