The Division of Labour in Legislative Decision-Making of the Council of the European Union

Little systematic empirical research exists about legislative decision-making in the Council of the European Union. This study contributes to closing this gap in the literature by examining which groups of actors within the Council decide on what type of issues. The Council structure is made up of a hierarchy consisting of working parties at the bottom, committees of senior officials in the middle and the ministers at the top. Based on a novel data set of legislative decisions made by the Council, the study examines the relative importance of these different Council levels. Two important findings emerge from the analysis: first, ministers are more involved in legislative decision-making than often assumed in the literature; second, the involvement of higher Council levels increases with features of dossiers that are related to political conflict. Although the results reduces worries about a lack of political accountability of Council decision-making, they cannot dispel these concerns completely.     

Definition of "Terrorism" in the UN Security Council: 1985-2004

International debate about the problems of defining terrorismhistorically centred on the General Assembly. Yet, between 1985and 2001, the Security Council adopted a range of measures addressingterrorist threats to peace and security, and analysis of theincidents involved reveals much about the Council's understandingof "terrorism". After September 2001, problems of definitionbecame acute, since the Council adopted general legislativemeasures against terrorism—with serious legal consequences—withoutdefining it. The Council has encouraged States to unilaterallydefine terrorism in national law, permitting wide and divergentdefinitions. A non-binding Council definition of late 2004 failsto remedy the serious difficulties caused by the lack of anoperative definition in Council practice.     

Securitization and Judicial Review: A Semiotic Perspective on the Relation Between the Security Council and International Judicial Bodies

This article examines therelation between the Security Council andinternational judicial bodies. The first partexplains, on the basis of linguistic theoriesof international security, the new role assumedby the Security Council after the Cold War. Thesecond part analyses, on the basis of insightsborrowed from legal semiotics, the position ofinternational judicial organs vis-à-vis theSecurity Council (especially the InternationalCourt of Justice and the Tribunals for Rwandaand the former Yugoslavia). The article arguesthat international judicial bodies havedeveloped ways of checking the power of theSecurity Council, which go beyond thetraditional modes of judicial review. Legalsemiotics offers the tools necessary tounderstand these countervailing activities andthus the relation between internationaljudicial bodies and the Security Council ingeneral.     

Framing Big Data in the Council of Europe and the EU data protection law systems: Adding ‘should’ to ‘must’ via soft law to address more than only individual harms

On 19 November 2019 the Council of Europe hosted an international conference, immediately preceding the annual plenary meeting of its Committee of Convention 108, on “Convention 108+ and the future data protection global standard”. One of the authors made a presentation on “Comparing the EU and Council of Europe approach to Big Data”, and it is its contents and findings that are further elaborated in this paper; Its aim is, in essence, to incorporate the feedback received and to adapt past research on Big Data, that was mostly relevant to the EU, also on the Council of Europe data protection system. After a few preliminary remarks on Big Data terminology and possible regulatory approaches, Big Data regulation is examined against the EU and the Council of Europe data protection systems. Particular emphasis is given to the Council of Europe regulatory approach both in terms of Convention 108+ and with regard to its Guidelines on Big Data and AI. The authors believe that, because both the EU and the Council of Europe have avoided to refer to Big Data in their basic data protection regulatory texts (a most likely intentional omission), guidance is indeed needed, and it may well come in the form of soft law. The Council of Europe has taken the lead in this through its Guidelines; Their timely, comprehensive and balanced approach showcases the Council's will for such processing to indeed take place, but within a well-regulated environment, albeit not under a rigid regulatory construction.     

Coercion and justification: a global public reason perspective on Security Council reform

The Security Council is the only international body capable of authorizing the use of force in cases other than self-defence. Its main mission is to protect international peace and security, and this has been reinterpreted in recent decades to include the protection of human rights in situations of grave humanitarian emergencies as well as to allow it to exercise legislative powers. Given this extraordinary range of functions, it is worth asking whether the Security Council is justified in their exercise. Should the international community entrust such power to an institution with the authority, structure, and decision-making process of the Security Council? This article explores the implications of a distinctive tradition in political philosophy – namely, the public reason tradition – for judging the adequacy of some of the proposals for reform of the Security Council. I show that the scope of authority of the Security Council, as well as some of the proposals for reform, can be challenged on the basis of an emerging global public culture.     

法国宪法委员会功能新论

提起法国宪法委员会,人们都会很自然地将其功能与宪法监督划上等号。但事实上它却是一个有着宪法监督功能,以平衡政府与议会关系为主要职责的特殊政治机构。从宪法委员会官方网站提供的历年裁决来看,其功能可分为两级。通过第五共和国权力机关运作流程,对其功能进行动态分析,发现宪法委员会的主要功能不是宪法监督,而是平衡政府和议会之间的权力。     

冲突与协调:安理会与国际法院的关系新论

《联合国宪章》对安理会与国际法院的职责作出了明确规定,由于两个机构在组成与性质方面的差异,在处理共同管辖的国际争端时,两个机构的解决方式有时存在分歧,而且安理会决议与国际法院裁判对《联合国宪章》条文的解释也存在矛盾。因此,在《联合国宪章》的框架内重新构建安理会与国际法院的关系,有迫切的需要。在产生共同管辖时,国际法院应当适当照顾安理会决议的意见,同时,为制约安理会日益扩大的权力,应当肯定国际法院对安理会决议的司法审查权。     

Codecision procedure biais: the European legislation game

The European Union’s codecision procedure is analyzed as a bargaining game between the Council and the European Parliament. The model shows that the policy outcome is biased towards the ideal point of the institution that is closest to the status quo, when the negotiation leads to an agreement. If the Council’s ideal policy is closer to the status quo, as is the case for example concerning the duration of maternity leave, the resulting policy will remain closer to the Council’s than to the European Parliament’s position. Furthermore, the result of the codecision procedure is Kaldor–Hicks inefficient. The developments of common policies concerning asylum, fishery and maternity leave illustrate both the possibility of the failure of negotiations and the influence of the Council on the outcome.     

国际民用航空组织争端解决机制司法化改革论析

1944年《芝加哥公约》第18章赋予国际民用航空组织理事会裁判与公约的解释与适用有关的国际争端的权能。但过往裁判实践表明,国际民用航空组织争端解决机制的结构性缺陷导致理事会司法功能未有效发挥。一方面,《芝加哥公约》第54条与第84条存在适用冲突,使得理事会在实践中更愿意以政治角色介入争端解决,导致《解决分歧规则》的司法效能被弱化。另一方面,理事会成员国代表司法能力不足且缺乏司法中立性,使得理事会对争端的解决难以提供高效的法律产出。国际民用航空组织应在2018年所启动《解决分歧规则》修订进程中对争端解决机制进行司法化改革,避免国际民用航空业沦为国际政治对抗的工具。     

联合国安理会改革的国际法思考

在国际和平与安全方面,确立二战后国际秩序的规则和制度,已不能完全适应全球化时代的需求,建立在以安理会为核心、以联合国为基础之上的国际集体安全体制,面临新问题时显得危机重重。国际情势的变迁,严重震荡着安理会原有的权力结构以及由此确立的权力秩序,与此相关,国际法律秩序也遭遇严重挑战。安理会改革的主张各有利弊,其中涉及诸多的国际法律问题,解决好这些问题,有助于安理会改革的顺利进行,并期望由此推动和平稳定的国际新秩序的形成。     

Defining the Arts and Cultural Universe: Lessons from the Profiles Project

This article discusses state support of artists in the United Kingdom, focusing on the Arts Council England. To understand the present—or the future—support of visual artists, one needs to understand the past. Accordingly, the article begins with a brief history of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1946, discussing Thatcher's reforms after the 1979 election. Tony Blair's New Labour continued many of the same strategies instituted by the Conservatives. At the same time as fiscal constraints and "enterprise culture" were imposed, the mission of the Arts Council was broadened to include both geographical representation and a more populist agenda. A review of the contemporary arrangements for state support of artists in the United Kingdom shows that many of the tensions that exist within today's Arts Council were institutionalized in its early days. The article concludes with a comment on what the current situation may portend for the future.     

Transparency in the EU Council of Ministers: An Institutional Analysis

The development of access to documents and open meetings provisions by the Council of Ministers of the European Union shows an interesting pattern: before 1992 no formal transparency provisions existed, between 1992 and 2006 formal transparency provisions dramatically increased, and since 2006 this increase has come to a halt. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of these shifts by conducting a historical institutional analysis of policy change. As explanatory factors, we consider the preferences and power resources of Member States, as well as external catalysts and social structures. We conclude that the current revision deadlock is more stable than the situation before 1992 because now the pro‐transparency coalition and transparency‐sceptic Council majority have entrenched their positions. Nevertheless, and in spite of Council entrenchment, we expect that Council transparency will continue to develop in the longer term, under the pressure of increasingly influential outside actors, particularly the European Parliament.     

联合国经济制裁中的人权保护问题研究

联合国经济制裁通常以安理会决议的形式出现,安理会决议具有法律效力,各国有义务全面、严格地执行安理会决议。安理会决议应当遵循《联合国宪章》的宗旨及原则,不得与一般国际法强制规律相抵触。当一国出现严重侵犯人权的罪行并怠于履行人权保护义务时,安理会可以代表国际社会对其采取保障人权的必要措施。联合国制裁经历了从"传统制裁"到"聪明制裁"的转变。由于缺少对公正审判权的保护,各国执行"聪明制裁"面临选择困境。针对"聪明制裁"可能引发的人权危机,有必要从制度设计层面入手,明确安理会决议的授权范围,完善"和平之威胁"的判断标准,加强对各国执行安理会决议的监督与审查,保障制裁对象的公正审判权,建立多元化的人权保护救济渠道。在联合国经济制裁中加强人权保护,有利于积极应对国际安全形势变化,有利于促进和平解决国际争端,有利于推动构建人类命运共同体。     

The Security Council in the Face of Genocide

The genocide in Rwanda will define for our generation the failureto intervene in the face of mass human rights abuses. The UNSecurity Council (the Council) was intimately involved in thisterrible event, with the decisions it took from October 1993,when a peacekeeping mission was created for Rwanda, having adecisive effect on what happened. This article details the crucialmeetings held by the Council in secret and informal sessionsand describes how a serious assessment of the situation in Rwandawas simply missing. It shows how the peacekeepers of the Council'smission to Rwanda were abandoned during the genocide and howthe efforts of these UN personnel to ease the suffering of theRwandan people were ignored by the Great Powers.     

银监会法律性质研究

2003年中国银监会的成立是我国金融监管机制步向专业化与法治化的一个重要举措。但银监会＂国务院直属正部级事业单位＂的现有定位广受诟病。＂事业单位＂的定性使国务院组成部门、直属机构和事业单位的界限变得模糊不清;＂正部级＂的冠名使得行政级别的设置进一步强化;＂国务院直属＂的设置模式无法保证银监会监管的独立性。从银监会的专业性、独立性、权力混合性及其履行职责的性质来看,其应当定性为国家经济调制机关。     

赴美学术访问考察报告

应美国国务院有关部门的邀请,笔者于去年赴美访问了美国行政司法部门和教育科研机构等40余家单位,就美国有组织犯罪、毒品犯罪、恐怖主义犯罪等问题进行了学术考察。重点访问了美国国务院国际麻醉品和法律执行局、美国国土安全部移民和海关管制局、美国联邦调查局亚洲犯罪处、美国毒品管制局等单位加深了对美国行政司法制度和教育科研机构的了解,增长了理论素养,开阔了学术视野。     

欧盟461/2004反倾销规则研究

2004年3月,欧盟颁布了461/2004反倾销规则,该规则是对欧盟现行反倾销基本条例的最新补充.该规则对欧盟原反倾销法律实体和程序方面进行的修改,充分体现了近年来国际上关于反倾销立法的潮流:反倾销作为WTO允许的贸易保护手段,其立法既应保证反倾销措施能有效地得以实施也应不断保持透明度.欧盟461/2004反倾销规则在这方面值得包括中国在内的其他WTO成员国借鉴.     

Law reform across the commonwealth: A new voice

This article examines the proviso to the ‘alternative remedies’ provision/clause in Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions. It does so from two perspectives emerging from the jurisprudence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in this area. In the first, exemplified by Harrikissoon v Attorney General, the applicant brings a constitutional motion for infringements of his fundamental rights or freedoms in circumstances where he may have an alternative remedy at common law or under statute. In that decision, the Privy Council delineated the scope of this proviso under the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, effectively importing an ‘alternative remedies’ clause from the use of the word ‘may’ in section 14(2) of the Constitution. This article examines, first, what Harrikissoon decided; second, whether its reasoning is acceptable given the wording of the section; and, third, the limitations accepted by subsequent decisions of the Privy Council. In the second perspective, the applicant makes a similar application for infringements of his fundamental rights or freedoms arising from or occurring during the course of proceedings already begun. The locus classicus is the decision of Chokolingo v Attorney General and forms part of the wider concern of the courts to prevent its processes being abused where the applicant makes a collateral constitutional challenge rather than pursuing an ordinary appeal. This article also aims to examine the decisions that pre‐dated Chokolingo in order to understand its jurisprudential underpinnings; to explore that decision to determine what the Privy Council in Chokolingo decided; to consider the similarities and differences between the reasoning therein and that of the Privy Council in Harrikissoon; and to consider the extent to which the principle enunciated in Chokolingo has been extended or limited in subsequent decisions of the Privy Council.     

Networks of European National Human Rights Institutions

This article concerns the networks of European national human rights institutions (NHRIs). It examines how the sharing of best practices takes place through networks and how NHRIs achieve cooperation at both the international and regional levels. The article also analyses NHRI cooperation within three organisations: the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the EU. While cooperation at the international level facilitates their accreditation according to their compliance with the Paris Principles and enables them to participate in the sessions of the Human Rights Council, cooperation at the European level allows them to exchange information on issues of common concern and strengthens their relationship with regional bodies. In Europe, NHRIs cooperate with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and might also do so with the recently established Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU.     

《核不扩散条约》缔约国和平利用核能的权利探究——以伊朗为例

近来,伊朗所声称的和平利用核能的活动引起了国际社会的强烈反应。在国际原子能机构框架内解决该问题的努力失败后,该问题被移交到联合国安理会。安理会已三次通过决议要求伊朗停止铀浓缩,并逐步加强了对伊朗的制裁。由于伊朗享有核主权,并且这种核主权受到《核不扩散条约》的确认,所以伊朗和平利用核能的权利具有充分的法律依据。但是伊朗和平利用核能的权利应受到三点限制:第一,权利不得滥用原则的限制;第二,《保障协定》及其《附加议定书》的限制;第三,安理会决议的限制。