医疗机构因医院感染应承担的法律责任探讨

医院感染是影响病人安全、医疗质量和增加医疗费用的重要原因。当患者因医院感染受到损害时,医疗机构是否应当承担赔偿责任,医患双方可能各执一词。本文根据《侵权责任法》与《医院感染管理办法》分析、讨论医疗机构因医院感染而应承担的法律责任。     

Gauging the process of international technology transfer

A Technology Transfer Index is proposed for gauging the process of international technology transfer. The approach is based on the premise that the transferee in the process aims at achieving technological independence through gradual replacement of imported technological components by indigenous resources. By avoiding abstract concepts and concentrating on the end-results of the technology transfer process, the index can be computed from readily available statistics of production costs and international trade. The quantitative measure is expected to be a useful indicator for economic planning, aid program management and project evaluation and assessment.     

A legal perspective on university technology transfer

In the thirty-five years after passage of the Bayh–Dole Act of 1980, a robust literature has documented the emergence of university technology transfer as a critical mechanism for the dissemination and commercialization of new technology stemming from federally-funded research. Missing from these investigations, however, is what this paper terms the legal perspective, an understanding of how the law and its attendant mechanisms impact university technology transfer. Specifically, the paper reviews the extant legal scholarship and provides examples of how case law, legal structures, and the unique nature of intellectual property law affects technology transfer, as well as higher education policy and management. Throughout, we propose critical questions for future investigation, which serve to form a cross-disciplinary research agenda that can contribute fresh insights to scholarly and policy discussions related to the role of universities in economic and social development.     

Editorial: From Kyoto to The Hague: European Perspectives on Making the Kyoto Protocol Work

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics -     

Convergence Criteria for Participation in the Flexible Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol

We suggest a multi-layered system of three convergence criteria – similar to those used in the run-up to the European monetary union – that define the notion of "demonstrable progress" towards reaching the emission commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. These are the existence of an independently evaluated national emissions inventory, the level of domestic policies and measures, and the quantitative convergence of emissions towards the Kyoto target. While the first of these criteria constitutes a necessary condition for use of the Kyoto Mechanisms, the other two should determine the degree of participation allowed for any given Annex I country.     

'Alive and Kicking': The First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol

Long confined to the realm of political uncertainty, the Kyoto Protocol finally entered into force on 16 February 2005. As for its substantive bearing, however, the Protocol is, at best, an initial framework for more detailed rules deferred to later Meetings of the Parties. Convening for the first time in Montreal, Canada, from 28 November to 9 December 2005, the Kyoto Protocol's Meeting of the Parties decided on important operational aspects of the Protocol, approving the Marrakesh Accords and thereby implementing the Protocol's flexibility mechanisms and compliance regime. Arguably of even greater magnitude was the agreement to engage in consultations on future mitigation commitments, notably with a view to the period after 2012, when current commitments expire. This article outlines principal decisions passed at the meeting in Montreal, affirming that, while daunting challenges still lie ahead, one thing has now been shown for certain: contrary to many premature obituaries, the Kyoto Protocol is anything but dead.     

The price of non-compliance with the Kyoto Protocol: The remarkable case of Norway

One of the ways to induce compliance is for an international enforcement mechanism to authorize the use of punitive consequences against a non-compliant country. However, such consequences should not cause significant damage to other (compliant) countries. The compliance mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol fails to meet this requirement. The Enforcement Branch of the Compliance Committee is instructed to impose punitive consequences on a non-compliant country that will have considerable adverse welfare effects for compliant countries as well. Using a numerical model, we show that in the case of Norway, the welfare effects can actually be worse if another country is punished than if Norway itself is punished.

中国生态保护和资源开发利用的国际合作法制建设

环境问题既是中国国内的法律问题，也是国际性的法律问题，需要各国采取协调行动来解决。共同但有区别的责任和国际合作，是中国在全球生态和资源开发利用方面坚持的两个基本原则。中国目前采取了签订条约、参与国际和区域环境事务等国际合作措施，发展和完善了确认与保护、鼓励和支持、限制与禁止、敦促与制裁等方面的国际环境合作制度。虽然存在发达国家的经济和技术援助不到位、贸易壁垒隐藏在国际合作机制中、发达国家和周边国家封中国提出的环境要求过于苛刻等问题，但中国的生态保护和资源开发利用国际合作制度的实施，近年来在区域和全球层面仍然取得了很大的成效。     

论《京都议定书》对国际政治和国际经济的潜在影响

《京都议定书》是国际社会在防止全球气候变暖的国际合作方面取得的一份具有里程碑意义的国际法文件。《京都议定书》对国际政治将产生如下影响:发展中国家,尤其是中国、印度等发展中大国承受着越来越大的减排压力;推动欧盟一体化的进程,并进一步提升欧盟的国际政治地位;发展中国家阵营内部呈现出进一步分化的趋势。《京都议定书》对国际经济的影响主要表现在:对各国总体的经济福利产生影响;《京都议定书》产生的“碳泄漏”问题可能使得缔约国在竞争力和产业结构调整等方面发生一系列变化;对国际资本流动产生影响;《京都议定书》将推动能源技术的进步,尤其是推动低碳技术和高能效技术的创新与扩散。     

The Private Sector and the Implementation of the Kyoto Protocol: Experiences, Challenges and Prospects

This article emphasizes the critical importance of the private sector to the success of the efforts to mitigate climate change. Analysing the progress and experiences gained so far, this article concentrates on the role of the private sector in the operationalization of the Kyoto Protocol's three flexible mechanisms, namely Joint Implementation (JI), the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and international emissions trading. The article illustrates in detail the various tasks performed by private actors during the CDM and JI project cycles, and contemplates their possible participation under Article 17 of the Protocol on international emissions trading. While identifying some challenges, the article argues that the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms have succeeded in finding innovative ways of involving the private sector in climate change mitigation and that the post-2012 climate regime should build on these experiences.     

The effectiveness of international environmental agreements

Many argue that international environmental agreements (IEAs) can alter states’ cost-benefit analyses by providing crucial information about the costs of environmental degradation. Thereby, IEAs may help to effectively curb environmental pollution. However, previous attempts to empirically measure institutional effectiveness found it difficult to provide credible estimates because they have missed to produce convincing counterfactuals. This study empirically estimates the effectiveness of one prominent example of an international environmental institution, the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution agreement (LRTAP). It sets forth a transparent identification strategy in light of latest advancements in the causal inference literature and presents evidence for the non-effectiveness of the LRTAP in changing member states’ behavior in terms of anthropogenic emissions of two substances (NO _x and SO₂). By deriving and illustrating the use of difference-in- differences (DID) design in the context of IEAs, this study provides a general methodological tool kit to drawing causal inferences about the effectiveness of international environmental institutions.     

论国际金融衍生交易的法律监管

在目前的国际金融市场上,既能规避风险又能导致风险的金融衍生工具,本身是一把“双刃剑”。尽管没有一种金融业务像衍生工具那样自出生就招致如此多的麻烦,但仍阻挡不了全球金融业对它的向往。因为衍生交易创造了空前繁荣和膨胀的金融市场,并且在很大程度上改变了传统银行体系的经营范畴和交易规则。目前,对一些大型银行来说,衍生交易业务规模大有取代传统存贷业务规模之势,而成为商业银行、投资银行和信托投资公司的主导业务。但是,面对着国际     

The legal status of the fetus: an international review

The article examines the way that courts and legislatures in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and Australia have answered questions regarding the legal status of a fetus. These questions have arisen in a variety of legal situations: the article deals with succession, criminal, child protection and negligence law. The conclusion offered is that a fetus has a value and an existence that the law should recognise. This does not mean, however, that in all circumstances the law should protect the interests of the fetus. Law-makers will respond differently to claims made on behalf of a fetus, depending on the context. The fetus does not have a uniform value or character in the eyes of the law. The law makes choices as to the situations in which it will take account of actual or threatened antenatal harm.