Alan has a range of experience that qualifies him perhaps uniquely as a specialist practitioner in the law of the European Union. His 40-year career in EU law spans most forms of legal practice – as an advocate, scholar, teacher, author, editor and a senior EU civil servant. His familiarity with the European Court of Justice goes back to the time when he was Legal Secretary to Advocate General J-P Warner (1978 to 1980). He has appeared regularly before the European Courts over a period of more than 20 years, litigating in French as well as in English, initially as agent for the Council in its disputes with other EU institutions and with Member States, and since his return from Brussels to the Chair of European Law at Cambridge, as a barrister. He is able to advise on the interpretation of EU legislation from the perspective of one who has been directly involved in the law-making process of the Union. He is a co-author of a leading textbook, Wyatt and Dashwood’s European Union Law, the sixth edition of which was published in the summer of 2011. He was the founding editor of European Law Review (1975 to 1990) and an editor of Common Market Law Review (1994 to 2008), the two leading journals on EU law in the English language; and he also founded the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies. He advised on aspects of the negotiations leading to the EU Constitutional Treaty and the Treaty of Lisbon, and led the Foreign and Commonwealth Office team preparing a model Constitutional Treaty, which was presented (in the authors’ names) to the Convention on the Future of Europe.
European Law and Competition
Alan specialises in the Law of the European Union and those areas of UK Law that EU Law influences, more particularly:
- all aspects of EU internal market regulation, including unfair commercial practices and the Services Directive;
- public procurement;
- product liability;
- employment law, including age and sex discrimination and the Working Time Directive;
- veterinary and plant health legislation;
- competition law, including State aid;
- the interface between EU law and intellectual property law, including in the WTO context;
- the interface between EU law and the law relating to foreign direct investment;
- all aspects of the law of EU external action, including: anti-dumping; trade policy; the protection of the environment; development cooperation; foreign and security policy;
- EU anti-terrorism measures;
- the European Arrest Warrant and other EU measures in the area of freedom, security and justice;
- the Brussels I Regulation and the New Lugano Agreement
- the law of the European Economic Area.
During the past two years, Alan has advised private clients, Government Departments and Regional and Local Authorities on the following matters, among others: public procurement, including in the specialised field of defence procurement; State aid; European aspects of telecoms law; the interaction between EU law and bilateral investment treaties; Directive 2006/114 on misleading advertising; the freezing of the assets of persons suspected of involvement in international terrorism; the interpretation of the Treaty of Lisbon.
Representative Cases
Product liability:
Alan was instructed in both the SABRIL litigation and the SEROXAT litigation.
Employment Law:
- Case C-427/06, Bartsch [2008] ECR I-7245, on the compatibility with Directive 2000/78 of an age-gap clause in an occupational pension scheme.
- Case C- 411/05, Palacios de la Villa [2007] ECR I-8531 on the compatibility with the same Directive of compulsory retirement clauses in collective agreements.
- Joined Cases C-397 to 403/01, Pfeiffer, on the 48-hour weekly limit under the Working Time Directive.
Intellectual property issues:
- Opinion 1/09 of 8 March 2011, not yet reported, on the compatibility with EU law of the draft Agreement creating a Unified Patent Litigation System.
- Case C-431/05, Merck Genericos [2007] ECR I-7001, on the application of the TRIPS Agreement within the EU.
Trade and the environment:
- Case C-411/06, Commission v Parliament and Council [2009] ECR I-7585, on EU legislation governing shipments of waste.
- Case C-178/03, Commission v Council [2006] ECR I-107, on EU legislation concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals.
The EU and the WTO:
- Opinion 1/08 [2009] ECR I-11129, on the amendment of the GATS Schedules of the EU and its Member States.
- Case C-13/07, Commission v Council (withdrawn, following the entry onto force of the Lisbon Treaty; see the Opinion of Advocate General Kokott of 26 March 2009), on the accession of Vietnam to the WTO.
Anti-terrorism measures:
- Cases C-402 and 415/05P, Kadi [2008] ECR I-6321, on the relationship between EU Law and international law, in the context of a Resolution of the UN Security Council calling for the assets of named individuals to be frozen.
The European Arrest Warrant:
- Case C-303/05,l Advokaten voor de Wereld [2007] ECR I-3633, on the validity of the EU legislation.
The Brussels I Regulation and the Lugano Agreement:
- Opinion 1/03 [2006] ECR I-1145, on competence to conclude the new version of the Lugano Agreement extending to the EFTA countries the principles of the Brussels I Regulation on jurisdiction and the enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Cases.
Call: 1969 Silk: 2010
Education & Scholarships
- Read Classics at Rhodes University, South Africa (1959-1962).
- Read Jurisprudence at Oriel College, Oxford (1963-1966).
Appointments
- Professor of European Law and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (1995-2008), now Emeritus
- Formerly, Director in the Legal Service of the Council of the European Union (1987-1994).
- Bencher of the Inner Temple
- Appointed CBE 2004
Memberships
Publications
Books:
- Wyatt & Dashwood’s European Union Law (co-authored), 6th ed. (Hart Publishing, 2011).
- The General Law of EC External Relations (ed. with C. Hillion, and three chapters) (Sweet & Maxwell, 2000).
- The Future of the Judicial System of the European Union (ed. with A. Johnston and main contributor) (Hart, 2001).
- The Law and Practice of EU External Relations – Salient Features of a Changing Landscape (ed. with M. Maresceau and contributor) (CUP, 2008).
Articles and contributions to books:
- "Decision-making at the Summit", 3 CYELS (2000), pp. 79-105.
- "The Constitution of the European Union after Nice: Law-making Procedures", (2001) 26 ELRev, pp.215-238.
- Opinion 2/00, Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, 39 CMLRev. (2002), pp. 353-36.
- “Issues of Decision-Making in the European Union after Nice” in Arnull and Wincott (eds), Accountability and Legitimacy in the European Union (OUP 2003), pp. 13-40.
- “The relationship between the Member States and the EU/EC”, 41 CMLRev. (2004), pp. 355-381.
- “From Van Duyn to Mangold via Marshall: Reducing Direct Effect to Absurdity?” 9 CYELS (2006-2007), pp. 81-109.
- “The Law and Practice of CFSP Joint Actions”, in Cremona and De Witte (eds), EU Foreign Relations Law: Constitutional Fundamentals, (Hart, 2009), pp. 53-77).
- “Article 47 and the Relationship between First and Second Pillar Competences” in Dashwood and Maresceau, (eds.), Law and Practice of EU External Relations (CUP 2008), pp. 70-103.
- “The Institutional Framework and the Institutional Balance”, in Dougan and Currie (eds.), 50 Years of the European Treaties: Looking Back and Thinking Forward (Hart, 2009), pp. 1-17.
- “Mixed Agreements in the Era of the Lisbon Treaty” in Hillion and Koutrakos (eds.). Mixed Agreements Re-visited: the EU and its Member States in the World. (Hart, 2010).
