This book provides comprehensive analysis of the recent enlargement of the EU, shedding light on the rationale behind the EU's decisions to enlarge, examining the side effects these choices have on a range of EU policies and particularly on the effect of the Acquis on candidate countries. Emphasis is placed on the area of company law, which occupies a central part in a country's economic planning and therefore its commercial law. Past enlargements are thoroughly explained and the potential impact of the new political landscape in Europe in the wake of the popular rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty on future enlargements is evaluated. A comparative methodology for commercial law drafting in transition and developing economies is put forward and the book concludes with a complete draft of a model company law for transition (and developing) economies. The aim is to provide a template for discussion. This book will be of great interest to those interested in considering the influence that the prospect of EU membership has on transition countries in general, the emphasis being on laws vital to emerging market economies, particularly commercial and company law.

This book presents a thoughtful inquiry into the nature and rationale of corporate governance. The authors address fundamental questions including; What is the balance between ownership and control?; For whose interests should the company be run?; What is the institutional balance between shareholders, directors and other potential stakeholders, including the economy?Professor Dine and Dr Koutsias consider how these issues are dealt with by the jurisprudence of three major and greatly influential jurisdictions; the USA, the UK, and Germany, and also reflect on why and how the current corporate governance context in some states is defined by social, political and historical developments. The authors argue that corporate governance is crucial for the identity of each country. What is revealed in the work is that when national corporate governance is thriving it allows space for democracy to flourish. Corporate governance scholars, policy makers, LLM and LLB students of company law and corporate governance, NGOs involving issues of inequality, poverty and democracy will find this important book an insightful resource. Contents: Preface 1. Corporate Governance Global Economics: The Neo-liberalism Paradigm 2. The Reasons for Convergence and Divergence 3. The United States of America 4. The United Kingdom 5. Germany 6. Conclusion: The Importance of the Existence of National Systems of Corporate Governance References Index

The advent of internet as a means of conducting trade has created new challenges. It is not the first time that technology challenges the efficiency of the current legal framework but the extent of the threat to privacy renders a new approach imperative. In the light of this realisation the different approaches towards data protection in the EU and US are thoroughly analysed. The divergence in the approach is flowing from different historical developments and experiences and hence different legal traditions. The adoption of the EU Directive on Data Protection has been the milestone which reset the debate on a wholly different basis. It revealed the cultural and legal differences between the two sides of the Atlantic and underlined the difficulties in agreeing upon a common solution. The paper focuses on the analysis of the relevant historical and legal framework in the EU and US and concludes with certain proposals of legal and technological nature to deal with the problem. Its central thesis is that the challenges that internet poses on privacy should be dealt within the context of Europes established legal and humanistic traditions.