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02 October 2015 / Charles Pigott
Issue: 7670 / Categories: Features , Employment
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​Widening the net

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An ECJ ruling has extended the scope of indirect discrimination across the EU. Charles Pigott reports

At first sight the scenario in CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia C-83/14, [2015] All ER (D) 302 (Jul) may seem remote to those with an interest in UK discrimination law. It concerns a claim brought by a Bulgarian shopkeeper to challenge the arrangements for the supply of electricity in the Gizdova Mahala district of the Bulgarian town of Dupnitsa, where her business was located. That district has a particular high concentration of people of Roma origin, and for many years it had been the practice of the electricity supply company to locate meters on concrete pylons at a height of over six metres, rather than following its normal practice of fixing them at head height. The interest of this case for UK readers lies in the fact the complainant Ms Nikolova was not herself of Roma origin, though she was affected by the practice because she operated her business in the district and did

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