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On 15 December 2020, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a regulation on a single market for digital services (Digital Services Act, DSA) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC. The legislative project seeks to establish a robust and durable governance structure for the effective supervision of providers of intermediary services. To this end, the DSA sets out numerous due diligence obligations of intermediaries concerning any type of illegal information, including copyright-infringing content. Empirically, copyright law accounts for most content removal from online platforms, by an order of magnitude. Thus, copyright enforcement online is a major issue in the context of the DSA, and the DSA will be of utmost importance for the future of online copyright in the EU. Against this background, the European Copyright Society takes this opportunity to share its view on the relationship between the copyright acquis and the DSA, as well as further selected aspects of the DSA from a copyright perspective.
Die am 28. Oktober 2021 in Kraft getretene Änderungsverordnung zur Aarhus-Verordnung der EU modernisiert den administrativen und gerichtlichen Rechtsschutz gegen Rechtsakte der Organe und Einrichtungen der EU. Die Verordnung setzt einen Schlusspunkt unter das jahrelange Tauziehen zwischen dem Compliance-Ausschuss der Aarhus-Konvention und der EU über die Vereinbarkeit des administrativen Überprüfungsverfahrens nach der Verordnung mit den Anforderungen des Art. 9 Abs. 3 der Aarhus-Konvention. Wesentliche Regelungen sind die Ausdehnung des Kreises der anfechtbaren Entscheidungen auf alle Rechtsakte nicht-legislativer Natur und die Anerkennung von Antragsrechten Einzelner, wenngleich unter einschränkenden Voraussetzungen. Kritisch zu bewerten sind insbesondere die fehlende Unabhängigkeit des administrativen Überprüfungsverfahrens und die Bevorzugung der Umweltverbände beim Zugang zum Gericht der EU.
This research attempts to provide for an overview of the state of co-operation between the United Nations and regional organizations like the CoE, OSCE, EU and NATO during the last Yugoslav wars, considering the 1991-2008 period. In this case, the "reconstruction" of what the organisations did in each of the countries involved in the conflicts, the country-by-country approach used in writing the research and the consideration of both headquarters and field level should facilitate the understanding of the state of things at that time. The research further includes an analysis of the co-operative trends developed by the considered international organisations since the beginning of the 1990s and is concluded by a reflection on the normative relevance of the issue of "international cooperation". In this case, the intention of the author was to go beyond the general policy level approach used for the description of UN-regional organizations interaction and propose a re-consideration of the concept of "international co-operation" as a possible normative tool in guiding the so far nebulous division of tasks of international actors in conflict-related scenarios. In this case, the concise description of the general framework for co-operation under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, already matter of wide debate by academics and practitioners, sets the frame for a more elaborate, and hopefully innovative, consideration of the notion of "international cooperation". This, of course, is to be contextualized to the lessons learned extrapolated from the case study.
The essay argues that anti-suit injunctions granted in disputes on standard-essential patents are inconsistent with the general standards governing anti-suit injunctions. The section on anti-suit injunction demonstrates that the case law on anti-suit injunctions is not comparable to disputes over standard essential patents. In contrast, anti-anti-suit injunctions are a legitimate response to an extraterritorial assertion of jurisdiction by foreign courts. Under EU law, the courts of member states might even be required to issue anti-anti-suit injunctions to protect their exclusive jurisdiction over patents.
Der Gesetzgeber hat sich im Personengesellschaftsrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (MoPeG) dazu entschieden, für Personenhandelsgesellschaften ein Beschlussmängelrecht nach dem Vorbild des AktG einzuführen (sog. Anfechtungsmodell). Bei den übrigen Personengesellschaften, insbesondere bei der GbR, bleibt es hingegen bei den allgemeinen rechtsgeschäftlichen Regeln (sog. Feststellungsmodell). Der Beitrag stellt die Neuregelung vor und beurteilt die Vor- und Nachteile der beiden Modelle. Das Ergebnis der Untersuchung ist, dass die Einführung des Anfechtungsmodells für Personenhandelsgesellschaften zu loben und gut gelungen ist, beim Feststellungsmodell allerdings noch Verbesserungspotenzial besteht.
Der Aufsatz gibt einen Überblick über die vielfältigen Missbrauchsformen von DHL-Packstationen und analysiert damit verbundene Strafbarkeiten. Täter verschaffen sich rechtswidrig Zugang zu Packstationskonten von DHL-Kunden, um in fremdem Namen Pakete zu bestellen oder von Kunden bestellte Pakete abzuholen. Die strafrechtliche Beurteilung dieses Täterverhaltens im Hinblick auf Vermögens- und Eigentumsdelikte sowie speziellere Tatbestände wie die Falschverdächtigung bildet den Schwerpunkt der folgenden Ausführungen.
Der Einwand des rechtmäßigen Alternativverhaltens ist eine Maxime des allgemeinen Schadensrechts. Beruft sich der Schädiger im Rahmen eines Schadensersatzanspruches auf eben diesen Einwand, so macht er geltend, dass der Schaden auch bei rechtmäßigen Verhalten hätte verursacht werden können. Sodann wäre nämlich eine Haftung mangels haftungsausfüllender Zurechnung trotz haftungsbegründeten kausalen Verhaltens ausgeschlossen. Auch in der Organhaftung finden diese schadensrechtlichen Grundsätze Anwendung. Der Aufsatz geht vor diesem Hintergrund der Frage nach, ob der Einwand des rechtmäßigen Alternativverhaltens auch dann greift, wenn der Vorstand die Zustimmungspflicht des Aufsichtsrats nach § 111 Abs. 4 S. 2 AktG verletzt und sich später darauf beruft, die Hauptversammlung hätte (hypothetisch) anstelle des Aufsichtsrats einer Geschäftsführungsmaßnahme zugestimmt.
Journalisten leisten eine unabdingbare Informations- und Kontrollfunktion für die internationalen Kapitalmärkte. Dabei stehen ihre journalistischen Beiträge in einem Spannungsfeld zwischen Presse- und Meinungsfreiheit auf der einen sowie kapitalmarktrechtlichen Verhaltensvorschriften auf der anderen Seite. Dieser Beitrag versucht sich an der Auflösung dieser Konfliktlage. Dabei wird insbesondere die Übertragung anerkannter Grundsätze des Presserechts auf die Finanzmarktberichterstattung diskutiert. Den Journalisten kommt dabei im Ergebnis eine weitreichende Privilegierung zu, die allerdings insbesondere dort Einschränkungen erfährt, wo irreführende oder unrichtige Informationen verbreitet werden.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Zulässigkeit von sog. anti-suit injunctions im Anwendungsbereich der EuGVVO. Dabei wird anhand der Antworten des Europäischen Gerichtshofs auf Vorlageersuchen zu den Rechtssachen Turner v. Grovit und West Tankers v. Allianz/Generali herausgearbeitet, dass der Grundsatz des gegenseitigen Vertrauens der Mitgliedstaaten in die Funktions- und Leistungsfähigkeit der Rechtssysteme und Rechtspflegeorgane zu einer Inkompatibilität von anti-suit injunctions mit der EuGVVO führt. In einem weiteren Schritt folgt ein kursorischer Überblick über die aktuellen Entwicklungen im deutschen Prozessrecht rund um die sog. anti-anti-suit injunction. Abschließend wird die Frage nach der Aktualität des Rechtsmittels näher beleuchtet und unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Brexits bestätigt.
Im Rahmen des Tarifvertragsrechts spielen Selbstständige eine nur untergeordnete Rolle – so schien es zumindest in der Vergangenheit die Regel gewesen zu sein. Während das Tarifvertragsgesetz in seiner ursprünglichen Fassung von 1918 (TVVO) nur Arbeitnehmer im Blick hatte, wurde der persönliche Anwendungsbereich mit Einführung des § 12a TVG auf arbeitnehmerähnliche Personen ausgedehnt, wobei der restriktiv ausgelegte Anwendungsbereich und die Auswirkungen in der Praxis zeigten, dass hierdurch keine umfassende Erweiterung des Tarifvertragsrechts auf Selbstständige erreicht werden würde. Nunmehr steht das Arbeitsrecht, auch in Hinblick auf Überschneidungen mit dem Kartellrecht, vor der Herausforderung, sich auf sich ändernde Arbeitsformen und neue wirtschaftliche Gegebenheiten anzupassen, um in Zukunft auch andere Personengruppen von seinem Schutze zu erfassen. Dass es sich hierbei nicht um eine rein nationale Angelegenheit handelt, zeigt der Wandel des politischen und rechtlichen Diskurses auf Unionsebene.
This essay argues that access to water, and the right to water in India is subject to legal pluralism in India: the plurality of state law and the normative order of the caste system in India. While the Constitution of India prohibits discrimination against or exploitation of the Scheduled Castes, society is also subject to a parallel set of social rules set forth by caste hierarchies. The Dalit community has been historically subject to exploitation and limited access to resources, with the use of religious and social sanction, this essay focuses particularly on the right to water, which is an essential part of the constitutional right to the environment is subject to plural legal systems, of state law and caste-based normative orders. Ethnographic social science research, particularly in anthropology and sociology has produced extensive findings on how the caste system limits access to natural resources and particularly water, owing to ideas of purity and impurity associated with water use, and the status of water as a common public good. This essay explores how lawyers must consider legal pluralities when understanding access and management of natural resources. The essay analyses John Griffiths’ idea of legal pluralism which describes a scenario in which not all law is administered by the State or its institutions, and there exists de facto law, beyond the boundaries of the State. This paper expands Griffiths’ model of pluralism to explain how the right to water is subject to both caste order and state law and how the lived reality of Dalits when accessing water is subject to a constant pluralism.
Venture capital-backed firms, unavoidable value-destroying trade sales, and fair value protections
(2021)
This paper investigates the implications of the fair value protections contemplated by the standard corporate contract (i.e., the standard contract form for which corporate law provides) for the entrepreneur–venture capitalist relationship, focusing, in particular, on unavoidable value-destroying trade sales. First, it demonstrates that the typical entrepreneur–venture capitalist contract does institutionalize the venture capitalist’s liquidity needs, allowing, under some circumstances, for counterintuitive instances of contractually-compliant value destruction. Unavoidable value-destroying trade sales are the most tangible example. Next, it argues that fair value protections can prevent the entrepreneur and venture capitalist from allocating the value that these transactions generate as they would want. Then, it shows that the reality of venture capital-backed firms calls for a process of adaptation of the standard corporate contract that has one major step in the deactivation or re-shaping of fair value protections. Finally, it argues that a standard corporate contract aiming to promote social welfare through venture capital should feature flexible fair value protections.
The expansion of actors and instruments in sovereign debt markets through bond financing generated a coordination problem among bondholders during the debt restructuring process. There is a risk that an individual bondholder will be passive or act against the restructuring slowing down or even precluding the process of restructuring even though it is in the general interest of bondholders as a group, not to mention the population of the country experiencing the shortage of funds for public welfare. In particular, the disruptions to sovereign debt restructuring by frivolous litigation is considered as one of the main threats.
This dissertation is the first major study devoted to sovereign bonds structured through a trust arrangement and the promising features that such a legal structure possesses for an effective and efficient sovereign debt restructuring. It provides a comprehensive inquiry into the evolution of the mechanisms to coordinate creditors, with a focus on bondholders and institutional frameworks which facilitated this coordination. It examines intriguing primary sources from League of Nations archives and provides in-depth case studies on the functionality of the trustees in sovereign bond restructurings performed by Argentina in 2016 and Ecuador in 2008.
Assessing the utility of trust arrangements to address coordination problems, this thesis is driven by the puzzle: How to better balance (i) the need for smooth sovereign debt restructurings, which by definition entails some losses for creditors, with (ii) bondholders’ legitimate interests? What approach can be used in constructing a legal and institutional framework for trustees to promote the best interest of the bondholders in sovereign debt restructuring? As a solution, it seems that incentives for bond trustees to pursue debt sustainability will achieve both goals.
In this regard, recognition of the concept of debt sustainability, being in substance the IMF and WB debt sustainability assessment, as the best interest of bondholders in sovereign debt restructuring is beneficial from multiple aspects. It enables a bond trustee to excel in its role as a guardian of bondholders by following the best interest of bondholders in exercising its discretion. Moreover, it fosters an equilibrium between the interests of private creditors and a state taking into account its socio-political aspects.
The dissertation explores to what extent the post-financial crisis EU resolution regime, based on equity/debt write-down and conversion powers and bail-in tools will be effective in maintaining the stability of bank groups. To arrive at its unique angle, it first asks why bank groups are considered complex, thereby explaining the reasons for their proliferation and instability, and how this may inform the view regarding a desired regulatory framework. The main observation the dissertation makes is that, notwithstanding of other factors already pointed out in the literature, bank groups adopt complex structures with multiple entities, as it allows them, inter alia, to use double-leverage financing structures and internal capital markets.
Double-leverage financing structures allow bank groups to optimise the combination of their debt/equity funding from external parent entity investors with a combination of debt/equity funding downstreamed internally to subsidiaries and other entities in the bank group. An important component within this structure is also that the allocation of the bank group’s resources takes place through the internal capital market (ICM). The allocation of resources via the ICM allows bank groups to manage their liquidity constraint either to undertake activities that are more profitable, or to stabilise the financial position of the group as a whole.
While both double leverage and ICMs can optimise the funding and allocation of resources of the bank group, respectively, they can also generate perils to the stability of the bank group. In particular, this is because double-leverage can result in excessive risk taking and regulatory arbitrage. Moreover, the allocation of the intra-group resources in the ICM may not maintain the financial health of all subsidiaries in the bank group, which can prove to be incompatible with the financial stability goals of the regulators in the countries where those subsidiaries conduct their business.
Within this context, the dissertation argues that the current EU resolution regime does not clearly address issues of double leverage when setting out capital and other liability requirements, i.e. the ‘Total Loss Absorbing Capacity’ (TLAC) and ‘Minimum Requirement for Eligible Liabilities’ (MREL) requirements. Moreover, the dissertation emphasis that it is equally relevant to clarify the way in which the bank group resources are available ahead of, and in financial distress. It is argued that to this end, bank groups need to be allowed to make use of the ICM as it is often uncertain what may be the cause of the financial distress and how the resources of the bank group could be used to stabilise it. To this end, the dissertation highlights that there is lack of clarity in both the ex-ante provisions on intra-group support framework and in the ex-post provisions governing the allocation of any surplus TLAC/MREL resources.
Besides the ‘intra-group’ issues within the bank group, the third point the dissertation makes relation to the bank group’s presence in multiple jurisdictions. This transnational element adds to the complexity of the intra-group issues resulting from sub-optimal cooperation between home and host authorities. In this regard, the dissertation underlines that the current framework could adopt a more balanced way in which the regulatory fora will take into account the interest of the authorities of all parts of the bank group.
Common ownership and the (non-)transparency of institutional shareholdings: an EU-US comparison
(2022)
This paper compares the extent of common ownership in the US and the EU stock markets, with a particular focus on differences in the ap- plicable ownership transparency requirements. Most empirical research on common ownership to date has focused on US issuers, largely relying on ownership data obtained from institutional investors’ 13F filings. This type of data is generally not available for EU issuers. Absent 13F filings, researchers have to use ownership records sourced from mutual funds’ periodic reports and blockholder disclosures. Constructing a “reduced dataset” that seeks to capture only ownership information available for both EU and US issuers, I demonstrate that the “extra” ownership information introduced by 13F filings is substantial. However, even when taking differences in the transparency situation into due account, common ownership among listed EU firms is much less pronounced than among listed US firms by any measure. This is true even if the analysis is limited to non-controlled firms.
Nicht nur die Seeversicherung. Philipp Hellweges Projekt zur Geschichte des Versicherungsrechts
(2020)
Criminal law exceptionalism, or so I suggest, has turned into an ideology in German and Continental criminal law theory. It rests on interrelated claims about the (ideal or real) extraordinary qualities and properties of the criminal law and has led to exceptional doctrines in constitutional criminal law and criminal law theory. It prima facie paradoxically perpetuates and conserves the criminal law, and all too often leads to ideological thoughtlessness, which may blind us to the dark sides of criminal laws in action.
Both China and the EU have nearly 30 years of legislative experience on GMOs. However, despite all the experience gained so far and theoretical analyses, due to the social concerns about GMO risk, both China and Germany are still encountering a decision-making dilemma on authorizing green GMOs. Therefore, the dissertation is dedicated to the issue of whether there is a possibility that this dilemma could be resolved by improving or reformulating the administrative risk decision-making mechanism regarding green GMOs. Specifically, the dissertation analyses four concrete questions: operation of classical decision-making on danger prevention, the challenges posed by uncertain risks, the theoretical legal response to uncertain risk, and the functioning of legally constituted decision-making mechanisms for GMOs in Germany/ the EU and China.
Conventionally, danger is a threshold for the executive to intervene in individual liberty. It can ensure the rationality of ex-ante intervention and further guarantee a balance between individual liberty and public safety. Regarding the danger prevention decision-making process, the executive authorities investigate the factual information at first; then, based on reliable and accessible common knowledge about the rule of causality, predict the degree of possible damage and the occurrence probability; at last, make ex-ante intervention decisions to interrupt the causality chain and avoid damages.
In the risk society, uncertain risk of GMOs is characterized as collectively wide-ranging, manufactured, high-technological, and value-oriented. The ex-ante intervention of the administration extends from danger to uncertain risk, i.e., risk precaution. The essential cause of uncertain risk is that humans do not have sufficient knowledge and have not yet grasped the rule of causality regarding new technologies. Due to the lack of a cognitive reference standard, it is not easy for the administration to judge the existence of risks and make rational decisions on risk precaution, which, consequently, amounts to losing the balance between individual freedom and public safety. Besides, if the authority makes a decision ad arbitrium, and expects learning by error, this may cause significant secondary risks.
In the risk management system, there are two primary, partly interrelated strategies to manage risk that are currently used: that is, knowledge generation and proceduralization. Specifically, to de-materialize the legislation, integrate multipartite participation in the decision-making process, and open the procedure for updating the information can contribute to the generation of the requisite knowledge. Proceduralization can assist with knowledge generation, promote the reconciliation of conflicting interests, compensate for material and legal deficits, and control the legitimacy of administrative behavior.
In the final chapter, the laws on GMOs in the EU, Germany, and China are analysed, especially under the perspective of the concrete risk decision-making mechanisms.
Overall, this dissertation argues that law can procedurally guarantee the independence and reliability of experts and ensure that access to public participation is open. But what the law can do to address public trust and scientifically uncertain risks, is limited.
Private equity has grown remarkably in the last 30 years. Given its rise to prominence, exceptional profitability and a more prolific and publicly visible buyout activity, regulation in the private equity space seemed inevitable. The 2007 global financial crisis furnished an opportunity to doubt the industry’s role and magnify the key concerns, providing momentum for calls to regulate the industry more aggressively. Ultimately, the regulatory change came from the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which has been described as one of the most rigorously debated and controversial pieces of financial regulation to ever emerge from the European Union (EU).
The AIFMD is unique and unprecedented, yet there has been very little written about it in the context of private equity. Therefore, this thesis makes a contribution to this area of research by examining the implications of AIFMD for private equity and arguing that this EU Directive has a re-shaping effect on the industry that inevitably marks the end of the light-touch regulation in this area. Whilst the desire of policymakers to act and intervene decisively during market
downturns is understandable, there is a risk that the response may not be appropriate and result in a crisis-induced over-reaction.
This thesis demonstrates, amongst other things, that the AIFMD has created a particularly
complex regulatory regime which for the hitherto unregulated or lightly regulated fund managers has had a significant effect in the EU and beyond. Examples of the most impactful
provisions relate to authorisation, marketing, depositaries, acquisition of control, remuneration, and transparency and disclosure. The implication are wide-ranging, and there is a clear conflict between the opportunities (e.g. EU passport, AIFMD as a global brand) and threats (e.g. excessive compliance costs, exodus of fund managers from the EU), which depend on a firm’s size, domicile and the gap needed to be aligned between the pre- and post-AIFMD regime.
Although there will be no stark triumph of one position over another in the assessment of the AIFMD until all of its elements are fully implemented, overall the impact of the Directive has been material, requiring substantial work to comply with (or adapt to) the requirements, which in some cases are not only particularly onerous and costly, but also a bit misguided, discouraging, or fairly irrelevant.
This article is directed towards addressing the employment related issues encountered by female workers in the gig economy in the EU. It revolves around analysing ‘the switch’ from the traditional labour market to the platform economy. It subsequently explains, by drawing comparisons, that the issues of gender inequality in the brick and mortar world are still prevalent in world of the digital platform. In fact, new challenges have emerged which are specifically related to the gig economy. Female workers are now affected by the inherent bias of algorithms. Moreover, due to the unequivocal propagation of ‘flexibility’ which is used as a weapon to glorify the gig economy; women are even more likely to be pushed into precarious work. The other prominent issues of gender inequality like the dynamics of intersectionality, the gender pay gap and hiring policies in traditional and digital platforms are also examined. Furthermore, the existing regulatory frameworks addressing these issues are discussed with the possibility of catering to the gender inequality issues in the gig economy through policy development. The article concludes with a reflection on the need for the EU to take immediate and efficacious policy measures in respect of female workers in the gig economy.