Equinet High-Level Legal Seminar, 28 March 2011

Legal Developments and Concepts in the Field of Equality and Non-Discrimination in Europe

The Equinet annual legal seminar provided an opportunity for lawyers working for national equality bodies to meet and exchange their expertise with other legal experts and practitioners in the field of non-discrimination law.

Aimed at legal experts and practitioners involved in anti-discrimination law, the seminar took place on 28 March 2011 in Brussels. This high-level event welcomed delegates from National Equality Bodies, European Institutions, National and European NGOs, Legal Research Organizations, Social Partners and Legal Experts and Practitioners in the field of non-discrimination and equal treatment law.

The legal seminar achieved the following main objectives:

• The presentation of the scope of EU anti-discrimination legislation;

• A disussion of possible and potential interpretations of the existing laws;  

• The presentation of recent developments in the ECJ’s judiciary with regard to equal treatment; and

• A debate on how national equality bodies can make use of their powers in relation to litigation before national and European courts. 

The seminar was divided into three sessions:

Session 1 – The appropriateness of using insurance risks linked to discrimination grounds in the calculation of insurance premiums

Session 2 – Defining the boundaries of the EU anti-discrimination legislation

Session 3 – New tools of studying the non-discrimination landscape and the recent developments

Speakers included representatives from the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the Belgian Consumer Agency (Test-Achats), the European insurance sector and National Equality Bodies.

Programme

 To view the final agenda of the seminar, please click here

Seminar presentations

The several of the presentations of the speakers can be found below

Session I

Kristina Koldinska -  Is sex an Appropriate Determining Factor in the Calculation of Insurance Premiums

Jean-Paul Coteur -  The use of Insurance risks linked to sex and other discrimination grounds in the calculation of insurance premiums  - an NGO perspective

William Vidonja - The use of Insurance risks linked to sex and other discrimination grounds in the calculation of insurance premiums - an insurers' perspective

Session II

Dr Frank Alleweldt - Study on the use of age, disability, sex, religion or belief, racial or ethnic origin and sexual orientation in financial services, in particular the insurance and banking sectors

Peter Reading - The protection of volunteers under the Employment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC

Session III

Barbara Liegl - Data collection on discrimination complaints. Developing an Equinet data collection template on complaints to quasi-judicial equality bodies

Delegate Pack

The following information was provided to participants:

• Speakers Biographies

• European Council Directives (2000/43/EC, 2000/78/EC, 2004/113/EC)

• The proposed horizontal directive

• "Test-Achats" Judgement (Case C-236/09)

• "Test-Achats" Advocate General's Opinion 

• Court Ruling - UK Volunteer Case Study

• Evaluation Form

Other information regarding the Seminar:

• “Study on the use of age, disability, sex, religion or belief, racial or ethnic origin and sexual orientation in financial services, in particular in the insurance and banking sectors", a study commissioned by the European Commission and carried out by Civic Consulting

• Overview of the Test Achats case (C-236/09)

• The European Fundamental Rights and European Court of Human Rights Handbook on European Non-Discrimination Law

Publications

Click here if there are any Equinet publications that you would like to order in hard copy

Evaluation

 Equinet would kindly ask any participants who attended the seminar and did not complete an evaluation form to fill in our online evaluation form here. We value all your feedback and hope to use it to continute to improve the experience of Equinet events for participants.

Expenses Reimbursement for Members and Speakers

Equinet will reimburse the costs incurred by speakers and participants coming from member organisations. To claim your expenses, please download the Reimbursement Form and send it, filled in and signed, to Equinet. Please note that any expense that is not backed by original evidence (tickets, receipts, both boarding passes for flights...) will not be reimbursed.

Given the constraints on its funding, Equinet generally reimburses Members' expenses once it has received the final installment of the Grant for the year the activity took place, from the European Commission. This generally happens in April or May of the next year. Should you require an early reimbursement, please contact the Finance and Administration Officer directly (yannick.godin@equineteurope.org)