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Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > Financial, taxation, commercial, industrial law
This book explores how the EU's enforcement of competition law has moved from centralisation to decentralisation over the years, with the National Competition Authorities embracing more enforcement powers. At the same time, harmonisation has been employed as a solution to ensure that the enforcement of EU competition rules is not weakened and the internal market remains a level playing field. While employing a comparative law argument, the book, accordingly, analyses the need for harmonisation throughout the different stages of development of the EU's competition law enforcement (save Merger control and State Aid), the underlying rationale, and the extent to which comparative studies have been undertaken to facilitate the harmonisation process from an historical perspective. It also covers the Directives, such as the Antitrust Damages Directive and the ECN+ Directive. Investigating both public and private enforcement, it also examines the travaux preparatoires for the enforcement legislation in order to discover the drafters' intent. The book addresses the European and the Member States' perspectives, namely, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, as harmonisation proceeds through dialogue and cooperation between the two levels. Lastly, it explores the extent to which harmonisation of the competition law enforcement framework has been accepted and implemented in the Member States' legal systems, or has led to the fragmentation of the national systems of the CEE countries.
This book is both a repertory guide to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) as well as a legal analysis of the provisions of the treaty. It traces action taken by the ICAO Assembly and the Council in the implementation of the Convention from the first ICAO Assembly in 1947 until 2012. Above all, the book offers a commentary on the functional and moral fabric of the Chicago Convention, which is not only a multilateral legal instrument that sets out basic principles of air navigation and air transport, but also serves as a moral compass that brings the people of the world together. The teleological nature of the Chicago Convention is reflected from the outset from its Preamble which sets the tone and philosophy of the Convention that aviation builds friendship and understanding among all people, to its technical provisions that range from rules of the air to landing at airports and customs and immigration procedures. The book effectively demonstrates the Aristotelian principle that rules make people good by forming habits in them. Standardization, or in other words, compliance, is the driver of the Convention that keeps aviation safe, regular, efficient and economical. To that end, this book traces and details the sustained relevance of the Chicago Convention and the efforts of ICAO and the international aviation community towards keeping air transport on track and ready for its future exponential growth, both in letter and in spirit. "
Regulating subsidies in international trade is crucial to the efficient and equitable allocation of resources and ultimately to global welfare. Much of the serious instability that persists in today's interdependent world may be traced to government interventions that dilute or defy such regulation. In this in-depth analysis of subsidies and State aids, Gustavo Luengo details the regulatory elements that reveal how governments undertake the granting of support to their national industries. Although in theory such support is aimed at two overriding economic objectives - the elimination of harmful distortions, and the correction of market failures - he shows that in practice it is political contexts that determine the principles and objectives of the regulation of subsidies. The analysis focuses on two mature regulatory systems, those of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the European Communities (EC). The author describes both legal frameworks, and then proceeds to examine the differences and conflicts between the two systems, along with their reasons, consequences, and possible solutions. Significant aspects of the regulation of subsidies that emerge from the analysis include the following: the role of 'countervailing measures'; the EC notion of 'State aid' as developed by the European Commission and the European Court of Justice; procedures for controlling subsidies under both systems and the consequences of granting subsidies in violation of applicable rules; the elements of 'financial contribution' and 'benefit' under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM); actionable and non-actionable subsidies; agricultural subsidies in both systems; and, the role of WTO dispute settlement procedures. Both for its clear and comprehensive overview of the regulation of subsidies and State aids and for its insightful recommendations, this book will be welcomed as a major contribution to the field of international economic law. Practitioners, policymakers, officials, and academics will all find it enormously valuable for its analytic depth and its direct applicability to the need to develop fair and enforceable regulation of subsidies and State aids.
In the minds of some, complying with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related laws is easy: 'you just don't bribe.' The reality, as sophisticated professionals should know, is not so simple. This book is for professionals across various disciplines who can assist in risk management and want to learn strategies for minimizing risk under aggressively enforced bribery laws. Written by a leading expert with real-world practice experience, this book elevates knowledge and skills through a comprehensive analysis of all legal authority and other relevant sources of information. It also guides readers through various components of compliance best practices from the fundamentals of conducting a risk assessment, to effectively communicating compliance expectations, to implementing and overseeing compliance strategies. With a focus on active learning, this book allows readers to assess their acquired knowledge through various issue-spotting scenarios and skills exercises and thereby gain confidence in their specific job functions. Anyone seeking an informed and comprehensive understanding of the modern era of enforcement of bribery laws and related risk management strategies will find this book to be a valuable resource including in-house compliance personnel, FCPA and related practitioners, board of director members and executive officers.
This book presents a hotly debated issue concerning the ownership of trust property in China. The book describes various conventional interpretations of Chinese Trust Law submitted by legal scholars and compares diverse approaches regarding the ownership of trust property provided by jurisdictions globally. The book does not directly answer the question "Who is the owner of trust property in China?" Instead, using a social capital perspective, it develops a more practical perspective to explain why Chinese trust business has grown rapidly even in lack of legal certainty regarding the location of ownership of trust property. The book also further predicts under what conditions is the time ripe to clarify the location of the ownership of trust property in China. By employing those sociological concepts often used to depict and analyze society, this book outlines the structure of the Chinese trust business and related social relations in different stages, i.e., the current rapid development stage, and the possible transitional stage in the near future. The focus is on how the social network structure affects the behavior of actors (such as the settlor, the trustee, and the beneficiaries, and/or their potential candidates) within the relevant section of Chinese society. The book provides readers with an intensive analysis of the impacts of historical, cultural, and social elements on the legislation and development of trust law in China. It will appeal both to lawyers interested in the Chinese trust business and to comparative law researchers and social scientists.
Litigator, teacher, and scholar Stephen Kohn presents a comprehensive, unified examination of the 35 federal laws that protect whistleblowers and their rights, plus the common law protections available in each of the 50 states. For the first time in one easily accessed volume, readers will find the basic principles upon which all whistleblower law is premised. Mr. Kohn lays out the basic legal principles applicable to almost every whistleblower case, such as the scope of protected activity and who qualifies for protection. He shows what constitutes discriminatory conduct, what type of evidence demonstrates that improper retaliation occurred, the burdens of proof on both the employee and employer, how to calculate damages and attorney fees, common settlement and fundamental procedural issues, and much more, all in meticulously documented detail and a readable, engaging style. Built upon Mr. Kohn's extensive practical experience and his scholarly research and teaching, not only is the book an essential resource for study and analysis of whistleblowing issues, but it is also a step-by-step guide for conceptualizing and litigating them. Attorneys with specialties in a wide range of fields involving whistleblower law and related policy issues will find a thoughtful, comprehensive examination, and an immediately applicable courtroom aid. It will also be important for human resource executives, labor union officers and attorneys, government contractors, and recipients of government grants, university and government libraries, federal agency executives and specialists, public interest and good government organizations--and many others who have become fascinated by this relatively new, but long-time coming, branch of the law, how it developed, and how it is being applied today.
This edited volume covers the challenges currently faced by consumer law in Europe and the United States, ranging from fundamental theoretical questions, such as what goals consumer law should pursue, to practical questions raised by disclosure requirements, the General Data Protection Regulation and technology advancements. With governments around the world enacting powerful new regulations concerning consumers, consumer law has become an important topic in the economic analysis of law. Intended to protect consumers, these regulations typically seek to do so by giving them tools to make better decisions, or by limiting the consequences of their bad decisions. Legal scholars are divided, however, regarding the efficacy and effects of these regulations; some call for certain policies to be abolished, while others support a regulatory expansion.
This book investigates the tensions between EU law and international commercial arbitration, i.e. tensions between two phenomena at opposite ends of the public to private ordering continuum. It focuses on the Commercial Agents Directive's regime for indemnity and compensation as one of the most frequent source of these tensions. To mitigate the consequential problems, the book proposes and describes a comprehensive framework for a preferable system of reviewing arbitration agreements and arbitral awards. To this end, it explores the prerequisites of this system through comparative legal analysis of the German, Belgian, French and English systems of review, an assessment of the observable aspects of arbitral practice, game theoretical analysis of the arbitral process, and microeconomic analysis of the cross-border market for commercial agency.
It is widely assumed today that the "welfare state" is contracting or retrenching as an effect of the close scrutiny to which entitlement to social-security benefits is being subjected in most developed countries. In this book, 15 authorities from nine different countries - the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the US - investigate to what extent this assumption is warranted. The papers were originally presented at a Conference on "The Future of Social Security" held at the University of Stirling in June 2000. Taking into account developments and initiatives at every administrative level from sub-national employment agencies to the OECD and the World Bank, they draw on both data and theories in a broad spectrum of related disciplines, including political science, economics, sociology and law. Detailed materials allow the reader to formulate well-defined responses to such questions as: is there indeed waning public support for social security?; is the "demographic time bomb" of an ageing population as serious a problem as we are often led to believe?; how seriously do supranational reform proposals tend to underestimate cross-national differences? to what degree is "activation policy" merely rhetorical?; to what extent do employment-office staff reformulate and redefine policies "on the ground" to accommodate specific case-by-case realities? Specific criteria for entitlement (such as disability) and such central issues as "gendered" assumptions, access to benefit programmes and the involvement of trade unions are examined in a variety of contexts. As an authoritative assessment of the current state of social-security reform - its critical issues, its direction, and its potential impacts - this book should prove to be of value to all professionals and officials concerned with social programmes at any government level.
The number of hedge funds and the assets they have under management has increased in recent years. This increase became significantly more pronounced after the market downturn in 2001. Hedge funds can help investors to benefit from volatile and even sinking stock markets. However, despite the prominent use of the word "hedge" in their name, such funds rarely offer a safe hedge against risk, given that they depend heavily on skill-based investment techniques and often invest in highly speculative financial instruments. Nevertheless, such funds received no specific treatment in the legislation of such major markets as Germany and the United States for years. Against the backdrop of international regulatory concern for hedge funds, the Institute for Law and Finance (ILF), in cooperation with Deutsches Aktieninstitut e.V. (DAI), brought together leading scholars, lawyers and bankers, to assess the risks, opportunities and regulatory challenges that hedge funds present. At the time of the conference, German lawmakers were still discussing the need and possible content of a new law. The fruit of their discussions was the German Investment-Modernization Act (Investmentmodernisierungsgesetz), which entered into force on January 1, 2004, and increased the attractiveness of offering hedge fund products in the German market. This inaugural volume of the Institute for Law and Finance Series contains the proceedings of the ILF/DAI May 2003 conference entitled "Hedge Funds: Risks and Regulation," and presents papers discussing the economic characteristics of and regulatory strategies for addressing hedge funds. The first two papers examine hedge funds from an economic perspective. Alexander M. Ineichen, Managing Director and Global Head of AIS Research at UBS, reveals the economic reality of hedge funds from the myths that has surrounded them. Then Franklin R. Edwards, Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Futures Markets of the Columbia Business School in New York explains how the regulation of hedge funds should be tailored to their core economic reality and the goals of financial stability and investor protection. Next, Marcia L. MacHarg, a partner of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Ashley Kovas, a Manager in the Business Standards Department of the Financial Services Authority, London, and Edgar Wallach, a partner of Hengeler Mueller, present the state of the relevant regulatory structures in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, respectively. The book then closes with an analysis of corporate structures used for German hedge funds, offered by Kai-Uwe Steck, a member of the German Asset Management practice group of Shearman & Sterling LLP.
EUCOTAX (European UniversitiesCooperating on TAXes) is a networkof tax institutes currently consisting ofeleven universities: WirtschaftsuniversitatWien in Austria, KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven in Belgium, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, Universite Paris-I Pantheon-Sorbonne in France, UniversitatOsnabruck in Germany, Libera, UniversitaInternazionale di Studi Socialiin Rome (and Universita degli Studidi Bologna for the research part), in Italy, Fiscaal Instituut Tilburg atTilburg University in the Netherlands, Universidad de Barcelona in Spain, Uppsala University in Sweden, QueenMary and Westfi eld College at theUniversity of London in the UnitedKingdom, and Georgetown University inWashington DC, United States ofAmerica.
The idea for this book came about following the International Bar Association's annual conference that was held in Prague in September of 2005. One of the sessions at this conference co-chaired by Pascale Lagesse and Mariann Norrbom was entitled "Restrictive covenants in employment contracts and other mechanisms for protection of corporate confidential information." International panelists consisted of members of the legal profession, corporate representatives and a court justice. The discussions focused on key issues and the concerns companies have when seeking to protect their confidential information, and insight was given into what employers can do in order to ensure that their employees do not take valuable company information with them upon leaving the company. Using a case study as a basis, particular emphasis was placed on non-solicitation and non-compete covenants, and the extent to which an employer can rely on such covenants when protecting his interests. The specific situation of a key employee who left her employer to join a competitor was addressed, and the types of action the employer could take in order to avoid the solicitation of his clients and staff and prevent his employees from competing against him were discussed. This book picks up where the session left off, and consists of no less than 13 contributions from individuals from 5 continents. Each country representative has been asked to respond to a series of pertinent questions on the subjects of restrictive covenants and protection of confidential information, in order to give a comparative overview of how these issues are treated in different jurisdictions. This comprehensive publication will be a valuable resource tool for legal practitioners, employers, HR professionals and anyone interested in the field of employment law.
The enhancement of e-commerce nowadays is one of the important policy issues in the European Union. To this purpose the laws of the EU Member States should be further harmonised. The European Union has adopted a number of Directives relating to different aspects of e-commerce which should be implemented in the laws of the Member States. eDirectives: Guide to European Union Law on E-commerce provides article-by-article comments on four Directives central to the regulation of electronic commerce in the European Union (EU), viz. 97/7/EC on distance selling; 1999/93/EC on electronic signatures; 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce; and, 2001/29/EC on copyright in the information society. In addition, a separate chapter deals with e-commerce and privacy protection, while the opening chapter discusses all other EU initiatives relevant for the regulation of e-commerce. This volume is meant as comprehensive legal source of e-commerce legislation for both academics (LLM-students and academic staff) and practitioners (attorneys, company lawyers, consultants). It is not only of interest for readers in the EU-Member States (because their national law is or is about to be adapted to the EU Directives), but also for readers in aspirant Member States of the EU, as well as for readers in other countries where e-commerce has emerged, like the Unites States of America.
This "Liber Amicorum" is written in honour of Richard M. Buxbaum to celebrate his 70th birthday. It pays tribute to his writings, teachings, editorial and administrative work, which have contributed immensely to the development of the international legal order. The contributions are from international experts in the field of commercial and economic law, corporate law, intellectual property and business law, and give an interesting and valuable account of current economic trends and academic thinking.
Foreign Direct Investment in Chile addresses all aspects of foreign direct investment in Chile and is very timely since the economy of Chile is growing at a rapid pace. It is considered to be a model in Latin America. In the past few years, foreign investment in Chile has been transformed into a highly significant macroeconomic variable. Indeed, the phenomenon of foreign investment has enticed companies from over sixty countries, representing all the continents. Without a doubt, the impact foreign investment has had on the country's economic development is significant. In December 1994, Chile was formally invited by the United States, Canada and Mexico to join the NAFTA. Negotiations leading to Chile's participation in the NAFTA are expected to begin in the near future. This development will clearly yield many benefits for Chile. First and foremost, this development, acting in concert with the political and economic stability of Chile, will serve as an impetus for more companies, particularly those of American origin, to invest in Chile. This book analyzes the national legal norms of Chile, offering a very useful perspective on the legal regulations of each sector of the economy in general, and on foreign investment in particular.
In the global era, controversies abound over temporary labour migration; however, it has not previously been subjected to a sustained socio-legal analysis on a comparative basis, critiquing the underpinning concepts conventionally accepted as fundamental in this area. This collection of essays aims to fill that void. Complex regulatory challenges arise from temporary labour migration. This collection examines these challenges and the extent to which temporary labour migration programmes can be ethical, equitable and efficacious and so deliver decent work for workers. Whilst the tendency for migration law to divide labour law's worker-protective mission has been observed before, the authors of the chapters comprising this collection seek not only to interrogate why and how this is so, but to go further in examining the implications and effects of a wide range of regulatory mechanisms on temporary labour migration.
From the larger field of women and employment law, Maschke has carved out a study that focuses exclusively on the impact Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act has had on women workers. . . . Maschke focus es] on the history of women workers from the days of protective laws, through the difficult birth of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to present-day struggles involving pregnant workers, sexual harassment, and comparable worth. Although legalistically oriented, the book is also attuned to the political in noting diverse strategies among women's organizations and the varying congressional and presidential commitments to the promotion of the equality of women's workers. . . . Concise and readable with a select bibliography and index. "Choice" A major contribution to the literature on the legal rights of women workers, this volume combines empirical investigation and case law analysis to provide a thorough study of sex discrimination litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the author notes at the outset, Title VII, although not a panacea for sex discrimination, is the most important federal statute guaranteeing equality in the workplace for women workers. Her study examines how women have fared in Title VII litigation and how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), as the government's enforcement agency, played a role in Title VII litigation and in the development of legal policy in this area. Divided into three major sections, the volume begins by exploring the protective labor laws that restricted women's job opportunities at the turn of the century. Maschke goes on to trace the origins of Title VII and to examine the political controversy surrounding the use of litigation to enforce Title VII. The second section analyzes the development of law resulting from cases involving pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and protective policies. In addition to case law analysis, these chapters examine the EEOC's response to the issues and demonstrate that the agency has often been inconsistent in developing sex discrimination policies. In the final section, Maschke addresses group and EEOC litigation activities in sex discrimination cases, focusing on aspects of decision making in the federal courts. The concluding chapter considers how courts and the litigation process played a role in expanding the rights of women workers.
In this volume 21 experts from all over the world examine the UNIDROIT Principles from the perspective of their respective countries, focusing, among others, on the similarities and differences between the UNIDROIT Principles and domestic law, and the use of the UNIDROIT Principles in actual practice (contract negotiation, arbitration proceedings, model for law reform projects, etc.). These national reports are critically analysed in the General Report by Professor M.J. Bonell, Chairman of the Working Group for the preparation of the UNIDROIT Principles.
Law relating to trade in financial services is examined here, with a particular focus on the rules contained in Chapter 14 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). After a detailed analysis of the relevant provisions and their effect on financial institutions in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, the author examines the impact of the NAFTA rules on the legal position of banks operating in countries outside NAFTA, particularly in the context of the WTO financial services provisions. The book concludes with a chapter on the effects of a potential NAFTA expansion. The book aims to contribute to the development of a new legal and regulatory framework distinct from those of trade and financial services law, and offers an insight into how trade in financial services within a regional trade agreement develops its own legal dynamic.
This book provides a unique comparative and global analysis of the regulation of disclosure in financial (securities) markets. It is written by two authors who represent both the new world (Australia) and the old world (Germany). The authors present their research in the global business context, with legal and regulatory perspectives including some references from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America. After every "boom" and "bust", legislators pass new disclosure legislation, often in a heated environment fuelled by politics and the media. Little regard is paid to existing regulation or the lessons learned from earlier regulation. The result is the continuing enactment of redundant and overlapping disclosure laws. Since financial markets are often described as markets for information, the failure to ensure disclosure is at the heart of financial services regulation. This book argues that the solution to the failure of disclosure is a brief, easily understood, principles-based, plain English safety-net amendment to statute law such as "you must keep the financial market fully informed", a measure that would support effective mandatory continuous disclosure of information to financial markets. This book examines the reasons for disclosure regulation, and how the efficient operation of financial markets is dependent on disclosure. It examines the adequacy of common law and civil law concerning broker/client disclosure, and concludes that industry licensing in itself fails to keep the market informed. While recognizing the failures of securities commissions to achieve good disclosure in financial markets, it confirms the effectiveness of coregulation of disclosure by a commission with the support of the financial markets (such as the stock exchange). Coregulation builds on financial market self-regulation, and is best described in the words of one-time SEC Chairman William O. Douglas, who, in the 1930s, described it as a shotgun behind the door.
This volume presents national reports describing the legal instruments that are available to prevent the payment of bribes for acquiring contracts. Anti-corruption is one of the preeminent issues in the modern global commercial order and is tackled with the help of criminal law and contract law in different ways in different countries. The reports included in this volume, from very diverse parts of the world, represent a unique and rich compilation of court decisions, doctrinal discussions and a pool of suggested solutions. The central theme is the enforceability of three problematic types of contracts: the bribe agreement, whereby a bribe payer promises the agent of his business partner a personal benefit in exchange for favourable contract terms; the agreement between a bribe payer and an intermediary (a "bribe merchant"), where the latter offers his expertise to help funnel bribes to agents of the business partner; and finally, the contract between the bribe payer and his business partner which was obtained by means of bribery. The analysis is tailored toward commercial contracts, which can also include contracts with state-owned enterprises. The examination and comparison of international and national initiatives included in this volume advance the discussion on the most appropriate remedies in corruption cases, and show how to get past the boundaries of criminal, private and contract law.
Takeover bids are important for the internal market because they contribute to market integration and to business consolidation in accordance with the EC Treaty provisions on freedom of establishment. The Takeover Bid Directive of 2004 is designed not only to protect the interests of the holders of securities of companies (in particular, those with minority holdings), but also to promote EU-wide clarity and transparency in respect of legal issues to be settled in the event of takeover bids and to prevent patterns of corporate restructuring from being distorted by arbitrary differences in governance and management cultures. Analysing the Takeover Bid Directive in the light of EU Law, this important monograph examines the extent to which the Directive facilitates the exercise of the fundamental freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital in the internal market. The analysis begins with a discussion of the fundamental freedom of establishment of companies, as well as of the legal bases for the harmonization of company law and capital markets law at EU level. Additionally, the significance of corporate mobility and of the freedom of establishment case law of the European Court of Justice for the takeover process is analysed. The author shows that, far from achieving market integration in the field of EU company law, the Takeover Bid Directive is a compromise resulting from the very different legal and policy approaches of the Member States in the field of takeover regulation. Although some provisions of the Directive are obligatory for all Member States, two key provisions have been made optional: the non-frustration rule, which requires the board to obtain the prior authorization of the general meeting of shareholders before taking any action that could result in the frustration of the bid; and the breakthrough rule, restricting significant transfer and voting rights during the time allowed for acceptance of the bid. Other relevant legal issues covered in the course of the analysis include the following: A { the right of establishment as a right of legal persons; A { vertical vs. horizontal direct effect; A { regulatory competence to harmonize the internal market; A { the Financial Services Action Plan and the Company Law Action Plan; A { effect of the principle of subsidiarity; A { the Takeover Report of the High-Level Group of Company Law Experts; A { the mandatory bid rule; A { squeeze-out and sell-out rights; A { the non-frustration/board neutrality rule; and A { the reciprocity rule. Company lawyers, managers, and investors in European undertakings will benefit from the author A|s well-informed analysis of the extent to which obstacles to cross-border takeovers addressed by the Directive, or indeed left intact by the Directive, are to be regarded as restrictions on the right of establishment, or simply as obstacles in practice to making a successful takeover bid. It may be anticipated that some of the insights to be discovered in this work will find their way into EU law in the coming years. |
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