Implications of James Dak's 2016 deportation to South Sudan by the Kenyatta Government in Violation of International Refugee Law

There have been significant recent policy and case law developments relating to the application of competition law to mergers and acquisitions in New Zealand.This article is in two parts. The first addresses the current policy review into both procedural and substantive issues under pt 3 of the Commerce Act 1986. This policy review follows upon the detailed review of merger controls in Australia, which was completed at the end of 2024. The key process issue under the current review relates to the pre-notification of mergers to the Commerce Commission. It is argued that the current voluntary notification regime should be retained in New Zealand, despite the recent introduction of a mandatory notification regime in Australia. This article also traces the substantive changes which are open for consultation, the most significant being the extension of the substantial lessening of competition test to capture incremental increases in market power.The second part of this article provides critiques of two recent merger decisions of the Commerce Commission, namely the Serato and Foodstuffs decisions. This critique includes discussion of the Commerce Commission's approach to the assessment of mergers where there may be different competition effects over several markets. It is argued that the correct approach under s 47 of the Commerce Act in this setting is to apply a net competition test under which both the pro- and anti-competitive effects must be balanced.

Impact assessment is commonly presented as a central pillar of evidence-based policy-making and the solution to making ‘better’ regulation. It has also been identified as a mechanism by which the Health in All Policies (HiAP) agenda might be advanced, ensuring that the health impacts of all interventions - whether originating in the health sector or not - are taken into account by policymakers. Yet, it remains difficult to identify, quantify and balance health impacts, to integrate qualitative and longer-term health costs and benefits into analysis, and ensure that the findings and nuances of impact assessment are considered within the policy process. Moreover, challenging current political developments may reduce input legitimacy and increase corporate capture of the impact assessment process, as seen in cases such as the tobacco industry. EUPHA has a well-established programme of work in this space, critiquing and advancing the practice of impact assessment in the public health field. Drawing on this expertise and adding value by combining it, this workshop brings together representatives from the Public Health Politics and Policy (PHPP), Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and Public Health Economics (PHE) sections of EUPHA. A panel of experts will examine the role of impact assessment in health policy and address a core challenge to it; namely, the capacity for impact assessment to make the policy process more amenable to public health concerns. Presentations (using the 15x15 format) will introduce the European Commission's approach to (health) impact assessment (Orhan Pees), explore existing methodologies of HIA and the challenges that they face (Martin), critique the applicability of dominant pharmacoeconomics approaches to assessment of public health interventions (Vasco Santos), examine the relevance of health system performance assessment to impact assessment exercises (Blümel et al.). Each panellist will be asked to close their presentation by addressing the following question: to what extent is impact assessment a valuable tool for delivering policy that is good for health?Key messages• Impact assessment has advanced significantly in recent years, but its ability to deliver better policy outcomes for health requires continual, multidisciplinary appraisal.• Sound evaluation of health impact requires clinical, economic and political expertise, an interface which EUPHA is uniquely situated to promote.Speakers/PanellistsRana Orhan PeesEcorys, Rotterdam, NetherlandsPiedad Martin-OlmedoEscuela Andaluza de Salud Pública, Granada, SpainJoão Vasco SantosUniversity of Porto / CINTESIS / ARS Norte, Porto, PortugalMiriam BlümelBerlin University of Technology, Berlin, Germany

Abstract Unemployment insurance is a major component of European welfare regimes, whereby each EU member state has its own distinctive scheme. Despite falling under national competence, the European Commission has exercised pressure over this policy area since the establishment of the European Employment Strategy. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it stepped up its involvement through the European Semester, which went hand in hand with heightened domestic reform activity. This article aims to establish links between the two phenomena during 2011–2019, after which the conditionality embodied in the Commission's country‐specific recommendations (CSRs) changed significantly. The analysis employs mixed methods. Qualitatively, the article focuses on EU Semester documents, interviews with policy‐makers and case studies, including a deeper review of Italian reforms. Quantitatively, it includes frequency analyses of uniformly coded recommendations and reform events present in the Commission's CSR and LabRef databases and mixed linear regressions connecting the two. The findings indicate a marked socialisation pattern in the Semester's prescriptions, moving from labour market flexibility towards balanced social protection. CSRs were often tailored to national contexts, avoiding one‐size‐fits‐all approaches. Moreover, the analysis highlights the Semester's influence on domestic policy, revealing a shift from pro‐market to pro‐labour reforms during the period.

This article discusses James Gatdet Dak's 2016 deportation from Kenya to South Sudan where he was imprisoned for two years for several offences he allegedly had committed in relation to the civil war in that country. It provides an understanding of the circumstances that led to deportation and violation of Dak's right to refugee protection. The article makes three principal arguments. First, the Kenyatta government carried out the deportation in violation of international and regional refugee laws. Particularly, the Kenyatta government violated the principle of non-refoulement, which is now considered to have become a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted. Second, Dak had suffered persecution at the hands of South Sudan's authorities because of his political opinion. Third, the injustice Dak had suffered entitles him to a remedy from the Kenyan government, which he could potentially pursue through the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights' complaint process. Although a considerable period has elapsed, the African Commission's flexible approach to the relevant admissibility criterion should be able to accommodate his complaint.

This paper examines the implications of the General Assembly's failure to adopt a resolution on the International Law Commission's Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms (“Draft Conclusions”) during its seventy-seventh session. While the non-decision does not affect the legal status of the Draft Conclusions, it raises questions about its reception and the underlying reasons for the lack of resolution adoption. The inclusion of an Annex with a non-exhaustive list, particularly addressing the right to self-determination, led to opposition from a subset of States. Despite the strong pedigree of the norms in the Annex, dissenting voices, primarily questioning the status of certain norms, played a pivotal role in the non-decision. This paper contends that the dissenters' success in preventing the adoption of a resolution could prompt the International Law Commission to exercise greater caution in its future work. The Commission may become more inclined to avoid addressing sensitive issues, potentially leading to a tendency to seek the lowest common denominator in its outputs. The analysis delves into the potential impact on the Commission's approach and the broader implications for the development and acceptance of peremptory norms of general international law.

The European Commission's approach to extra-contractual liability and AI – An evaluation of the AI liability directive and the revised product liability directive

This research delves into the efficacy of the North Sulawesi Broadcasting Commission's communication strategy in facilitating the analogue switch-off programme. The study employs qualitative research methods, utilising in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, and adopts Hafied Cangara's communication strategy framework, based on Laswell's theory , to analyse the Commission's approach. The outcomes reveal that the Commission's communication plan effectively conveyed the intended message to the public. It achieved its objectives of disseminating information and educating the populace about the switch-off process. Nonetheless, the plan could have been further enhanced to better address the diverse needs and concerns of the audience. The findings offer valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing the analogue switch-off programme, especially concerning formulating efficient communication strategies that can effectively reach all segments of Society. By shedding light on these aspects, this research significantly contributes to the broader discourse on digital television and its profound influence on broadcasting policies in Indonesia.

This study examines the daily short-selling activities in the U.S. market during the early 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Our findings indicate firms that are more sensitive to the shock (i.e., with high foreign exposure, low financial or operating flexibility, or high supply-chain exposure) were shorted more heavily. Moreover, short-selling activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, blamed for triggering stock market crashes, were primarily concentrated around overpriced stocks. This finding supports the argument that short selling plays a prominent role in improving price discoveries. Our research provides timely empirical evidence supporting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) non-intervention approach in banning short selling in the U.S. market.

Recently in certain sectors of the economy, in particular in the digital, pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, an increase in the number of concentrations has been detected involving emerging and innovative undertakings with competitive potential but which generate little or no turnover at the time of the transaction. Many such transactions do not fall under the EU merger control system or the domestic merger control systems of the Member States but may, nevertheless, have a detrimental impact on competition in the internal market. The European Commission reacted to this situation by adopting, on 26 March 2021, Guidance on the application of Article 22 (Article 22 Guidance). In this Article 22 Guidance, the Commission announced that it will abandon its previous practice of not accepting Article 22 referral requests from National Competition Authorities (NCAs) which are not competent to review the concentration at stake under their domestic rules. Instead, the Commission will now encourage and accept Article 22 referral requests, particularly from NCAs which do not have jurisdiction over the transaction at stake under their national merger regimes. The Article 22 Guidance gives rise to a number of questions and problems which we discuss in this article.

Nickel (Ni) has a been a Priority Substance under the European Water Framework Directive since 2008. As such it is deemed to present an European Union‐wide risk to surface waters. Since 2013, the Ni Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) has been bioavailability‐based, and new European Guidance supports accounting for bioavailability in assessing Ni compliance with the EQS. The European Commission has developed an approach to determine whether Priority Substances present a sufficient European Union‐wide risk to justify an ongoing statutory monitoring programme, effectively to deselect a substance. This is a key step to ensure that finite monitoring resources are targeted at delivering environmental benefit, when there is an ever‐growing burden of determinands to measure for all regulators. When the European Commission performed this exercise for Ni without accounting for bioavailability, they concluded that Ni should not be deselected, and Ni is an European Union‐wide risk. Performing this same exercise with the same methodology, using regulatory monitoring data for over 300 000 samples, from more than 19 000 sites across Europe, and accounting for bioavailability, as detailed in the Directive, >99% of sites comply with the Ni EQS. Nickel shows very low risks for all of the criteria identified by the European Commission that need to be met for deselection. Accounting for bioavailability is key in the assessment of Ni risks in surface waters to deliver ecologically relevant outcomes. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1604–1612. © 2022 NiPERA. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Abstract In response to noncompliance with the EU's fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law in Hungary and Poland, the EU Commission has established the Justice Scoreboard, the Rule of Law Framework and the Rule of Law Mechanism. Moreover, the Commission has proposed linking the disbursement of funds to respect for the rule of law (Rule of Law conditionality). However, the deployment of these measures has not restored compliance. Drawing on the two dominant approaches in compliance studies, the management approach and the enforcement approach, this paper argues that with the exception of Rule of Law conditionality, the Commission's tools are characterized by a mismatch between the causes of the problems identified and the solutions chosen. Instead of sanctioning voluntary noncompliance, they rely on soft measures, which are recommended in cases of involuntary noncompliance, but which are not suitable in cases of deliberate noncompliance.

The European Commission's Approach to Extra-Contractual Liability and Ai – an Evaluation of the Ai Liability Directive and the Revised Product Liability Directive

The European Commission's Approach to Extra-Contractual Liability and Ai – an Evaluation of the Ai Liability Directive and the Revised Product Liability Directive

Case T-227/21 Illumina, Inc. v European Commission, Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber, Extended Composition) of 13 July 2022 The General Court held that the European Commission may accept a referral to investigate a concentration that is not subject to national merger control rules even when the referring Member State has introduced a merger control regime of its own. It also held that a concentration is 'made known' to a Member State pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 22(1) EUMR only when sufficient information enabling a preliminary assessment of the conditions laid down in the first subparagraph of the same Article is actively submitted to it.

The European Commission's approach to mergers involving software-based platforms: Towards a better understanding of platform power

Purpose: The study concerns abuse of a dominant position on digital markets on the example of practices used by Google. The main purpose of the article is to draw attention to the lack of appropriate tools for assessing abuse of a dominant position in such markets. Methodology: The article was prepared based on the method of analyzing documents (mainly the European Commission and FTC) and literature on competition low and policy. The article also uses legal acts and the guidelines of the European Commission. Findings: The study adopts the hypothesis that the European Commission is limited to instruments created for the needs of mature markets, whose attribute is static competition and not innovation. Such tools are not appropriate to assess the behavior of entrepreneurs on digital markets and should be used in a selective and flexible manner. The Commission's rigid approach to the application of existing mechanisms may harm innovation and expansion of companies operating under dynamic competition. Practical implications: The article critically assesses the approach of the European Commission and indicates the factors that should be considered in assessing the abuse of a dominant position by entrepreneurs on digital markets. Originality/Value: As a result, it was pointed out that abuse of a dominant position on digital markets is a relatively new practice and their antitrust assessment mechanisms have not yet been developed. This study provides a voice in the discussion on how antitrust authorities approach towards the assessment of abuse of dominance on digital markets and their sanctioning. At the same time, it draws attention to the need to develop appropriate tools for assessing a dominant position and then its abuse in markets with dynamic competition and whose main attribute is innovation.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for a new understanding of what constitutes “procedural justice” in EU competition law enforcement. This is done via an exploration of the concept of procedural justice, followed by a synthetization of this concept with the conceptual underpinnings of EU competition law. The modern realities of EU competition law are then examined, with a particular focus on the Commission's approach to Google. The general thrust of the argument presented is that considering the nature of the problems facing the Commission, it is not necessary, as a matter of justice, to consider large tech firms as being endowed with a huge panoply of procedural justice rights.

Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) incorporates the European Commission's approach to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). These relationships are elaborated into a pedagogic model encouraging young people to ask real-world questions that interest them, collect evidence to answer the questions and, as a result, to take personal action on their findings. After depicting a pedagogic model for SSIBL, we identify the opportunities for pre-service science teachers (PSTs) adopting a SSIBL approach. We detail SSIBL activity designs that aim to engage students in learning about the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The findings show the prerequisite of using the science curriculum to facilitate SSIBL within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We suggest a SSIBL approach would benefit from co-designed frameworks involving the collaboration of cross-disciplinary groups of teachers, through reflection and enactment on previous SSIBL activities. SSIBL enables practitioners to establish engaging contexts for science knowledge development, as well as to become more informed citizens.

APPROACH TO AGITATION AND OTHER PSYCHIATRIC SYNDROMES/BEHAVIOURS