Madrid, October 26, 2018.- Whereas in Europe, or even among cabin crew in Spain, they opted to call for a strike, Spanish pilots opted to go through the court by initiating collective legal actions, which have been essential to expediting negotiations that ultimately resulted in the signed agreement. 

On Tuesday, the agreement, which marked a milestone in the company’s labour relations, prevented a trial through collective legal action, which was indicated for 30 October at the National Hearing. 

Until now, the employment-class pilots hired by RYANAIR in Spain were subject to Irish labour law and to the courts of that nationality. The airline recognises the application of Spanish law, for probation periods and maternity and paternity leave periods from the same signing and in general before 31 January, 2019. Consequently, the jurisdiction of the Spanish courts and also the right of the SEPLA Union Section to appoint seven union delegates and negotiate a statutory collective bargaining agreement with them within the fringe covenant modality is acknowledged from that date on. 

With respect to the pilots hired by RYANAIR through brokers or intermediary companies, the company agreed to offer employment contracts to crew members subject to this regime who are based in Spain, considering the requests that these pilots presented at the beginning of each year. In any case, SEPLA expressly reserves the right to exercise timely actions in favour of their employment contract.

Madrid, 11 April, 2019.– State Lotteries and Betting Sites will stop selling National Lottery tickets through their websites. This was declared in judgement 139/2019, made public on Tuesday by Commercial Court number 6 of Madrid, and which assesses the demand for the Juego Limpio Platform, which comprises 200 lotteries from all over Spain, represented by the Roca Junyent office. 

The Commercial Court found that the State Company of Lotteries and Gambling has abused the situation economic dependency of lottery administrations. In this regard, SELAE prohibits the administrations from selling products other than those of the SELAE itself; however, the State Company of Lotteries and Gambling, in contrast, has sold tickets over its website since 2015. 

José Carlos Escrig, Chairman of the Board of the Juego Limpio Platform, is pleased with “a ruling that, after years of litigation, condemns acts of unfair competition on the part of SELAE. Some activities have resulted in a decrease in the business of lottery. 

Meanwhile, Roberto Vallina, a partner in the EU Competition and Law Department at Roca Junyent, said that “this order highlights the situation of total economic dependence in which lottery administrations find themselves in relation to SELAE and how SELAE has abused that dependence. The court order, which benefits the entire industry and not just this association, is critical to restoring the rights of those affected.” 

However, the Juego Limpio Platform considers the judgement insufficient and has already decided to lodge an appeal. Lottery dealers believe that the banning of selling National Lottery tickets should include all establishments that are not traditional administrations. These are the so-called mixed establishments, which are mostly made up of kiosks, bars or state-run tobacco stores, and in general businesses whose main activity is not the sale of lottery tickets but which can be sold if the sales thereof account for less than 50% of their revenue.

Barcelona, February 25, 2019.- The Roca Junyent law office has participated for the second consecutive year in the 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the start up and entrepreneur competition, organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation and GSMA. Attorney Xavier Foz, partner at Roca Junyent, addressed the Blockchain and ICO 2.0 conference: What’s Up Doc in Regulation? organised by the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB). 

ICOs have received a lot of attention since 2017. However, Xavier Foz explained that “they reached their peak in the first half of 2018 and since then the volume of this type of offering has declined significantly.” This is due to the fact that many of the first ICO-funded projects have not prospered; regulators are tightening the noose on unregulated offerings, and the demand for minority investors has collapsed. 

Thus, if Foz explained last year how the ICO boom was attracting the attention of regulators in the most relevant domestic and international jurisdictions, this edition has brought a new concept to the table: ICO 2.0’s or security token offerings (STO) as an alternative to traditional ICOs. According to the co-author of the Blockchain book: The industrial Internet revolution is facing a paradigm shift marked by regulation. 

Broadly speaking, for many investors, STOs are safer as they comply with the rules and criteria issued by different regulators; so unlike ICOs, they provide investors with greater confidence when investing in these types of projects. As Foz explained during his lecture, several European jurisdictions like France or Malta are taking steps in this regard. 

Regarding its regulation, the Roca Junyent partner explained that in the European Union securities tokens are subject to MiFID II (a European regulation that aims to improve the market security levels of financial instruments within the Eurozone), the Prospectus Directive and, where applicable, the Alternative Fund Management Directive (AIFMD). In Spain, CNMV has issued several communications in this regard, the criteria of which are in line with those of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). 

The workshop, which was attended by more than a hundred people, concluded by talking about the future of this global phenomenon and self-regulation initiatives and proposals for the evolution of this figure to improve investor protection.