论我国环境影响评价制度的效用及完善

环境影响评价(Environmental Impact Assessment,英文缩写为EIA)是实现可持续发展的重要工具,多数国家都要求时建设项目进行环境影响评价.我国法律要求对国家的政策、计划和规划项目进行的环境影响进行评价,目的是通过该制度把环境保护目标和措施纳入经济和社会发展的规划中,使环境因素与经济、社会因素一起,在规划形成的早期阶段得到重视.鉴于环评制度的重要意义,从环境影响评价的基本问题出发,分析环境影响评价效用以及存在的现实问题,最终提出环境影响评价制度的完善措施.     

我国海洋生物多样性的保护现状及法律对策

海洋生物资源提供了人类社会重要的生存物质,有效地保护好这些资源,对促进人类社会的持续发展具有重要意义。最近几十年来,海洋生物物种灭绝的速度加快,丰富的物种多样性日趋下降,对人类的生存和生活产生一定的影响。因此,有必要结合海洋生物多样性保护的现状,分析探讨海洋生物多样性保护方面存在的问题和原因,并提出完善海洋生物多样性保护的政策和法规、建立海洋自然保护区、广泛开展海洋生物多样性保护的区域合作和国际合作等具体的法律对策。     

我国台湾地区“行政程序法”立法争议问题研究

行政程序法是行政机关作成行政行为时应遵循一定程序法规范,以确保行政行为的合法、正确与公正,并提高行政效率;同时藉由程序的规定,使人民在行政机关作成行政行为的过程中,得以参与、表达意见与沟通,进而确保人民程序与实体上权益,并增进人民的信赖。因此,行政程序的法制化,具有确保依法行政、保障人民权益、提高行政效率及增进人民对行政机关信赖的功能。我国台湾地区"行政程序法"于2001年1月1日实施,在该法的引导下,各行政机关已经在许多行政程序单元上有常态性的实践经验,包括电子化政府或整合政府公报等配套制度的建制,也提供行政程序法实施的配套条件。研究台湾地区"行政程序法"当时的立法争议问题,对于大陆《行政程序法》的立法,具有一定的参考价值。     

Fracture patterns on the infant porcine skull following severe blunt impact

The objective of this study was to document patterns of fracture on infant porcine skulls aged 2-28 days (n = 57) because of a single, high energy blunt impact to the parietal bone with rigid (nondeformable) and compliant (deformable) interfaces. Fracture patterns were mapped using Geographic Information System software. For the same generated impact force, the rigid interface produced more fractures than the compliant interface for all ages. This study also showed that this increased level of impact energy versus an earlier study using a lower energy resulted in new sites of fracture initiation and also caused previously defined fractures that propagate into an adjacent bone. Several unique characteristics of bone and diastatic fracture were documented as a function of specimen age, impact energy, and interface. These data describe some baseline characteristics of skull fracture using an animal model that may help guide future studies from forensic case files.     

Iveta Silova. From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism. Reconceptualizing Minority Education in Post-Soviet Latvia. Greenwich,CT: Information Age Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1593114613.

This article explores the personal spatialities of the majority of inhabitants in Estonia and Sweden. The author analyzed survey data and used variables about the perception of cultural distances, interest in receiving news from other countries via mass media, and contacts with people from these countries. The analysis suggests a hypothesis that in Estonia, personal spatiality is shaped primarily by institutional factors (e.g. the media, the economy). In Sweden, the formation of personal spatiality is based on versatile sources and is more autonomous with regard to the media than in a transition country such as Estonia. The analysis also demonstrates that the symbolic division of the world into East and West shapes the imagined Nordic and Baltic space and people's thinking patterns about ‘others’.     

国际项目融资中的环境争端及其解决——以新加坡丰益集团印尼棕榈油项目案为例

如何避免和解决国际项目融资中的环境争端,现已成为各国政府、投资方、项目所在地的当地社群以及国际组织等各方密切关注的问题。2007年新加坡丰益集团印尼棕榈油项目案受到了国际社会的高度关注。审查该案的是世界银行合规顾问/监察专署(CAO)。CAO允许可能受到项目直接影响的个人、社群或非政府组织就项目产生的社会和环境问题提出申诉。国际金融公司(IFC)的履行标准是CAO裁决的重要准据,而非政府组织的一些理念和准则也可能成为争端解决的依据。这使得私方在争端的进程和争端解决中占据着重要地位。投资东道国政府应考虑对相关的国内法规适时进行修改完善,同时关注非政府组织的动向,以免在争端发生时陷入被动。     

Protecting the privacy and security of sensitive customer data in the cloud

The global ubiquity of cloud computing may expose consumers' sensitive personal data to significant privacy and security threats. A critical challenge for the cloud computing industry is to earn consumers' trust by ensuring adequate privacy and security for sensitive consumer data. Regulating consumer privacy and security also challenges government enforcement of data protection laws that were designed with national borders in mind. From an information privacy perspective, this article analyses how well the regulatory frameworks in place in Europe and the United States help protect the privacy and security of sensitive consumer data in the cloud. It makes suggestions for regulatory reform to protect sensitive information in cloud computing environments and to remove regulatory constraints that limit the growth of this vibrant new industry.     

iGovernment: A new perspective on the future of government digitisation

Innovative use of ICT applications is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of modern government policy in every area of service, care and control. Looking beyond the individual applications and layers of digitisation, we find a hodgepodge of information flows running within and between the various public authorities, policy domains, and crossing the public/private boundary. This has consequences for the relation between government and citizens. Step by step, decision by decision, the everyday work of government is changing ‘the rules of the game’ and giving rise to “information Government” (iGovernment), without this being based on any overall strategic agenda or awareness among political decision-makers. This article places this development in a new framework and suggests a perspective on a necessary paradigm shift.     

European Court of Justice rules on the protection of databases under the Database Directive (96/9/EC)

The European Court of Justice has ruled on the circumstances in which databases may be protected by the Database Directive. In a decision that renders the protection of databases a narrow concept, the ECJ appears to have introduced a new requirement that a database must comprise its author's “creative ability” in order to qualify for protection as a copyright work.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of Baker & McKenzie’s column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside websites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.