Taking a sledgehammer to crack the nut: The EU Enforcement Directive

In April 2004 the EU passed the Directive on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights amidst charges of “conflicting interest” and heavy-handed influence of the American entertainment industry. The Directive has received widespread condemnation from various sectors of the society for supporting private interest at the expense of public interest through the impositions of Mareva injunctions and Anton Piller Orders, even in instances of accidental and non-commercial infringements of the intellectual property right [Meller P. EU backs deal on copyright piracy. International Herald Tribune, NY; 2004]. This paper will examine the provisions of the Directive and determine its implications, in particular, as to whether they balance or not the rights of the right holders and public interest.     

Promoting the Information Society: The EU Directive on Electronic Commerce

On 8 June 2000, the EU adopted the landmark 'electronic commerce' directive, a legal framework for the development of information society services. This article examines the rationale and evolution of EU policy for e-commerce and the key features of the directive. These include establishing the responsibilities of service and intermediary service providers, procedures for concluding on-line contracts and redress and enforcement mechanisms. It also explores the extent to which the directive clarifies the national law applicable to cross-frontier transactions and the relationship between the directive and private international law. The directive makes an important contribution to encouraging trust in the new technologies by establishing an EU-wide model for e-commerce, but it is by no means clear that it goes far enough. The continuing divergence of consumer protection policies and uncertainties about jurisdiction, securing redress, the liabilities of service providers and the status of contracts based upon web-site advertisements may continue to discourage the development of e-commerce in the Community.     

欧盟利息税指令及其对我国的借鉴

利息税是影响资本流动的一个重要因素,欧盟长期以来致力于协调成员国间的利息税制度。欧盟利息税指令的出台历经坎坷。利息支付情况的信息交换制度是该指令的核心,同时指令还在过渡期内规定了可选择的预提税制度,从而有效地协调了支付地国、税收居民国和受益人之间的利益。指令在对利息支付的定义、预提税的计算以及祖父条款的适用方面存在一定的问题,还需进一步完善。指令对我国利息税制度的健全完善尤其是利息税协调制度的建立有着重要的借鉴意义。     

最新欧盟消费者权益指令的解读与借鉴

2011年10月25日,欧盟颁布了编号为2011/83/EU的消费者权益保护的最新指令。该指令主要规定了经营者向消费者提供信息的义务,以及消费者撤销合同的权利,这些规定反映了欧盟消费者权益保护法上的信息透明、利益均衡和私权救济的立法精神。我国《消费者权益保护法》制定于1993年,到如今我国社会经济生活发生了很大变化,很多内容已经不能满足今天的消费者权益保护之需。欧盟最新的消费者权益保护指令对完善我国《消费者权益保护法》具有很好的借鉴意义。     

欧盟《计算机程序可专利性指令》的最新进展

自2004年5月18日欧盟理事会形成有关欧盟《计算机程序可专利性指令》(以下简称指令)的决议以来,人们一直关注该指令的进展,并把目光从欧盟理事会转向了欧洲议会,纷纷预测在欧洲议会的讨论中可能出现的结果。但事态的发展却大出人们的意料,指令尚未到达欧洲议会的"二读"程序,激烈的交锋与冲突便已经展开了。 本来,欧洲议会进行二读的时间应为2004年秋季,但由于种种原因,这一进程被一拖再拖。 实际上,2004年5月18日的决议只是理事会的内部决议,即所谓的"有关共同立场的政治决议",并不具有共同立场的效力。按照欧盟的立法规则,在欧洲贸     

欧盟《计算机程序可专利性指令》的进展

在美国通过一系列措施加强了对计算机程序的专利保护之后,欧洲、日本等也纷纷研究并出台了一系列的措施予以应对。 应当说,在计算机程序专利保护方面,欧洲的经验对我国具有重要的借鉴意义。这一方面取决于欧洲本身在世界经济技术领域举足轻重的作用,另一方面则是由于欧洲各国有不同的社会、文化和技术发展水平,因此     

论我国移动源大气污染防治制度的完善——以《大气污染防治法》规范分析为视角

我国移动源大气污染形势严峻,但《大气污染防治法》在这一问题上的规定却存在不足.在借鉴国外先进做法和总结我国实践经验的基础上,我们应将非道路移动源污染防治纳入《大气污染防治法》；改进移动源管理模式,实施有差别的移动源区域防治与合作制度；还应将排污缺陷作为移动源召回的条件之一,从而建立以生产者责任为核心的移动源大气污染防治责任制度.     

Illegal access to information systems and the Directive 2013/40/EU

Directive 2013/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013, on attacks against information systems, came into force on 3 September 2013, replacing Council Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA. It maintains existing offences and criminalizes new activities such as illegal interception and the usage of certain tools for committing offences. The offence that is the focus of this article – illegal access to information systems – is set out in Article 3. It represents a change from the wording of Art 2 (2) of the Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA in that under Art 3 of the Directive the incrimination of illegal access to information systems now depends upon whether such access infringes a security measure. This paper provides an overview of the impetus for the introduction of cybercrime laws and analysis of the key provisions of the Directive before exploring whether the wording of Art 3 is a sensible legislative approach.     

Research with minors in Greece and the EU Directive on clinical trials

This article describes the legal rules for research with minors in Greece in relation to the EU Directive on clinical trials and the Greek Code of Medical Ethics.     

From Balance to Conflict: A New Constitution for the EU

As the crisis (and the Union's response to it) further develops, one thing appears clear: the European Union post‐crisis will be a very different animal from the pre‐crisis EU. This article offers an alternative model for the EU's constitutional future. Its objective is to invert the Union's current path‐dependency: changes to the way in which the Union works should serve to question, rather than entrench, its future objectives and trajectory. The paper argues that the post‐crisis EU requires a quite different normative, institutional and juridical framework. Such a framework must focus on reproducing the social and political cleavages that underlie authority on the national level and that allow divisive political choices to be legitimised. This reform project implies reshaping the prerogatives of the European institutions. Rather than seeking to prevent or bracket political conflict, the division of institutional competences and tasks should be rethought in order to allow the EU institutions to internalise within their decision‐making process the conflicts reproduced by social and political cleavages. Finally, a reformed legal order must play an active role as a facilitator and container of conflict over the ends of the integration project.     

Central Bank Independence in the EU: From Theory to Practice

Abstract:  This article provides an overview of the practical problems which arise in ensuring the effective independence of central banks in the EU, drawing on the European Central Bank's consultative experience. Four aspects of central bank independence are discussed separately: functional, institutional, personal and financial. The possible issues raised by central bank involvement in prudential supervision are touched upon. The main conclusion of the article is that a set of legal provisions is generally not sufficient to ensure proper central bank independence; a culture of respect for independence, including its limits, among all parties involved is essential.     

区域大气污染府际合作治理制度框架探讨

区域大气污染问题的凸显以及区域环境协同治理的兴起,必然要求加强政府间合作以应对区域大气污染。落实区域大气污染府际合作治理,重在以《大气污染防治法》(2015年)确定的框架为基础,完善区域大气污染府际合作治理法律制度。基于对现有法律制度的检视,应当加以完善的制度有区域大气环境规划制度、区域大气污染联合执法制度、区域重污染天气应急制度、信息公开和公众参与制度。     

The EU Directive on Electronic Signatures--A Worldwide Model or a Fruitless Attempt to Regulate the Future?

The Directive on a Community Framework for Electronic Signatures is an essential and important new legal standard for the regulation of electronic signatures. The following article describes this Directive and assesses whether this new legal framework will be an effective and successful worldwide model or whether it will be rather fruitless. While doing this, I will consider the implementation of the Directive into UK and German law. This will also reveal some possibilities of how the legal status of electronic signatures can or cannot and should or should not be regulated. Furthermore, I will refer to other acts, for example, the UCITA and UETA of the US and the Model Law on Electronic Commerce and Draft Uniform Rules on Electronic Signatures of the UNCITRAL. My result is that the EU Directive is to be approved in general. Only if one said that in an ever-changing world every law was premature or even that in an imperfect world every law was either insufficient or unnecessary, would it be consequent to decline regulation of electronic signatures completely. However, regarding the details, some provisions, for example, the possibility of introducing a voluntary accreditation scheme, are open to criticism.     

Norway and Emissions Trading: From Global Front-Runner to EU Follower

A striking convergence has taken place in the design of the Norwegian and EU greenhouse gas emissions trading systems from 1998 to 2004. This article argues that the Norwegian adaptation to the EU did not take place as a consequence of perceived legal obligations under the European Economic Area agreement. Nor did it take place due to Norwegian actors being persuaded about the merits of the EU design. The main explanation has to do with interests. The EU market and politics are of course generally very important for Norway. However, before the US pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, the Norwegian outlook in climate politics was global. The US pull-out accelerated the development and hence the attractiveness of the EU trading system and resulted in EU emissions trading as the most probable and possibly only international market for Norway to link up to. Hence, this analysis provides further support to the importance of being sensitive to the global context and institutional interaction when analyzing the relationship between the EU and its neighboring countries.     

论欧盟版权改革对短视频分享平台责任之启示

短视频产业的规模化导致与短视频分享有关的纠纷有所增长。较之传统视频平台之经营模式,短视频平台所提供内容更为碎片化。这些微小内容的版权问题基于其快销的商业模式,以现有的通知移除规则管理,似乎力有不逮。恰逢欧盟2019年4月通过《数字单一市场版权改革指令》(CDDSM),其中第17条被称之为过滤责任条款,矫正了平台注意义务范围,这对短视频平台的侵权乱象或可有效规制。中国应谨慎分析过滤责任,考虑试验性采用《指令》第17条提出的尽力而为+通知移除规制的两级制义务模式,因应时代需求,改善救济渠道。     

The Cyprus and other EU court rulings on data retention: The Directive as a privacy bomb

This paper discusses the controversy surrounding the Data Retention Directive with an emphasis on the 2011 decision of the Cyprus Supreme Court which has annulled several district court orders that allowed the police access to telecommunications data relating to certain persons relevant to criminal investigations. The annulment has been on the ground that the legal provisions upon which the orders have been issued are unconstitutional. It will suggest that the decision does not entail a direct rejection of the EU Data Retention Directive and that in any event, Cyprus is not a Member State resisting the particular measure. This is because the legal provisions are deemed unconstitutional, though part of the law that has transposed the relevant Directive into national law are provisions that go beyond what the EU legislator intended to regulate through that Directive. Still, the particular Directive sits rather uneasily within the ‘human rights’ regime, in particular the one governing the individual right of privacy.     

从威权管制到社会治理——关于修订《大气污染防治法》的几点思考

我国《大气污染防治法》的修订正在进行之中,大气污染防治法的修订,仍存在一些有待解决的重大问题。除了基于气候变化问题对二氧化碳的规制作出回应,以及结合我国大气污染现状提出大气污染防治应引入分区管理制度外,现行《大气污染防治法》仍然呈现出以政府为主体,以污染企业为规制对象的单一化威权体制特征,其法律实施效果不佳,也不符合现代社会自我管制与和谐发展的要求。为此,需要加强市场激励机制的作用,为社会自我管制和公众参与提供条件,并基于行政责任和民事责任动因的不同,改变目前法律责任规定中重行政责任轻民事责任的现状。     

Disclosure practices under the EU Prospectus Directive and the role of CESR

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• In February 2005, CESR issued its Recommendationsfor the consistent implementation of the Prospectus Regulation.
• SinceJuly 2006, CESR has begun to develop a line of clarificationson disclosure practices under the Prospectus Directive and theProspectus Regulation in the form of common positions basedon Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
• This article first analysesthe question to which extent CESR's Recommendations and commonpositions have binding effect, in the sense that individualnational securities regulators are under some form of obligationto apply these.
• Subsequently, the article discusses a selectionof CESR's common positions on FAQs which are of material importancefor day-to-day disclosure practice.