This book presents various perspectives on the environmental aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). Among the issues discussed are the environmental regulations of the NAFTA nations and Chile, as well as the environmental implications of conducting cross-border business. These topics are addressed in an interdisciplinary manner, focusing on legal, economic, social, political and scientific issues, with contributions from American, Canadian, Mexican and Chilean authors. The book is invaluable as it provides a broad outlook on multifaceted environmental issues in a single volume.

This book is the third volume in our NAFTA Law and Policy series, which offers high-quality studies on different aspects of NAFTA, including legal analysis and commentary on the Agreement. The numerous areas covered by the series include NAFTA topics as diverse as agriculture, dispute settlement, intellectual property rights, investment and labour.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world s leading scholars.Providing a concise overview of the basic doctrines underlying the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), Clayton Gillette explores their ambiguities and thus considers the extent to which uniform international commercial law is possible, as well as appraising the extent to which the doctrines in the UN Convention reflect those that commercial parties would prefer. With its compelling combination of doctrine and theory, this book makes an ideal companion for students and legal scholars alike. Key features include: Concise and compact overview of the CISG Includes contemporary developments Provides a theoretical basis for evaluating international sales law Considers perspectives of economic analysis of law.

This volume containsthe reports and discussions presented at the conference "The Future of Secured Credit in Europe" in Munich from July 12th to July 14th, 2007. It aims at taking the debate to a new stage by exploring the need and possible avenues for creating a European law of security interests. The first part examines - from an economic and a community law perspective - the case for European lawmaking on secured credit and the legislative approach to be taken. The intention in the second and third part is to look in more detail at the choices European lawmakers will have to make in devising a European law of secured credit. The second part focuses on secured transactions involving corporeal movables (tangibles), whereas the third part considers categories of collateral that may require special rules.

There is unrelenting pressure, particularly on taxation authorities in developing and transition countries, to design tax incentives to attract foreign investment. Although experience shows that justification for the use of such incentives can be found only in limited circumstances, policy makers everywhere continue to confer tax benefits on investors in the hopes of achieving various economic objectives. In this widely-researched volume, a leading consultant and academic in the field of international taxation surveys the major forms of FDI tax incentives in theory and in practice. Although it is not intended as a design guide for national taxation authorities, the books scope and depth make it an indispensable source of comparative analysis, showing where efficiency and cost-effectiveness are most likely to lie in a wide range of economic situations. It is particularly valuable in its discussion of the following issues: Avoiding the race to the bottom that comes from excessive tax competition;The elusive distinction in many countries between standard and special tax rates;The perceived benefits of FDI for the various stakeholders;Locational determinants;Risk factors;Distortionary effects;Sectoral competition; andAdministrative monitoring of compliance. Professor Easson draws on numerous actual patterns that arise in various national, supranational, and sectoral contexts, in each instance shedding light on real conflicts and constraints, and clarifying the choices required of investors, taxation authorities, and target enterprises. Tax Incentives for Direct Investment will clearly be of great use to government policymakers, students of international taxation and international business, and those who determine and advise on the policies of multinational corporations and other international investors.

Judicial Interpretation of Tax Treaties is a detailed, comprehensive analytical guide to the interpretation of tax treaties at the national level. The book focuses on how domestic courts interpret and apply the OECD Commentary to the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital. Adopting a global perspective, the book gives a systematic presentation of the main interpretive proposals put forward by the OECD Commentary, and analyses selected cases decided in domestic tax systems in order to assess whether and how such solutions are adopted through national judicial process, and indeed which of these are of most practical value. The book operates on two levels: Firstly it sets out a clear and comprehensive framework of tax treaty law, which will be an important tool for any tax practitioner. Secondly, the book provides crucial guidance on issues of tax treaty law as applied at domestic level, such as investment or business income, dispute resolution and administrative cooperation. Key features: - A detailed and structured introduction to the main issues of tax treaties - Ideal for practitioners requiring a grounding in the functioning of tax treaty law - Concise summaries of the relevant issues, cases, and problems for each discrete chapter - Offers a basic 'globalized' handbook that is missing in the current literature about judicial application of tax treaties. This comprehensive treatment of tax treaty law is a ready reference for tax practitioners, and an essential introduction for non-specialists. The book can also be used as a companion to courses in international taxation.

"Foreign Exchange Control in China" lays out comprehensively the compliance requirements, procedures and documentation for the conduct of foreign exchange transactions in China. Written in an easy-to-read format, the book is designed to help readers understand and handle the various complicated aspects and requirements of foreign exchange control in China. Compliance requirements for the current and capital accounts, foreign exchange settlements, use and administration of foreign exchange accounts, foreign debts and guarantees, import, export, service trade, bonded zones and qualified foreign institutional investors are closely examined with a list of the procedures to follow and applicable documentation provided. Contents are specially included to assist foreign investors deal with foreign exchange requirements whilst operating in China, including those for capital movements and remittance of profits and dividends out of China. "Foreign Exchange Control in China" is an indispensable guide to foreign investors and multinational companies as well as to lawyers, financial, accounting and tax professionals. This title forms part of the "Asia Business Law Series". "The Asia Business Law Series" is published in cooperation with CCH Asia and provides updated and reliable practical guidelines, legislation and case law, in order to help practitioners, policy makers and scholars understand how business is conducted in the rapidly growing Asian market.

On the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, this book presents the first monographic study of the Hong Kong Basic Law as an economic document. The Basic Law codifies what Gonzalo Villalta Puig and Eric C Ip call free market constitutionalism, the logic of Hong Kong's economic liberty as the freest market economy in the world. This book, which is the outcome of several years of study with the financial support of the General Research Fund of Hong Kong's Research Grants Council, evaluates the public choice rationale of the Basic Law and its projection on the Hong Kong economy, with a focus on the policy development of economic liberty both internally and externally. In the academic tradition of James M Buchanan's constitutional political economy, the book opens with a conceptualisation of free market constitutionalism in Hong Kong. It studies the origins of this concept in the 19th-century classically liberal common law and how it developed into a Hayekian laissez-faire convention under British colonial rule, was codified into the Basic Law and is interpreted and applied by the branches of the Government of the Region. The book closes with remarks on the future of Hong Kong's free market constitutionalism in face of recent challenges as the year 2047 approaches and the 50 years of 'unchanged' capitalist system under the Basic Law come to an end. This book will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners of law, economics, political science and public administration. It will especially appeal to those with an interest in Hong Kong law, international economic law or comparative constitutional law.

This book analyzes China's new foreign investment law which came into force in January 2020. The new law implemented sweeping changes and overhauled China's foreign investment law regime of the last four decades. The foreign investment law aims to make the business environment more investor-friendly and address some of the contentious issues between US and China in the ongoing trade war. The book explains how the law enhances regulatory transparency. It also outlines the new approval process, that is the pre-establishment negative list system which has replaced the former approval system for foreign investment projects. The book also analyzes China's series of anti-sanction laws. This book will help give readers a better understanding of major changes and benefits under the new law and will be the first of its kind looking at the implications of this important law.

There are investment aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which considerably enhance the opportunities for foreign investment among the signatories, while at the same time improving the security of such investment. NAFTA reflects the Parties' recognition that liberalization of host country investment restrictions is as important as the elimination of trade barriers. With the assistance of such high-calibre contributors as Roberto Mayorga, Kent S. Foster, Preston Brown and Dr. Jorge Witker, this book analyzes both the advantages and disadvantages of this policy upon the investment climate within the countries of the various signatories. This book is the second volume in Kluwer's "NAFTA Law and Policy Series", publishing studies on different aspects of NAFTA, including legal analysis and commentary on the Agreement. Among the numerous areas that are to be covered in the series are topics as diverse as agriculture, dispute settlement, environment, intellectual property rights, investment and labour.

Most national taxation regimes afford certain privileges to non-governmental non-profit organizations of public benefit. However, cross-border extension of such privileges has failed to materialize in any significant way, despite various efforts and the existence of model treaty provisions and even draft NGO multilateral tax treaties. Although experts tend to oppose harmonization on the grounds that international privilege would sink to the lowest national level there does seem to be general agreement that tax incentives to encourage the cross-border activity of public benefit organizations should be clarified and augmented. The expert authors whose work is assembled in this book offer rich perspectives on this issue. Their various analyses include the following: detailed discussion of the objections of principle commonly advanced by states; the role of discrimination legislation in strategies to advance cross-border privilege; the continuing failure of political will to achieve changes in this area of taxation; the potential of reciprocal unilateral action; tax treaties and non-tax treaties with tax-related provisions; multilateral initiatives (OECD, UN, EU, Council of Europe, World Bank, regional treaties); and Documentation (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation). Quite apart from its importance as an in-depth study of a taxation issue of significant social value, The Tax Treatment of NGOs will be of great assistance to NGOs and their supporters and benefactors. It opens the way to more vigorous lobbying power for the NGO community to influence changes in taxation law and policy.

When the Statute for a European Company enters into force in October 2004, companies will have the opportunity to form an EU-wide organisation that will, in many essential areas of activity, be vested with the authority to transcend the company law of Member States. As this moment approaches, company executives and lawyers are asking many questions about the potential advantages and disadvantages of choosing to become part of this "Societas Europeae (SE) that has been on the Community agenda almost from the start. This book has more answers clear when they can be categorically expressed, highly illuminating when dealing with the complex issues that still remain than any other book designed to elucidate this major new development in European law. The Statute will afford companies a far greater degree of flexibility and mobility throughout Member States than they have heretofore enjoyed. The authors of this book detail the various forms of incorporation allowed by the Statute, as well as the regulations governing share capital, transfer of registered offices, and company organs and their members. The in-depth analysis of the SE regime goes on to examine the areas in which Member State procedures will remain predominant, such as registration, publication, legal scrutiny, accounting and auditing, winding up, insolvency, and liquidation. The vexed issue of employee involvement is explored in a separate chapter. The book devotes six of its thirteen chapters to the most obvious business element on which the SE is silent the crucial issue of taxation. Extrapolating from a detailed examination of the European tax directives and related conventions and proposals, the authors convincinglydemonstrate that the European Company Statute will necessarily expedite the harmonisation of tax laws among the Member States. In their conclusion, they present a framework for a corporate tax system that they believe is compatible with both the European company and national tax laws. The European Company Statute will be of immeasurable value to business persons, lawyers, and academics in a number of relevant fields everywhere, as it deals incisively with important matters affecting any company activity in Europe, whatever its origin. It will prove an incomparable guide to informed and rational decision making concerning European business.

Many financial institutions have in recent years failed failed either completely, and gone into bankruptcy, or failed in the sense that they have not achieved what their owners or their customers expected them to deliver. This has had significant and adverse effects on customers, taxpayers, shareholders, and sometimes management. There has been much discussion of what should be done about this, and some action has been taken. But has it been the right kind of action?

Crises of the sort being experienced are low probability but high impact events. This volume, from an international group of scholars, deals with two main issues: firstly, how can the governance of the financial sector by the authorities be improved and secondly, how can the governance of firms and institutions within the sector be improved to render the probability and cost of future crises lower?

Poor governance has been one of the major contributors to the global financial crisis. With better governance of and in the financial sector the financial crisis might well have been avoided altogether and certainly could have been much milder in its impact. This is not simply a case of being wise after the event. These problems were widely discussed before the event, but little action was taken. This book explores not only what the contribution of poor governance was to the crisis and to its depth, but also why it is often difficult to improve governance. The volume offers a positive critique of the measures that are being put in place in the light of the experience of the crisis and suggests how they might plausibly be improved.

This book will be of particular interest to students and researchers of economics and international finance, but will also prove profitable reading for practitioners and the interested public.

This collection critically explores the use of financial technology (FinTech) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector and discusses effective regulation and the prevention of crime. Focusing on crypto-assets, InsureTech and the digitisation of financial dispute resolution, the book examines the strategic and ethical aspects of incorporating AI into the financial sector. The volume adopts a comparative legal approach to: critically evaluate the strategic and ethical benefits and challenges of AI in the financial sector; critically analyse the role, values and challenges of FinTech in society; make recommendations on protecting vulnerable customers without restricting financial innovation; and to make recommendations on effective regulation and prevention of crime in these areas. The book will be of interest to teachers and students of banking and financial regulation related modules, researchers in computer science, corporate governance, and business and economics. It will also be a valuable resource for policy makers including government departments, law enforcement agencies, financial regulatory agencies, people employed within the financial services sector, and professional services such as law, and technology.

With the collapse of Barings, the expulsion of Dalwa Bank from the US, and the bankruptcy of Orange County California, derivatives are increasingly intruding into the public consciousness. Key issues are whether derivatives are sufficiently understood and how they can be effectively regulated. These are increasingly acute because, as recent statistics show, derivatives, with a turnover of more than $2 trillion a day, constitute the world's biggest business activity. For lawyers, regulators and compliance officers operating in the international market, it is increasingly important to have a firm grasp of where derivatives fit in the financial services spectrum and how they are regulated in major market centres. This book provides critical information on these issues. It draws on a broad spectrum of legal regulatory, tax, and clearing and exchange trading expertise from both sides of the Atlantic. Consequently, it provides a resource for the views of leading experts from a variety of disciplines. It includes chapters by the market counsel of one of the world's leading exchanges, a managing director of one of the world's most important clearing houses, and the former chief derivatives regulator of the US, in addition to legal analysis and explication of a number of important derivatives issues by UK and US legal experts. Along with Swan's previous volume, "Derivative Instruments", it should help newcomers learn about derivative instruments and help experienced practitioners expand their understanding of the key issues involved.

This collection of essays provides a rich and contemporary discussion of the principle of pacta sunt servanda. This principle, which requires that valid agreements are to be honoured, is a cornerstone of contract law. Focusing on contributions from Asia, this book shows that, despite its natural and universal appeal, the pacta sunt servanda principle is neither absolute nor immutable. Exceptions to the binding force of contract must be available in limited circumstances to avoid hardship and unfairness. This book offers readers new comparative perspectives on the appropriate balance between contractual certainty and flexibility in an era of social instability. Expert authors, mostly from East and Southeast Asia, explore when their domestic legal systems allow exceptions from the binding force of contracts. Doctrines discussed include impossibility, frustration, change of circumstance, force majeure, illegality as well as rights of withdrawal. Other chapters consider the importance of the pacta principle in international law. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic feature strongly in the majority of contributions.

Trade Law The intersection of insurance regulation and trade agreements is of obvious significance to international competitiveness and, thereby, to national welfare. Yet until this masterful study the subject has remained virtually unexplored. Insurance Regulation in North America, far from merely addressing this important area of theory and practice, superbly balances a world of detailed analysis and commentary with deeply insightful interpretation and debate. The book's focus on insurance regulation in three countries allows the authors to approach the subject in an extraordinary depth that could not be achieved in a more global account. In the course of their treatment the authors offer the reader the following invaluable insights, among many others: analysis of the political dimension of reaching agreements and of implementing them; comparison of the three major trade agreements that apply in the North American insurance market - NAFTA, WTO agreements on financial services, and MEUFTA (the Mexico-European Union Free Trade Agreement) - with emphasis on the relationship between GATS and NAFTA principles; investigation of the clear convergence of regulatory schemes and the probable limits to harmonization; discussion of the arbitrage by which companies get around regulatory restrictions and exploit opportunities created by loopholes; clarification of the crucial issues surrounding the role of customary international law principles in investor protection obligations; discussion of the level of government and which government agencies a company must turn to in order to satisfy legal requirements; analysis of the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Mexico regarding legal effects of treaties on domestic law; commentary on the effects of demutualization and of mergers and acquisitions discussion of the effect of the entrenchment of U.S. State regulations and the federal government's lack of clear power to force State compliance; and description of dispute settlement procedures between governments. Although important issues arising in each of the three countries are all covered, there is an emphasis on the Mexican market in recognition of Mexico's greater future growth potential and of the relative paucity of relevant literature in English. Major case studies that reveal processes of compliance or conflict are analyzed in detail. For insurance professionals - lawyers, business executives, and policymakers - who want to understand what international trade agreements contain, how they work, and how they affect domestic insurance regulation and business strategy in what is rapidly becoming a global market for insurance and other financial services, this book is a gold mine. Scholars and academics in insurance law and international economic law will also find here a fresh new treatise of great significance.

"Investment in Greater China" provides extensive and up-to-date information on the concepts governing foreign investments in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The book, written by hands-on experts in a pragmatic style, explores the full spectrum of Greater China's investment laws and practices including: legal system; land tenure; investment structure; business regulation; taxation; import and export controls; exchange control; regulation of local finance; labour and nationality law; intellectual property; movement of goods; and insurance and disputes settlement. Features of this book include comprehensive coverage and sectional user-friendly index to ensure speedy location of information. Investors, legal and tax practitioners, corporate advisers, management consultants and business professionals who need to participate effectively in the Greater China's investment environment will benefit from "Investment in Greater China". This title forms part of the "Asia Business Law Series". "The Asia Business Law Series" is published in cooperation with CCH Asia and provides updated and reliable practical guidelines, legislation and case law, in order to help practitioners, policy makers and scholars understand how business is conducted in the rapidly growing Asian market.

This book seeks to bridge the gap between what is well known in economic research but has become long forgotten in practise. Focusing on the recent banking crisis, Cao looks at why the existing regulatory regime failed to prevent the financial meltdown, and emphasizes the impact of regulatory policies on the risky activities undertaken by individual financial institutions. The systemic risks in the financial system that need to be avoided by the regulatory rules are examined in detail, and Cao establishes a framework of evaluating the instruments in the regulator 's toolbox.

The author covers a range of important issues such as endogenous systemic liquidity risk, the failure of liquidity regulation with Lender of Last Resort policy or capital requirement and the impact of macro policy on micro incentives.