Consultation Paper Research Articles

Stakeholder responses to mandating environmental, social and governance reporting in Hong Kong

We examine stakeholders’ comment letters regarding the Hong Kong Exchange’s (HKEX) 2015 Consultation Paper, which proposed mandating ESG reporting in Hong Kong. We test for significant differences in responses between stakeholder groups and whether the HKEX’s decision was consistent with stakeholders’ preferences in the consultation process. Examining comment letters submitted by six lobbying groups—preparers, investors, the accounting profession, NGOs, other institutions and individuals—we analyze survey responses using textual analysis software and statistical tests. We find that users and the accounting profession participated more than preparers. We also find that preparers and users took different positions on mandating ESG reporting when lobbying the HKEX, whereas preparers and the accounting profession advocated similar positions. Moreover, we find a significant association between stakeholder groups’ preferences and the HKEX’s decision on most proposed changes.

Reform of the Arbitration Act 1996: a missed opportunity to entrench diversity?

Abstract This article discusses the recent consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales (‘Law Commission’) on reform to the Arbitration Act 1996 (‘AA 1996’) which grappled with the issue of discrimination in agreements to appoint arbitrators. Recent efforts by the arbitration community to promote greater arbitrator diversity have started to result in the codification of equality and diversity considerations directly into some arbitral rules. However, guidelines developed to date by arbitral institutions have tended to focus on promoting greater diversity in institutional appointments rather than prohibiting discrimination in party appointments. In its September 2022 Consultation Paper, the Law Commission initially proposed new statutory provisions which would have made agreements relating to arbitrators’ ‘protected characteristics’ unenforceable, subject to certain exceptions. This article discusses some areas of uncertainty with these proposals which ultimately led to their abandonment, as well as the Law Commission’s conclusion against reforming the AA 1996 to prohibit discrimination in arbitration generally. The article examines some of the alternative ways in which discrimination could have been addressed through statutory reform and whether it is desirable for the onus to fall back to the arbitral institutions to adopt more robust guidance prohibiting discrimination in party appointments.

Response to the Financial Conduct Authority's Consultation Paper CP24/9 -Financial Crime Guide Update

Response to the Financial Conduct Authority's Consultation Paper CP24/9 -Financial Crime Guide Update

A Research Note on the Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting Issued by the IFRS Foundation

A Research Note on the Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting Issued by the IFRS Foundation

Law Commission Review of the Arbitration Act - Response to Question 1 in the Second Consultation Paper (No 258) on the law applicable to an arbitration agreement

Law Commission Review of the Arbitration Act - Response to Question 1 in the Second Consultation Paper (No 258) on the law applicable to an arbitration agreement

The Rise of Finfluencers: A Digital Transformation in Investment Advice

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which finfluencers can be considered experts who fulfill the critical role of information intermediaries contributing to the efficiency of financial markets. To assess this, we assembled a manually collected dataset consisting of recommendations made by finfluencers. We conducted an event study to analyze both short-term and long-term effects on stocks. The findings reveal that, on average, all stocks examined during the event window [-10, +10] days exhibit a noteworthy Cumulative Abnormal Announcement Return (CAAR). The outcome suggests that, in the short term, finfluencers may not be deemed as experts. In contrast, the long-term Buy-and-Hold Abnormal Returns (BHAR) were positive and also statistically significant. Considering these results and the frequent absence of financial licenses among finfluencers, along with their tendency to endorse risky investments, we endorse SEBI's action in issuing a consultation paper (dated 25th August 2023) to regulate unregistered finfluencers. These measures are aimed at safeguarding inexperienced investors from taking undue risks and ensuring the integrity of financial markets.

A Case Report of a Guillain-Barre Syndrome Patient Suspected of Having Acute Transverse Myelitis Treated with Korean Medicine

A 67-year-old female patient diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis visited our hospital in February 2023. Consultation papers indicated that she was diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis and that she complained of quadriparesis and numbness in both hands and feet. However, her spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not clearly indicate that she suffered from acute transverse myelitis. She was then sent to a high-level hospital and diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome through electromyography, cerebrospinal fluid test, and spine MRI. On March 2023, she visited our hospital again, still complaining about weakness in both hands and inability to walk. She was treated with Korean medicine, including acupuncture, electroacupuncture, pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine such as Yanggyeoksanhwatang and <i>Sipimijihwang-tanggami</i>. After three months, she was discharged on cane walking. The manual muscle test (MMT) grade of her upper limbs increased from 3-/3-/3-/3- (shoulder/elbow/wrist/fingers) to 4/4/4/3+, and the MMT grade of her lower limbs increased from 2/2/2/2 (pelvis/knee/ankle/feet) to 4/4/4-/4-. Her numbness in both feet disappeared, and her numbness in both hands decreased from a numeric rating scale of 7 to 2. No adverse events were reported during treatment. This case implies the therapeutic potential of Korean medicine for Guillain-Barre Syndrome, especially for those who had delayed diagnosis and missed the opportunity to get plasma exchange.

The JCCP's response to the DHSC licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures first consultation paper

The JCCP has presented its response to the Government's first public consultation document with the aim of informing and determining the standard, type and content of the new practitioner licence

The role of non-genetic parents in a surrogate-born child's identity: an argument for removal of the genetic link requirement.

For the court to grant a parental order recognising intended parents as legal parents of a surrogate-born child, the gametes of at least one of the intended parents must have been used to create the embryo, under section 54(1)(b) and section 54A(1)(b) Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008. In the Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission's consultation paper, there was a provisional proposal to remove the genetic link requirement in cases of medical necessity. However, this proposal was not included in the Law Commissions' Final Report, instead recommending the retention of the requirement for a genetic link in almost all circumstances. This article contends that the Law Commissions' recommendation should be reconsidered in light of the child's right to identity. By reviewing how identity has been used by the courts when determining whether to grant a parental order, as well as a developing interpretation of Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and European Convention on Human Rights, it can be asserted that the identity of surrogate-born children necessitates recognition of the relationship between the child and intended parent(s), irrespective of a genetic link. On this basis, it is argued that there should be the possibility for intended parents to establish legal parenthood following surrogacy without the requirement for a genetic link.

Building better foundations: the Dubai International Financial Centre foundation law consultation

Abstract The current proposed amendments to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Foundations Law No 3 of 2018 (consolidated version of 2022) (“Foundations Law”) come at an opportune time and are testament to the wider progressive measures taken by the DIFC legislator, and to the growing popularity of foundations. The DIFC consultation paper introduces specific amendments to enhance this legislation. If implemented, the amended law will help meet the needs of the ever-growing private client base that increasingly uses foundations as a preferred structuring and succession-planning option. This article focuses on the key tenets of the DIFC consultation paper’s proposed amendments to the Foundation Law.

Exploring the accounting community perspective on the "Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting"

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in January 2020 is-sued "Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current", which amended IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. The main purpose of the amend-ments regards the classification of financial liabilities and how to classify them under particular circumstances. The amendments are proposed to be effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023, with earlier application permitted. Due to feedback received and enquiries about the classification of financial liabilities with financial covenants, in December 2020 the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) published a tentative agenda decision in response to such feedback. Subsequently, in October 2022 the International Accounting Stand-ards Board (IASB) published a document titled "Non-current Liabilities with Covenants (Amendments to IAS 1)". The purpose of this document is to clarify the conditions with which an entity must comply within twelve months after the reporting period affect the classification of a liability. The amendments are ef-fective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024. The classification of financial liabilities as current or non-current is an im-portant consideration for financial reporting purposes, as it can have a significant impact on a company's financial statements and financial ratios. Current liabili-ties are those that are expected to be settled within one year, while non-current liabilities are those that are expected to be settled beyond that time frame. The purpose of the following review is to analyse the main impacts of the amendments on the classification of the financial liabilities with covenants and the project's history and timeline.

Perancangan Aplikasi Diagnosis dan Pemetaan 10 Penyakit Berbasis Android Pada Teaching Factory Nutrition Care Center

There has been an increase in non-communicable diseases in Indonesia in terms of morbidity and mortality. One of the risk factors for non-communicable diseases is obesity, high blood sugar and malnutrition in children. The need for public awareness and knowledge regarding the disease they have, because the increase in non-communicable diseases can cause a decrease in the activity of human resources in Indonesia and affect the quality of life. Usually non-communicable diseases are experienced by the elderly, but now they are starting to threaten the productive age group from 10 to 14 years old. Politeknik Negeri Jember has a TeFa NCC which is a Nutrition Service Center. TeFa NCC is intended for the community to carry out health consultations. In carrying out a health consultation, the patient is given a health record in the form of paper (manual) which the patient can take home. This sometimes makes it difficult for health cadres to see the track record of changes in a patient's health if the patient does not bring a consultation paper when he comes for a follow-up consultation. Proposed a design media design application for Diagnosing and Mapping 10 Android-Based Diseases in the Teaching Factory Nutrition Care Center. This application design is intended for the development of applications that can perform early diagnosis of the top 10 diseases in TeFa NCC. The method used in designing the application design is to use the waterfall model. The application design is designed for Android-based mobile devices. There is a splash screen menu, login menu, main display menu, patient data menu, added patient data menu, profile menu, most disease information menu, filtering, distribution map and diagnosis added menu. The designed design is based on the needs and requirements of the user. The design of the application design was successfully carried out

Reviewing the Arbitration Act 1996

The (English) Arbitration Act 1996 is currently under review by the Law Commission as it turns 27 this year. This article analyses its Consultation Paper released in September 2022, and which contains preliminary recommendations for an update of the Arbitration Act. This analysis reveals that some issues considered by the Law Commission are not new since they had already been identified by the Departmental Advisory Committee on Arbitration Law prior to the adoption of the Arbitration Act 1996. In fact, some of these concerns were unable to be settled back in the 1990s, and still are to some extent 27 years later. For other issues, however, the Law Commission attempts to draw on recent developments in arbitral practice and contemporary challenges (such as climate change and technological advances) though at times failing to integrate them in an updated Act.
 Keywords: English arbitration; international arbitration; Arbitration Act 1996; Law Commission’s Review of Arbitration Act.

Rethinking Accounting, Accountability, and Accounting Regulation: Concerns about the Proposed Canadian Sustainability Standards Board*

AbstractThis paper expands on a letter recently submitted by a group of Canadian business academics to the Independent Review Committee on Standard Setting in Canada (IRCSSC) in response to the committee's proposed Canadian Sustainability Standards Board. We highlight sections of the IRCSSC's Consultation Paper that we find problematic and draw on accounting and other research to explain why it fails to live up to its potential. Chief among the problems we identify is that the IRCSSC appears to be wedded to the same narrow, investor‐based focus promoted by the International Sustainability Standard Board. We also draw attention to the rushed nature of the process, its exclusion of lay experts, the IRCSSC's ambiguous use of the term public interest, and its inattention to alternative understandings of value and the environment (including the people within it). Finally, we problematize the IRCSSC's sidestepping of the issues of power, culture, and conflict; its neglect of monitoring and enforcement; and its surprising disregard of the Global Reporting Initiative. Along with a number of suggestions for improving the process and its outcome, this paper also contributes to ongoing debates on standard setting and the question of whether accounting is currently equipped to provide the necessary tools for sustainability reporting.

The nature of property in cryptoassets

AbstractDisputes relating to cryptoassets have proliferated in recent years, along with the rise of the cryptoasset market. Some of these can be resolved using traditional principles of contract, tort or trust law, but proprietary issues raise particular conundrums. While cryptoassets have generally been accepted to be property, that is merely the starting point. To properly resolve proprietary disputes, it is necessary to provide a reasoned and robust explanation for why particular rules of title originally developed in the context of tangible property should apply. In turn, two foundational questions must be answered. First, what is the subject-matter of the property right in cryptoassets? And secondly, what is the proprietary effect of a blockchain transaction? These issues have received relatively little attention in the literature, which has focused on whether cryptoassets are property at all, and existing contributions (including the Law Commission's recent Consultation Paper on Digital Assets) which do engage these issues are far from reaching consensus. This paper critically examines those views and puts forward its own reasoned approach for the application of traditional rules of title to cryptoassets.

Consultation Paper on Artificial Intelligence and Civil Liability

Consultation Paper on Artificial Intelligence and Civil Liability

Consultation Paper on Renovating the Public Hearing

Consultation Paper on Renovating the Public Hearing

Consultation Paper on the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalization of the Economy

The authors examine a Consultation Paper released by the Australian Treasury in October 2022 seeking comments on the OECD’s two-pillar response to the challenges posed by the digitalization of the world economy. By way of preliminary comment, there will be significant challenges in Australia meeting the OECD timelines, which envisage Pillar Two coming into effect in 2023 and Pillar One in 2024. However, given the Australian government’s strong support for OECD and G20 initiatives, it seems likely Australia will commit, to the extent possible, to implementing the new global agreement in accordance with the OECD timetable.

Two Brief Comments on the Law Commission’s Proposed Reform of the Arbitration Act 1996

The Law Commission of England and Wales is currently reviewing the English Arbitration Act 1996 with a view to its being reformed. In September, it published a consultation paper making various recommendations on a preliminary basis. This article respectfully suggests that the Law Commission should revise its approach in respect of its proposed amendment to section 67 (challenges to jurisdiction) and its decision not to include in the review the question of the law governing the arbitration agreement: the former in order to protect the legitimacy of arbitration; and the latter in order to enhance legal certainty and clarity. Arbitration Act 1996, law reform, Law Commission, section 67, law applicable to the arbitration agreement

An evaluation of community care services for the elderly in Hong Kong

PurposeThis article analyses community care services (CCS) in terms of availability, awareness, accessibility, and acceptance (the Four A’s approach), untangles the deep-seated factors underlying the CCS and provides some short-term, medium-term, and long-term recommendations.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted, including relevant government reports, consultation papers, Legislative Council papers and articles from academic journals from 1980 to the present.FindingsThe Four A’s approach shows that applicants to both centre-based services and home-based services endure lengthy waiting times because of the limited number of CCS. Furthermore, the awareness of day respite services is approximately 50 percent, which lags behind other CCS. Accessibility is contingent on a cross-district day respite service system and a lack of consistency between the quota and the proportion of older adults in the districts. Finally, the level of service provided by CCS is unsatisfactory due to inflexible service provision. Reviewing the brief history of long-term care services (LTC) reveals the deep-seated factors at the core of their heavy reliance on the subvention model, in contrast to the adoption of the ‘mixed economy of care’ by residential care services (RCS). An imbalance in budget allocation to RCS and CCS is also revealed.Originality/valueAlthough the principle of ‘ageing in place’ was introduced in 1977, the institutionalisation rate (6.8 percent) of older adults remains unexpectedly high in Hong Kong, even surpassing its Asian counterparts, whereas the usage rate of CCS hovers around 0.8 percent. Thus, how to implement policy concerning LTC services for older adults must be re-evaluated.