中国对欧盟政策文件初析

《中国对欧盟政策文件》的出台经历了一个长期酝酿和精心准备的过程。它既是中国对欧盟对华政策的一个积极回应,同时更体现了中国对欧盟重视程度的提高。欧洲一体化不仅增加了欧盟的实力,也增强了欧洲在世界范围内发挥更大作用的战略自信心。中国对欧盟的重视程度与欧盟一体化的程度是成正比的。共同的经济、政治及战略利益,加上双方加强更高层次合作的政治意愿将为中欧今后建立战略伙伴关系提供坚实的基础。     

论欧盟温室气体控制法律和政策的方法论意义

欧盟关于温室气体排放削减的法律和政策为我国有关温室气体减排的法律和政策的完善提供了很多可资借鉴的东西。从方法论的角度看,值得借鉴的东西主要有:对各种温室气体的统一控制;温室气体减排同经济社会发展相结合;政府管制、市场手段、企业自愿协议和技术开发等方法的互补应用和温室气体排放控制政策制定程序的民主性。     

European Structural Policy: Bend or Break

This article deals with the consequences for the European Structural Policy (ESP) of the extension of the EU with countries from Central and East Europe. It argues that the allocation mechanism of financial assistance from the structural funds must be changed profoundly in order to gain a balanced system of distributing the available funds. In view of the changing Common Agricultural Policy and international trade policy in the framework of the WTO the European Structural Policy will become gradually more important. In order to compensate for the decreasing price support for agricultural products extension of structural assistance in the near future is inevitable.     

欧盟远程金融服务监管立法的新发展及评价

远程金融服务是一种以现代传真、电话及网络为介质的、体现个性化的新型金融服务方式。为此,欧盟以原有的《电子商务指令》及《远程销售指令》为基础推出了《消费者金融服务远程销售指令》。尽管新的欧盟指令起到了整合性与系统性的作用,但是由于欧盟内部离心力的存在,所以要达到预期目标仍然是一个任重而道远的行程。固然如此,新指令所确立的以消费者为保护中心的立法价值取向等对我国未来金融监管立法之创新仍具有借鉴意义。     

欧盟合并控制法的根本变革

在全球经济一体化、欧盟实施货币一体化、成员增加之际 ,欧盟开始了对欧盟合并控制制度的进一步完善。 2 0 0 4年初 ,欧盟理事会通过了新的合并控制条例 ,欧盟委员会通过了与之配套的欧盟历史上第一个合并评估准则 ,代表着欧盟的合并控制制度发生了根本性的变化。欧盟新合并条例 ,实体上采取了新的合并控制标准 ,由支配地位标准改为重大阻碍有效竞争标准 ;程序上在坚持单一程序原则的基础上 ,实行欧盟委员会与成员国双向移交的模式。合并评估准则建立了合并效果评估的法律框架和评估因素 ,在合并评估中正式认可了效率的积极作用。     

State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th Convocation: Between “Sleeping Potential” and Party Discipline

In the run-up to the elections of 18 September 2016, suggestions were made that a change in the rules for electing the State Duma (a return to a mixed majority-proportional system) would affect the qualitative composition of the deputy corps.^11. See for example Kynev, Lyubarev, Maximov 2015; Mintusov (ed.) 2016; Mixed districts 2016. Today, a year since the Duma campaign, we already have sufficient information to move from hypothetical arguments to a specific study not only of the composition, but also the style of work of the new parliament.

Existing data allow us to say that two different tendencies exist in the Duma. One of them is connected with the change in the composition of the deputy corps, caused by the addition of a majority component, which has influenced the principles of selecting candidates, and by a number of other causes—from the assumption of a low turn-out to the emergence of new bans and restrictions in legislation. Another involves the change in style of work of the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly. Besides efforts directly toward reducing scandalous behavior and overcoming the reputation of a “maniacal printer,” this concerns attempts by the leadership of the Duma in general and individual parliamentary groups to regulate and centralize the lawmaking process as much as possible. If the first tendency involves increasing political independence of deputies (as a consequence of the increase of the importance of their personal qualities at elections), the second means an even greater reduction of their influence on decisions taken by the Duma. This article provides a detailed analysis of these tendencies.     

Pragmatic relevance/strength of lexico-grammar choices in EU legal documents

The present study focuses on the communicative relevance of lexical choices in the documents of the European Union Committee of the Regions （CoR） and of other related bodies within a pragmalinguistic perspective. The function of the Committee of the Regions is to issue opinions on proposals for Community legislation which are closest to the citizen interests - education, youth, culture, health. It is thus a voice at the heart of the EU which aims at increasing the participation of European regions in community life. Our corpus consists in 100 documents （Proposals and Opinions） whose lexico-grammatical aspects and communicative/ rhetorical strategies are here investigated. Our hypothesis is that such texts aim at creating a holistic we to construe a common ground of interests, within the constraints of legal intercourses, shared by both the sender and the receiver of the messages. Frequently occurring lexical items are： welcome, ensure, strengthen, aid. To stress urgency, generate empathy, emphasize needs and endorse value-positions are the recognizable perlocutionary effects of such semantic/pragmatic choices. Tools for analysis were taken from the domain of pragmalinguistics, from Evaluative/Appraisal Frameworks and, also, from social sciences. Particularly relevant appeared the notion of＇advocacy＇ （i.e., when researchers are asked to use their expertise to defend the subjects＇ interests in healthcare, education, political rights, and cultural autonomy）. This study will provide both qualitative and quantitative data to support our hypothesis, and will offer suggestions for further research.     

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 web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

Data retention in the UK: Pragmatic and proportionate,or a step too far?

On 6 April 2009 new legislation came into force, for the first time putting Internet service providers' duty to retain significant amounts of data (relating to customers' email and Internet usage) on a compulsory, as opposed to a voluntary footing. It is a topic which has provoked intense protest from the privacy lobby and fuelled months of “Big Brother” headlines in the press. For the industry it raises operational challenges – how to facilitate storage and retrieval of colossal amounts of data. In this article we consider the policy background to the regime, the detail of the UK implementation and the practical implications for communications service providers. We weigh up the privacy and human rights concerns against the business case put forward by the Government. We also examine the Government's proposals – announced at the end of April – to significantly extend and “future proof” this regime in the form of its Intercept Modernisation Programme.     

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