Der Jargon einer leitenden Angestellten

The essay deals with the case of a manager in a banking enterprise. She is commissioned to cut back the seize of employees by one thousand positions all over the country together with the members of her staff. The study’s main topic is the — also professional — manager’s jargon used in the individual negotiatons with those who indicate to be interested in dissolving their work contract. The study leads to these about the influence which may be gained on others through speaking jargon. The observations made in the case study are compared with Th. W. Adorno’s and P. Bourdieu’s reflections on the jargon. Generalizing from the case study, the author points to impairments induced by speaking jargon in social interaction, and to a specific style of sustaining intersubjective relationships which could become socially dominant.     

Restriction of Hazardous Substances: On the Need for and the Limits of Comitology

This article demonstrates the need for and the limits of the so-called comitology procedure in the area of European waste legislation, using the example of Directive 2002/95/ EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (the RoHS Directive). The RoHS Directive prohibits the use of six hazardous substances in certain electrical and electronic equipment. The Annex to the RoHS Directive, which contains the exemptions from this prohibition, can be amended through the comitology procedure. This procedure is a widely used method in European Community law for the delegation of legislative power from the Council and the European Parliament to the executive branch, i.e. the European Commission. The authors conclude that the use of comitology is indispensable for highly technical issues for which the co-legislators are lacking the time, as well as the resources, to carry out the adaptation of the legislative acts. However, the Commission needs to handle comitology with care; otherwise it runs the risk that its decisions lack legitimacy.