International mergers and acquisitions play a vital role behind the growth of a company. This book explores the hurdles involved and how to navigate through the review processes set up by national regulatory agencies such as the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS), the EU Commission, and the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of State Administration of Market Regulation of China (AMB). This book is unique and showcases how to anticipate, develop, and implement successful strategies to support mergers and acquisitions activities, particularly of interest to finance and law students, researchers, and academics.

This book comprises contributions relating to the Insolvency Regulation Recast,which recently entered into force. The authors analyse the changes introduced andgive their views on the improvements that are thereby achieved. In other words, theyassess to what extent the amendments have mitigated the disadvantages of the previousInsolvency Regulation. Three of the chapters concentrate on the issues pertaining to jurisdiction, such asthe problem of forum shopping by re-locating the debtor's centre of main interests.Furthermore, the extent to which the parties have the freedom to contract withinthe framework of the Insolvency Regulation Recast is discussed. Also, the relevanceand consequences of recent developments in corporate law for the current crossborderinsolvency framework, as well as the jurisdictional issues concerning approvalrequirements are amongst the matters addressed. Aside from the jurisdictional matters,the question of the law applicable to so-called 'avoidance actions' is analysed and crossbordercooperation between national authorities in the field of insolvency is touchedupon. To conclude, this book covers a range of specific and intriguing topics broughtup by the Insolvency Regulations Recast. This third volume in the Short Studies in Private International Law Series is primarilyaimed at legal academics dealing with cross-border insolvency, but it will also proveuseful to insolvency judges and practitioners, as well as those specialised in financialand fiscal law. Finally, advanced students as well as those with a general interest ininsolvency law will also find it of added value. Vesna Lazic is Senior Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and Associate Professorof Private Law at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Steven Stuij is an expert inprivate international law and PhD Candidate at the Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam.

This book does not present a single philosophical approach to taxation and ethics, but instead demonstrates the divergence in opinions and approaches using a framework consisting of three broad categories: tax policy and design of tax law; ethical standards for tax advisors and taxpayers; and tax law enforcement. In turn, the book addresses a number of moral questions in connection with taxes, concerning such topics as: * the nature of government * the relation between government (the state) and its subjects or citizens * the moral justification of taxes* the link between property and taxation* tax planning, evasion and avoidance * corporate social responsibility* the use of coercive power in collecting taxes and enforcing tax laws * ethical standards for tax advisors * tax payer rights * the balance between individual rights to liberty and privacy, and government compliance and information requirements * the moral justification underlying the efforts of legislators and policymakers to restructure society and steer individual and corporate behavior.

Die Mitwirkung des Bauherrn ist gerade bei Bauvertragen essentiell wichtig. Ohne sie kann ein komplexes Bauprojekt oft nicht erfolgreich realisiert werden. Die Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit den rechtlichen Konsequenzen unterlassener Mitwirkung des Bauherrn (z.B. fehlende Plane, mangelhafte Vorleistung, verspatete Freigabe usw.). Ausgehend von der allgemeinen werkvertragsrechtlichen Einordnung der Mitwirkungshandlungen des Bestellers als blosse Obliegenheiten untersucht die Arbeit, ob dieses System im Bauvertragsrecht nach BGB und VOB aufrechtzuerhalten ist. Wahrend die Mehrheit der Literatur und Rechtsprechung die zur Erstellung des Bauwerks erforderlichen Mitwirkungshandlungen des Bauherrn weitestgehend zu echten Pflichten heraufstuft, kommt der Autor zu dem Ergebnis, dass am Obliegenheitsmodell des BGB in weiten Teilen festzuhalten ist. Begrundet wird dies mit einer dogmatischen Analyse des gesetzlichen Systems unter Berucksichtigung der besonderen Interessenlagen der am Bau beteiligten Parteien.

Perhaps the greatest long-term challenge facing modern economies is how to pay for the living expenses and care costs of the elderly. Following policy decisions made in Australia in the 1990s, a substantial part of the pension requirements of the next cohort of retirees will be met from savings accumulated during working years. The effective management of these savings is crucial. If they are invested wisely, the assets available to fund pensions and care will grow; if not, available funds may turn out to be insufficient. Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence worldwide that the management of funds attracts rent-seeking behaviour by the financial services industry which erodes much of the potential return. Australia introduced compulsory superannuation contributions for its working population in 1991, leading to a proliferation of funded schemes that are largely run by the private sector. Complexity, and many degrees of separation between fund members and those who manage their funds, have emerged as serious problems. Combined with weak competitive pressures and governance systems, and insufficient legal and regulatory constraints, the result is a system that does not serve its members well. This book provides a detailed evaluation of the Australian experience, highlights the extent to which the financial services industry has extracted rents from Australian pensioners, and how and why this occurred. Based on original empirical research, and examination of industry reviews and relevant literature, the book demonstrates the numerous principal-agent, conflict of interest and rent extraction problems that have emerged in Australia. The book makes suggestions for how these problems can be addressed in Australia, and also provides lessons for other countries wishing to enact pension reform.

This is the long-awaited third edition of this highly regarded comparative overview of corporate law. This edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to reflect the profound changes in corporate law and governance practices that have taken place since the previous edition. These include numerous regulatory changes following the financial crisis of 2007-09 and the changing landscape of governance, especially in the US, with the ever more central role of institutional investors as (active) owners of corporations. The geographic scope of the coverage has been broadened to include an important emerging economy, Brazil. In addition, the book now incorporates analysis of the burgeoning use of corporate law to protect the interests of "external constituencies" without any contractual relationship to a company, in an attempt to tackle broader social and economic problems. The authors start from the premise that corporations (or companies) in all jurisdictions share the same key legal attributes: legal personality, limited liability, delegated management, transferable shares, and investor ownership. Businesses using the corporate form give rise to three basic types of agency problems: those between managers and shareholders as a class; controlling shareholders and minority shareholders; and shareholders as a class and other corporate constituencies, such as corporate creditors and employees. After identifying the common set of legal strategies used to address these agency problems and discussing their interaction with enforcement institutions, The Anatomy of Corporate Law illustrates how a number of core jurisdictions around the world deploy such strategies. In so doing, the book highlights the many commonalities across jurisdictions and reflects on the reasons why they may differ on specific issues. The analysis covers the basic governance structure of the corporation, including the powers of the board of directors and the shareholder meeting, both when management and when a dominant shareholder is in control. It then analyses the role of corporate law in shaping labor relationships, protection of external stakeholders, relationships with creditors, related-party transactions, fundamental corporate actions such as mergers and charter amendments, takeovers, and the regulation of capital markets. The Anatomy of Corporate Law has established itself as the leading book in the field of comparative corporate law. Across the world, students and scholars at various stages in their careers, from undergraduate law students to well-established authorities in the field, routinely consult this book as a starting point for their inquiries.

This book analyzes the legal system for the protection of retail investors under the European Union law of investment services. It identifies the regulatory leitmotiv driving the EU lawmaker and ascertains whether and to what extent such a system is self-sufficient, using a set of EU-made and EU-enforced rules that is essentially different and autonomous from the domestic legal orders. In this regard, the book takes a double perspective: comparative and intra-firm. Given the federal dimension of the US legal system and, thus, the "role-model" it plays vis-a-vis the EU, the book compares the two systems. To fully highlight the existing gaps and measure how self-sufficient the EU system is against its American counterpart, the Union/Federal level as such is analyzed - i.e., detached from the national (in EU terms) and State (in US terms) level. Regulating Investor Protection under EU Law also showcases the unique intra-firm perspective from a European investment firm and analyzes how EU-produced public-law rules become a set of compliance requirements for investment services providers. This "within-the-firm" angle gauges the self-sufficiency of the EU system of retail investor protection from the standpoint of an EU-regulated entity. The book is intended for both compliance professionals and academic scholars interested in this topic while also including illustrative sections intended to provide a broader regulatory view for less-experienced readers.

This user-friendly book aims to summarize the principal topics of Chinese Taxation and offers readers a general overview of the Chinese Taxation and informative updates on tax changes. The book provides a variety of facts, figures, graphs and data in an easy-to read table format. Firstly, the book proposes an introduction to taxation and to the Chinese tax system, secondly, it focuses on direct taxes, indirect taxes and other taxes and, in the end, it covers international taxation. Moreover, the book offers a quick overview of the Chinese M&A taxation and of the Chinese Free Trade Zones.

The European experience suggests that the efforts made to achieve an efficient trade-off between monetary policy and prudential supervision ultimately failed. The severity of the global crisis have pushed central banks to explore innovative tools-within or beyond their statutory constraints-capable of restoring the smooth functioning of the financial cycle, including setting macroprudential policy instruments in the regulatory toolkit. But macroprudential and monetary policies, by sharing multiple transmission channels, may interact-and conflict-with each other. Such conflicts may represent not only an economic challenge in the pursuit of price and financial stability, but also a legal uncertainty characterizing the regulatory developments of the EU macroprudential and monetary frameworks. In analyzing the "legal interaction" between the two frameworks in the EU, this book seeks to provide evidence of the inconsistencies associated with the structural separation of macroprudential and monetary frameworks, shedding light upon the legal instruments that could reconcile any potential policy inconsistency.

The traditional financial market sectors of insurance, commercial banking, derivatives, capital markets and asset management are converging in practice, but their analysis is still largely sector-based. Financial Law offers a cross-sectoral, functional approach. It highlights anomalies in the different legal treatment of the respective sectors (suggesting law reform to some, and arbitrage opportunities to others) and identifies key trends.
This book offers an integrated approach to financial law which is both useful and timely, as the markets have been converging for over two decades. Functions traditionally performed in one sector are now undertaken in another, and financial techniques are emerging which combine characteristics of different traditional transaction types. Investment banks increasingly offer new structured products in a range of alternative legal "wrappers." Securitization--particularly in association with credit derivatives--continues to be a dominant force, drawing ever more categories of business into the capital markets.
Innovations such as these have been associated with a high level of legal risk, and the cross-sectoral freedoms offered by deregulation have not been fully exploited. This book presents financial law as a discrete branch of law, to be considered in the round; it will therefore provide the practitioner, scholar or regulator with a complete, unfragmented view of the subject.

This book examines the effect of the adoption of the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in five common law jurisdictions, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. It examines how each of those states has adopted, interpreted and applied the provisions of the Model Law, and highlights the effects of inconsistencies by examining jurisprudence in each of these countries, specifically how the Model Law affects existing principles of recognition of insolvency proceedings. The book examines how the UNCITRAL Guide to enactment of the Model Law has affected the interpretation of each of its articles and, in turn, the courts' ability to interpret and hence give effect to the purposes of the Model Law. It also considers the ability of courts to refer to amendments made to the Guide after enactment of the Model Law in a state, thereby questioning whether the current inconsistencies in interpretation can be overcome by UNCITRAL amending the Guide.

This book provides an insight into commercial relations between large economies and Small States, the benefits of regional integration, the role of Small States as financial centres as well as B2B and State to State dispute resolution involving Small States. Several contributions allow the reader to familiarise themselves with the general subject matter; others scrutinise the particular issues Small States face when confronted with an international dispute and discuss new and innovative solutions. These solutions range from inventive ideas to help economic growth to appropriate mechanisms of dispute resolution including inter-State dispute resolution and specific areas of arbitration such as tax arbitration. Researchers, policy advisors and practitioners will find a wealth of insights, information and practical ideas in this book.

To whom are international financial organizations accountable? This unusual book asks not only this searching question, but also examines the extent to which accountability is honoured - or evaded - by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and the regional development banks (collectively the international financial institutions, or IFIs). The fundamental recognition in this book is that the issue of what international legal principles are applicable to the operations of the IFIs is an important topic that would benefit from more rigorous study. Twelve deeply committed contributors - whose work spans the academic, policy, and activist spectrum - suggest that a better understanding of these legal issues could help both the organizations and their Member States structure their transactions in ways that are more compatible with their developmental objectives and their international responsibilities. Five essays set out the general principles of international law that are applicable to the IFIs and consider how these are or should be evolving to produce IFIs that are respectful subjects of international law and accountable to all relevant stakeholders for their compliance with international law. Six more focus on selected aspects of the IFIs' operations that both raise important and challenging international legal issues and that have substantial impacts on both the different stakeholders in the operations of the IFIs, and on the sustainability and success of the operations. Introductory and concluding essays frame the volume. The many issues raised include the following: * IFIs' impact on economic policies in Member States; * IFI operations as private financial transactions; * IFIs as key players in the creation of international law; * IFIs as promoters of the international capitalist system; * IFIs as bearers of human rights obligations under international human rights law or as participants in the UN system; * consequences of an IFI's breach of its own internal policies or directives; * IFI immunity; * IFI capacity to sue and to be sued in national courts; * ability of various claimants to sue IFIs in domestic courts; * environmental and social rights and interests of third parties affected by IFI financing; * right of indigenous people to give their free, prior, and informed consent to IFI operations that affect them; and * IFIs' treatment of workers' rights. Diverse perspectives in terms of experience, political viewpoint, and focus help define the topic with greater clarity and depth. In its detailed and critical overview, the book demonstrates that the IFIs have important responsibilities under international law and a powerful capacity to influence the development of international law in a number of areas. It is sure to stimulate thought, debate, research, and action on the topic, and encourage more rigorous engagement between the IFIs and international lawyers.

This book investigates under which circumstances vertical unbundling can lead to a more efficient market result. The assessment is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining law and economics. Drawing on the assessment, circumstances are subsequently presented under which unbundling might become necessary. Additionally, less severe means of regulatory intervention are suggested in order to protect competition. Given its scope, the book is chiefly intended for scholars and practitioners in the field of economic policy and regulation law; in addition, it will give interested members of the public a unique opportunity to learn about the underlying rationales of regulation law and regulation economics.

In a globalizing world, national borders are frequently crossed. Moreover, flexibility is a key skill in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Accordingly, an increasing number of workers can be labelled as 'highly mobile', which are persons that combine various forms of work (on-call contracts, employment agency work, platform-work, teleworking etc.) that are carried out in several countries. This book provides an in-depth analysis of a current and pressing problem for an increasing group of working people, whose social (security) protection is unclear or even non-existent. The main rule of EU social security law prescribes that the law of the Member State where the person works applies. When there are several work countries involved, the multi-activity rule of Article 13 of Regulation 883/2004 is to be applied. According to this conflict rule, the applicable social security legislation is to be determined by the place of work or the place of residence. Which of these two connecting factors is decisive in situations of high mobility? The rather simple question of where is the highly mobile worker socially insured may become a difficult one. The consequences for highly mobile workers and their employers are that social rights and obligations are not only sometimes difficult to determine, one could also question whether the applicable legislation as determined by the conflict rules of Regulation 883/2004 is appropriate for a certain highly mobile situations. While some problems are more of a technical-legal nature, others rather stem from procedural and administrative issues. How could these problems be addressed by EU social security law? With many forms of flexible work and work activities increasingly being performed in several Member States, it seems more important than ever to map out mobility-related issues that highly mobile workers may encounter and to explore possible routes towards more legal certainty regarding their social security protection. That is exactly what the research presented in this book aims to attain.

This book explains the theoretical and policy issues associated with the taxation of financial services and includes a jurisdictional overview that illustrates alternative policy choices and the legal consequences of those choices . The book addresses the question: how can financial services in an increasingly globalized market best be taxed through VAT while avoiding economic distortions? It supports the discussion of the key practical problems that have arisen from the particular complexity of the application of VAT to financial services, and allows for the evaluation of best practice by comparing the major current reform models now being implemented.

This book provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the main topics of taxation in European law. The sequence of arguments follows an institutional logic, respecting the academic tradition of tax law. It first outlines the general framework of EU institutions, with a particular focus on the set of regulations regarding taxation with reference to the stage of formation of EU rules and the potential contrast with national legal systems. It then explores the general principles emerging from the European treaties that typically involve the taxation system, and examines in detail the fiscal importance of European freedoms, the principle of tax non-discrimination, the balance between national interest and EU values, tax harmonization, state aids and other general principles applicable in tax jurisdiction. Lastly, it offers an overall assessment of the development of the European integration process, with particular regard to the nexus between taxation power and sovereignty, in order to highlight the possible and desirable next stages of the evolution of "European tax law".

This volume examines the tax systems of some twenty countries to determine whether their tax laws are used to support growth and development across borders in lower-income and poor countries. Given the critical economic development needs of poorer countries and the importance of stability in these regions to the security of populations throughout the world, the use of a country's tax laws to support investment in the developing world gains crucial significance. This book explores whether international standards promoting the fundamental values of the major tax systems of the world accommodate incentives for these nations. In addition, it analyzes the way in which adoption of principles by higher income nations to protect their own revenue bases has a spill-over effect, impairing the ability of developing countries to sustain their economies. Following an introduction that synthesizes worldwide trends, the volume contains separate chapters for a variety of countries detailing the underlying goals and values of each system and the way in which the decision to employ (or not employ) incentives accommodates those ends. The chapters include reports for: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Maldives, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela. The volume memorializes the work of the General Reporter and National Reporters at the Taxation and Development session of the 19th Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law held in July, 2014, in Vienna, Austria.

At the end of 2018 the EU agreed a wholesale overhaul of EU electricity laws with the 'Gas Market Design' package. The aim is to bring EU electricity law up to date, taking account of its aim to become completely decarbonised by 2050, and to deal with the rapidly increasing level of intermittent renewable electricity in the network. The share of electricity produced by renewable energy sources is expected to grow to more than 50% in 2030. With this in mind, the electricity market framework has been modernised to deal with intermittency, with new provisions on storage, capacity mechanisms (introducing a new emissions limit for power plants eligible to receive subsidies) and demand response. In addition, the role of consumers in the future electricity market has been re-thought, providing the right incentives for consumers to become more active and to contribute to keeping the electricity system stable, as well as new consumer rights. In order to increase the resilience of the EU electricity system, each EU country is in the future required to define Risk Preparedness plans to be ready to respond to unexpected situations, working closely with neighbouring member states. The new rules will be supported by a stronger role for the ACER Agency, which coordinates work among national energy regulators, providing additional powers and responsibilities, and thus ensuring that decisions are taken for making best use of an integrated EU energy market to the benefit of all EU citizens. This new volume, written by all the key Commission officials responsible for drafting, negotiating and now implementing this major new piece of legislation is essential reading for all those involved in the regulation and development of Europe's electricity industry.

This book offers holistic, economic analysis of the on-going regulatory reform in the European banking industry. The author addresses the main opportunities and pitfalls related to post-crisis financial regulation, and investigates whether the proposed solutions provide an appropriate response to the problems within the EU's ailing banking sector. The author gives particular focus to the implementation of Basel III, the introduction of the Banking Union, the inclusion of bank governance elements into regulatory frameworks, and the country-specific aspects of regulation at a national level. The discussion builds upon existing literature in the field and takes a novel approach in its examination of banking regulations, their endogeneity and their interactions with bank governance. The book also analyses banking regulation in the EU within theoretical frameworks, as well as by means of empirical exercises. Insights into the theory and practical aspects of banking regulation make this book a valuable read for academics, researchers, students and practitioners alike.

This book examines corruption in public procurement in three Member States of the EU, reviewing their different approaches to combating corruption, and the extent to which the transparency principle is applied in their procurement systems. The focus of the work is on the contrast between the unsuccessful procurement legislation of a relatively young Member State (Bulgaria) and its attempt to curb corruption by expanding the scope of application of the transparency principle, and two examples of procurement systems where corruption is limited adequately, without an excess of information procedural requirements (Germany and Austria). The book scrutinizes the transparency rules, procurement participants, and responsible institutions in the award of procurements in these countries. It discusses in detail the types of infringements involving corruption as well as their link to infringements of the transparency principle. It compares and examines the systems of control and appeal against a contracting authority's actions within the various legislative schemes, and highlights the legislative weaknesses which fail to reduce corruption. The comparative analysis between the Bulgarian public procurement system and the German and Austrian systems is carried out through detailed research not only with regard to adherence to the transparency principle, but also to the use of other mechanisms to limit corruption, insofar as these solutions are appropriate and could be adapted in other countries currently lacking sufficient anti-corruption measures.

International Applications of U.S. Income Tax Law provides tax, accounting, and legal practitioners in the U.S. with a fundamental understanding of major concepts and issues in international tax. Readers will become more knowledgeable of how taxpayers achieve excess credit or excess limit positions and how they can profit from the economic incentives these positions create. International Applications of U.S. Income Tax Law also explains how to calculate marginal tax rates in many situations, a concept not found in other international tax books.

The problem of corruption, however described, dates back thousands of years. Professionals working in areas such as development studies, economics and political studies, were the first to most actively analyse and publish on the topic of corruption and its negative impacts on economies, societies and politics. There was, at that time, minimal literature available on corruption and the law. The literature and discussion on bribery and corruption, as well as on the negative impact of each and what is required to address them, particularly in the legal context, are now considerable. Corruption and anti-corruption are multifaceted and multi-disciplinary. The focus now on the law and compliance, and perhaps commercial incentives, is relatively easy. However, corruption, anti-corruption and the motivations for them are complex. If we continue to discuss, debate, engage, address corruption and anti-corruption in our own disciplinary silos, we are unlikely to significantly progress the fight against corruption. What do terms such as 'culture of integrity', 'demand accountability', 'transparency and accountability' and 'ethical corporate culture' dominating the anti-corruption discourse mean, if anything, in other disciplines? If they are meaningless, what approach would practitioners in those other disciplines suggest be adopted to address corruption. What has their experience been in the field? How can the work of each discipline contribute to the work of whole and, as such, improve our work in and understanding of anti-corruption? This book seeks to answer these questions and to understand the phenomenon more comprehensively. It will be of value to researchers, academics, lawyers, legislators and students in the fields of law, anthropology, sociology, international affairs, and business.