Consultation Paper Research Articles

Muddy Waters Capital LLC's Answers to ESMA's Consultation Paper on the Review of Certain Aspects of the Short Selling Regulation

Muddy Waters Capital LLC's Answers to ESMA's Consultation Paper on the Review of Certain Aspects of the Short Selling Regulation

Submission to Canadian Government Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for AI and the Internet of Things

We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Canadian Government’s consultation on a modern copyright framework for AI and the Internet of Things. Below, we present some of our research findings relating to the importance of flexibility in copyright law to permit text and data mining (“TDM”). As the consultation paper recognizes, TDM is a critical element of artificial intelligence. Our research supports the adoption of a specific exception for uses of works in TDM to supplement Canada’s existing general fair dealing exception. Empirical research shows that more publication of citable research takes place in countries with “open” research exceptions -- that is, research exceptions that are open to all uses (e.g. reproduction and communication), to all works, and to all users. Empirical research also shows that text and data mining research is promoted through exceptions that more specifically authorize text and data mining research. While these studies are preliminary and we are still improving on them, they provide evidence that supports the approach of combining a general research exception with a more specific data mining exception.

Regulating Restrictive Covenants in English Employment Law: Time for a Rethink?

The potentially chilling effects of non-compete covenants on the ambitions and capacities of former employees to forge careers as commercial entrepreneurs have been propelled to the forefront of public debate in recent years. For example, in the US, reports in the press of rank and file employees working in sandwich bars being restrained by post-employment restrictions have sparked outrage. Nor has public debate in the UK been immune to such concerns. For example, the British Government has issued a call for evidence and a separate consultation paper on the future of non-compete covenants. The emphasis in these papers has been on versing the possible adverse consequences of non-compete covenants for the public good, the wider economy and social policy. Taking these ideas in the Government’s work as its point of departure, the concepts of the public interest and economic power are evoked in this article. Ultimately, the claim is made that in deciding whether to enforce non-compete covenants, the courts should afford greater significance to the public interest in the current incarnation of the common law restraint of trade doctrine. And this calls for a much livelier sense of the economic power that such covenants enable employers to exploit in the labour market, as well as the resultant social costs imposed on the public, consumers and society.

Crticial Thinking in Today’s Accounting Education: A Reflection Note Following the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants Consultation Paper ‘Professional Skepticism Meeting Public Expectations’

Crticial Thinking in Today’s Accounting Education: A Reflection Note Following the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants Consultation Paper ‘Professional Skepticism Meeting Public Expectations’

Simplification of the Immigration Rules: Consultation Paper. Law Commission

Submission to Law Commission's Simplification of the Immigration Rules public consultation.

(When) Do Banks React to Anticipated Capital Reliefs?

We study how banks react to policy announcements during a representative policy cycle involving consultation and publication using a novel dataset on the population of all mortgage transactions and regulatory risk assessments of banks. We demonstrate that banks likely to benefit from lower capital requirements increase the size of this capital relief by permanently investing into low risk assets after the publication of the policy. In contrast, there is no evidence that they already reacted to the early step of the development of the policy, the publication of the consultation paper. We show how these results can be used to estimate a lower bound on the cost of capital for smaller banks, for which such estimates are typically difficult to obtain.

Joint Submission to HKEX's July 2020 Consultation Paper on Paperless Listing

On 24 July 2020, HKEX announced two important initiatives. The first moves toward resolving a shortcoming in the regime for new listing applicants. The second aspires to improve Hong Kong’s environmental practices via a paperless listing regime. While both proposals set a directionally positive tone, there are some devils in the details. The first represents a small step with more to be done to implement recommendations made in a report by the HKICPA in December 2017. The second synchronizes poorly with the law, may not bring about the desired outcome and may have overshot the mark as to what could have been more simply done.

Submission to the Department of Justice of Hong Kong Consultation on the Proposed Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

In 2020, the Hong Kong Department of Justice undertook a consultative process seeking views on the proposed extension of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ('CISG') to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Its Consultation Paper proposed extending the CISG to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (at the time, only applicable in Mainland China) subject to an Art. 95 CISG reservation regarding Art. 1(1)(b) CISG. That Consultation Paper also set out a draft implementing Bill, and a draft Explanatory Memorandum. A number of consultation questions were raised, upon which public comment was sought. This submission addresses the form of the Consultation Paper's draft implementing Bill. It argues, based on Australian and New Zealand experience with the CISG, that amendments are necessary. It proposes specific amendments to the draft implementing Bill, as well as corresponding changes to the draft Explanatory Memorandum. These recommendations are made so as to help the CISG achieve its intended objectives in Hong Kong.

Strengthening public health education of undergraduate medical students through early primary healthcare services’ association

Background: The World Health Organization consultation paper on the teaching of community medicine 2010 highlighted the need to change the focus from didactic lectures to more interactive teaching learning methods. The objective of this study was detection of difference between didactic and early training at primary healthcare centers at different levels of knowledge, acquired skills, and attitudes of undergraduate medical students.Methods: This interventional study included students of academic year 2017-18 had summer training course in public health department as a part of the Faculty aim of early clinical exposure of preclinical students (i.e., first three grades) (n=25). The public health training course focuses mainly on raising students' skills of basic primary health care services. Comparable group of 75 students from the regular system were randomly selected. This intervention aimed to design new educational process and determine its outcomes evaluating Learner’s knowledge, their attitudes, and gained skilled.Results: The interventional group had positive attitudes ranging from 59-93% for different topics given. The conventional methods group had statistically insignificant higher scores in the summative assessment 20.5±2.2 versus 19.6±3.1 of the interventional group (p value 0.11). The acquired skills of the interventional group ranged from 9.3±2.1 to14.9±1.5.Conclusions: Early field contact gained higher positive attitude among medical students and it showed high skill acquisition. It is recommended to be used more frequently in public health practical teaching for undergraduate students.

Treasury Consultation Paper on ICOs in Australia: The Technology, The Market, and The Regulation of ICOs

The Australian Treasury has identified a number of challenges in FinTech, especially around Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In this paper we examine four types of tokens within ICOs: pure utility tokens, security tokens, stored value tokens, and hybrid tokens. There is considerable confusion surrounding what each means and signifies, and how each should be treated by both consumers and regulators. We explore the differences, noting what promoters should do to avoid falling into regulatory traps, and the consequences for selecting particular types of token. Because of the confusion around ICO tokens, we suggest there should be a new asset class of token recognised in the Australian Corporations Act. It would have its own funding limits and regulatory framework. Finally, we outline a new code of conduct for ICOs.

Asylum seekers and the right to access health care

In recent years, the issue of access to health care by asylum seekers has raised serious questions for government, the courts and the medical profession. Who has the right to medical treatment in the United Kingdom is a political, humanitarian and human rights matter. For the government – often facing public hostility towards asylum seekers and migrants, fearful of health tourism or “pull factors” to the UK, and confronting burgeoning financial constraints – access to treatment is often regarded as a concession rather than a right. For the courts, any decision to grant treatment to non-nationals, particularly those with no right to remain, is seen as having political implications far beyond the needs of the individual. The medical profession, by contrast, prefers in the main to focus on the patient, without regard for immigration status, and is uncomfortable with a dual role. Where the balance should lie is currently being assessed by government as it considers responses to a consultation paper on Review of Access to the NHS by Foreign Nationals. At this timely point, this article offers a multidisciplinary approach to the question of access to health care by asylum seekers, by examining not only the legal position but also government policy, its impact on the individual, and, significantly, the ethical and philosophical arguments pro or contra treatment. It is contended that only through this comprehensive analysis can an appropriate legislative approach be adopted at a time when this critical social right is gaining ascendance.

Peer-To-Peer Lending and Equity-Based Crowd Funding - Status Quo and the Leap Forward

This paper intends to evaluate the modern-day concepts of public fund raising under the aegis of ‘peer-to-peer lending’ and ‘equity-based crowdfunding’ and to highlight their importance in the current world market scenario. It traces the evolution of crowd funding and highlights its practical functioning with noteworthy illustrations and statistical analysis. This paper intends to address the dire need for regulation of these activities, by bringing to light the deficiencies and lacunae in the extant laws and suggested solutions thereto. In furtherance of the said objective, a double faceted approach is taken. First, the paper examines the parallel international practices of such regulations in the United States of America, United Kingdom, China, France, New Zealand, Korea etc. and then it evaluates extant Indian laws. The paper has also dissected the attempts made by regulatory bodies in India, such as the Reserve Bank of India’s Non-Banking Financial Company – Peer to Peer Lending Platform (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2017 and the Securities and exchange Board of India’s Consultation Paper on Crowdfunding in India, 2014 which aim to regulate these activities. The paper recognizes the dire need for a meticulous regulation of equity-based crowdfunding and for this purpose concludes with suggestions. The paper highlights the need for introduction of interest cap on peer-to-peer lending, introduction of a ‘cooling-off’ period for investments by retail investors in Equity crowdfunding, additions to investor education and risk undertaking by investors, strengthening suggested valuation standards etc.

Consultation Paper on Pension Division: A Review of Part 6 of the Family Law Act

Consultation Paper on Pension Division: A Review of Part 6 of the Family Law Act

Consultation Paper on Modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act

Consultation Paper on Modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act

The United Kingdom Revisits Its Surrogacy Law.

The United Kingdom is partway through a multiyear process of revising its law on surrogacy, both traditional and gestational. In October of 2019, the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission-statutorily created independent bodies charged with keeping the law under review and recommending reforms whenever necessary-completed a public consultation on surrogacy. In June, the commissions published an extensive consultation paper laying out the case for surrogacy reform and making tentative recommendations about how revision should proceed. The commissions are now digesting the public's responses, and they aim to have a final report on their proposed revisions of the law and a draft bill for consideration by Parliament in 2021. The foundation of current U.K. surrogacy law was laid in the Surrogacy Arrangements Act of 1985. There are numerous problems with the existing regime.

НЕСПРАВЕДЛИВІ УМОВИ В ГОСПОДАРСЬКИХ ДОГОВОРАХ

February 6, 2018, the Law of Ukraine No. 2275-VIII On the Companies with Limited and Complementary Liability was adopted. Quite unexpectedly, the legislator chose to decide therein on a totally unrelated matter, repealing Art. 207 of the Economic Code of Ukraine. Section 2 of the said article had provided some minimal possibilities of challenging unfair terms in business contracts. For the present moment, businesses in Ukraine, first and foremost small- and medium-sized ones, actually enjoy no protection against onerous or discriminatory contract terms, not being covered by consumer protection legislation.We heavily criticize the situation und undertake the analysis of the respective provisions of the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts (UNIDROIT, fr. Institut international pour l’unification du droit prive), the Principles of European Contract Law and the national legislation of Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Great Britain, France, Germany and Sweden. We identify three approaches to treating unfair terms in business contracts: 1) businesses are explicitly treated as consumers for the purposes of legislation; 2) there are discrete controls of unfair terms in business contracts; and 3) pro-active preventive measures exist to bar the use and dissemination of unfair practices.The results of the research highlight the global recognition of the issue, that therefore needs to be addressed promptly by the Ukrainian legislator.A protection should be granted against any contractual term which has not been individually negotiated if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract. I adhere to the unified regime of dealing with unfair terms in business contracts as well as consumer contracts. The uniform fair and reasonable test should apply in both instances though naturally they may apply somewhat differently in a business context, the courts exercising more restrictive and rigorous approach. The courts are, inter alia, to take into account the size of the business, and whether it makes transactions of the kind in question regularly or only occasionally, in assessing the fairness of the terms complained of. REFERENCES1. Maydanyk R.A. Problemy rehuliuvannia dovirchykh vidnosyn u tsyvilnomu pravi: avtoref. dys. … d-ra yuryd. nauk. Kyiv, 2003. 28 p. [in Ukrainian].2. Belianevych O.A. Hospodarske dohovirne pravo Ukrayny (teoretychni aspekty). Kyiv: Yurinkom Inter, 2006. 592 p. [in Ukrainian].3. UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts 2016. URL: http://www.unidroit.org/english/principles/contracts/principles2016/principles2016-e.pdf4. The Principles of European Contract Law 2002 (Parts I, II, and III). URL: http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/eu.contract.principles.parts.1.to.3.2002/index.html5. Hordiienko A.V. Pravovi zasoby zakhystu prav investoriv za investytsiinymy dohovoramy na budivnytstvo. Aktualni problemy vitchyznianoi yurysprudentsii. 2017. No. 6. P. 22-25 [in Ukrainian].6. Cour de Cassation, Chambre civile 1, du 24 janvier 1995, 92-18.227, Publie au bulletin [in French].7. Unconscionability. Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscionability8. Cvaigert K., Ketc Kh. Vvedenie v sravnitel’noe pravovedenie v sfere chastnogo prava: In 2 vol. Vol. 2. Per. s nem. Moskow: Mezhdunar. otnoshenija, 1998. 512 p. [in Russian].9. Unfair Contract Terms Bill. URL: http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/docs/lc292bill.pdf10. Unfair Terms in Contracts: A Joint Consultation Paper. URL: https://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/files/8912/7892/7069/dp119_summary.pdf

Geospatial data in the UK

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the rise of geospatial data, its importance for business and some of the problems associated with its development and use.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews a certain amount of previously published literature but is based mainly on analysis of the very large number of responses to a consultation paper on geospatial data published by the UK Government.FindingsThe findings are that while there is strong appreciation of the potential benefits of using geospatial data, there are many barriers to the development, sharing and use of geospatial data, ranging from problems of incompatibility in data definitions and systems to regulatory issues. The implication for governments and for providers and users of geospatial data relates to the need to take a long-term approach to planning in resolving the issues identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings are limited to the UK, but similar findings would be likely in any other large Western country.Practical implicationsThis paper confirms the need for a strong and coherent approach to the planning of geospatial data and systems for the establishment of a clear basis for the different parties to work together and the need to clearly separate the roles of the government in establishing frameworks and standards and the role of the private sector in developing applications and solutions.Social implicationsSociety is increasingly dependent on the use of geospatial data, in improving living standards and dealing with social problems. The recommendations identified in this paper, if followed, will facilitate these improvements.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is the tight synthesis that it provides of a wide ranging and complex range of responses to the UK Government consultation and placing these responses in the wider context of the development of geospatial data.

A Consumer Complaints and Grievances Redressal System in Indian Telecom Sector

Purpose. The purpose of this research is to analyses current consumer complaints redressal mechanism adopted by Indian telecom operators and designed by telecom regulator in India. Design/ methodology/ approach. Systematic literature review of research papers, related documents, and consultation papers published by regulator, secondary research through articles, opinions and analysis of consumer complaints registered with Telecom Service Providers (TSP). The paper is based on secondary research through literature review of related journal papers, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) policy documents, consultation papers, news articles along with study of complaints registered with telecom service provides. Findings. The paper analyses the consumer complaint & grievance redressal system in telecom sector in India and imperative need to resolve grievances in a swift and clear manner to make sure continual growth for the telecom sector. The paper specifically analyses Indian telecom diaspora about complain resolution in relation to regulatory authority, existing systems, new developments along with study/interpretation of assimilated complaints to corroborate the research findings. Practical implications. The paper understands major issues which lead to consumer dissatisfaction about redressal mechanism in telecom sector. The paper also covers briefly no of complaints registered with TSPs and appeals accepted. The paper also tries to understand various consumer complaints registered with TSPs and their current status. However, paper is unable to add impact of recently announced telecom ombudsman because of very nascent stage. The study can help to understand what changes are required to make the redressal architecture more effective. Originality/value. This paper furthers understanding of how TRAI functions with respect to consumer redressal. And, it sheds light on current consumer redressal architecture and what changes are required to make architecture effective and more efficient

Construction of ICU nursing workload performance appraisal index based on information system

Objective To develop a reasonable performance evaluation index system for ICU nursing workload based on the hospital information system and the structure-process-result model. Methods The preliminary indicators of ICU nurses' performance appraisal system were constructed by the research group. Delphi method was used for expert consultation to evaluate the importance of the indicators of the performance appraisal system. After summarizing, sorting out and modifying the expert opinions, the performance appraisal index system of ICU nurses was obtained. SPSS 19.0 software is used to describe the importance of experts' evaluation of indicators at all levels, such as mean, standard deviation, coordination coefficient of experts' opinions and degree of coordination. Results The effective recovery rate of expert consultation papers was 100%. In the first round of inquiry, the average of importance assignment was 2.05-5.00, the average of rationality assignment was 2.13-5.00, and the average of importance assignment in the second round was 4.57-5.00. The average of rationality assignment was 4.71-5.00. The coefficient of variation of all levels of indicators in the first round was 0.02-0.18, the coefficient of variation in the second round was 0.02-0.12, which was less than 0.2, the positive coefficient of experts was 100%, and the authoritative coefficient of experts in the second round was 0.86 and 0.88. After two rounds of Delphi expert consultation, the ICU nurses' performance appraisal index system was finally formed, including three first-level indicators and 37 second-level indicators. Conclusion This study is based on the information system, according to the structure-process-result model, using the expert consultation method to construct the ICU nursing workload performance assessment index system, and establish the weight of each index, the research results are helpful to further improve the performance appraisal system of ICU nursing staff and improve the scientific management level of ICU. Key words: Intensive care; Nursing workload; Performance appraisal; Information system; Index system

Accounting for heritage assets

Purpose Taking into consideration the lively debate about recognition, measurement, and disclosure criteria for heritage assets (HA) in financial reporting, the purpose of this paper is to examine the comment letters submitted by governmental organizations regarding the consultation paper (CP) on HA in order to understand what is the position of the governmental organizations in relation to critical issues of the accounting and financial reporting of HA. Design/methodology/approach From a methodological point of view, a content analysis was performed. First, the responses were classified according to level of agreement with the 13 items included in the CP on HA; second, the arguments adduced by respondents in supporting or contradicting the proposed approaches and definitions have been investigated. Findings The majority of responses came from countries with relevant differences in culture, administrative traditions and accounting systems. Governmental organizations strongly agreed with the recognition of heritage items as “assets” in financial reporting, while conflicting positions on measuring bases were identified. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies based on the content of the comment letters received in response to the CP on HA. The present study can also give an idea of the content of the future IPSAS on HA. Moreover, it is the first study attempting to enrich the debate on governmental organizations’ participation to the IPSAS standard-setting process.