Continental European Countries Research Articles

What to Protect, and How? Unfair Competition, Intellectual Property, or Protection Sui Generis

While legal theory postulates that a clear borderline exists between the area covered by intellectual property rights and the surrounding glacis where imitation of others’ achievements is free, the division is all but distinct in practice. In particular in continental European countries such as Germany where unfair competition laws have traditionally been employed for granting protection under certain conditions against “slavish imitation”, the distinction – which is formally one of object-related protection vis-a-vis conduct-oriented assessment – sometimes appears as a matter of semantics rather than substance. Unfair competition protection may thereby assume the role of an incubator for new types of rights to emerge, which are later-on integrated into the corpus of traditional intellectual property laws or are transformed into rights sui generis. After describing and analysing the phenomena, the article suggests a systematized approach towards such legal metamorphoses that strives to reconcile the diverging objectives of flexibility and legal security.

Surgical maggots and the history of their medical use

Biosurgery or maggot therapy is a method of non-operative treatment of chronic skin and soft tissue wounds based on the medicinal properties of the so-called “surgical maggots.” Biosurgery became popular in the period between World Wars I and II and has recently aroused great interest in the US, the United Kingdom, and some continental European countries. The method is known as “maggot debridement therapy” in the US and as “biosurgery” in the United Kingdom.

Conflict of Interest, Secrecy and Insider Information of Directors - A Comparative Analysis

The duty of loyalty is highly developed in Anglo-American countries, while in continental European countries it has only received more hesitant attention. Yet more recently there are tendencies to more convergence. They stem from company law scholarship, but also from more institutionally driven developments such as the independent director movement, the corporate governance codes, to a certain degree also the harmonization efforts of the European Commission and the general influence of US American law on European company law and practices. This article concentrates on conflict of interest, secrecy and insider information of corporate directors in a functional and comparative way. The main concepts are loans and credit to directors, self-dealing, competition with the company, corporate opportunities, wrongful profiting from position and remuneration. Prevention techniques, remedies and enforcement are also in the focus. The main jurisdictions dealt with are the European Union, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, but references to other countries are made where appropriate.

Democratic police governance in comparative perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare the specific institutional arrangements for realizing democratically accountable policing in England & Wales and the Netherlands. It assesses each accountability system against a set of “democratic criteria” and considers the implications for democratic policing of the current reform trajectories in both jurisdictions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a cross‐national approach exploring the relationship between policing and democratic institutions by comparing the democratic credentials of the police governance systems in England & Wales and the Netherlands.FindingsCurrent reforms to the police governance system in England & Wales aim to increase local elected influence over policing. By contrast, the Dutch system deliberately limits the degree of local electoral control over policing. The paper argues that there is a range of elements to democratic policing, and that “democratic accountability” should not be conflated with control of policing by elected bodies. Whilst the trajectories of reform in England & Wales and the Netherlands are going in opposite directions, each raises a number of “democratic” concerns.Research limitation/implicationsThe research is limited to only two developed European parliamentary democracies in the European Union. Further comparative research on democratic policing is required to expand the analysis to a wider variety of democratic contexts.Originality/valueTo date, there has been little attention paid by policy makers or by academics to the form and nature of police governance in continental European countries. By drawing comparisons between England & Wales and the Netherlands, the paper aims to provide a democratic assessment of the two police accountability systems (and their current reform trajectories) and discuss some broad policy implications for police governance in each jurisdiction.Practical implicationsComparative analysis of police accountability in both England and Wales and the Netherlands provides potential for policy learning in each jurisdiction. The analysis suggests that both systems, in different ways, are currently at risk of over‐emphasizing particular democratic criteria (such as electoral participation, or delivery of service) to the exclusion of others (such as concerns with equitable and fair policing and the protection of minority rights).

Constitutional Reasoning as Legitimacy of Constitutional Comparison

For ten years, the legitimacy of constitutional comparison in courts has been intensely debated. The case law of the U.S. Supreme Court led to an intense discussion on constitutional comparison and reached its peak with the Great Debate between Justice Scalia and Justice Breyer. Justice Breyer argued in favor of constitutional comparison while Justice Scalia refused the comparative approach. Justice Scalia stated:[Y]ou are talking about using foreign law to determine the content of American constitutional law—to be sure that we're on the right track, that we have the same moral and legal framework as the rest of the world. But we don't have the same moral and legal framework as the rest of the world, and never have. If you told the framers of the Constitution that we're to be just like Europe, they would have been appalled. If you read the Federalist Papers, they are full of statements that make very clear the framers didn't have a whole lot of respect for many of the rules in European countries. Madison, for example, speaks contemptuously of the countries of continental Europe, “who are afraid to let their people bear arms.’

PARENTHOOD AND RETIREMENT

ABSTRACT This study uses retrospective life-history data from the SHARELIFE project for an initial assessment of the long-term relationship between individuals' reproductive history and retirement in 13 Continental European countries, focussing in particular on possible gender, cohort, and welfare regime differences. Our analysis provides some weak evidence that having (more) children is associated with later retirement among men, reflecting a continuation of the male provider role well into the late career phase. When distinguishing between women born before and after 1940, we detect striking cohort differences in retirement behaviours of mothers and childless individuals: while mothers belonging to the older cohorts tend to exit the labour force later than their childless counterparts, those born post-1940 exhibit a greater propensity to enter retirement earlier. This finding is discussed against the background of cross-national (i.e., welfare regime) differences in younger mothers' employment opportunities as well as differential economic and institutional opportunities for women (mothers, respectively) to retire early. We conclude with suggestions for future research.

Evolving Connections Between Tax and Financial Reporting in Italy

We analyze the evolution of the relationship between tax and financial reporting in Italy after the mandatory introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005. Italy represents an interesting case study among European countries, with domestic generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) oriented towards creditor protection and characterized by a close connection of financial and tax accounting. Unusually, the adoption of IFRS is compulsory for the unconsolidated financial statements of listed companies, but the process of alignment of domestic GAAP to IFRS, that has affected some countries, has had little effect on Italy. Thus, two accounting systems, IFRS and Italian GAAP, are used for the preparation of unconsolidated financial statements by different categories of companies and, as a consequence, two different linkages between tax and financial reporting emerge. In order to assess the degree and the direction of the book-tax linkages we use the methodology developed by Lamb, Nobes and Roberts (1998. International variations in the connections between tax and financial reporting, Accounting and Business Research, 28(3), pp. 173–188). IFRS and tax reporting show a high degree of disconnection, while Italian GAAP, in line with the accounting tradition of most continental European countries, are closely related to tax rules. The analysis points out a rapidly evolving situation, with links between accounting systems and taxation becoming tighter, mainly because of the changes in tax law introduced during the last few years.

The price responsiveness of housing supply in OECD countries

The responsiveness of housing supply to changes in prices bears important implications for the evolution of housing prices and the speed of adjustment of housing markets. Based on a stock-flow model of the housing market estimated within an error correction framework, this paper estimates the long-run price elasticity of new housing supply in 21 OECD countries. Estimates suggest that the responsiveness of housing supply to price changes varies substantially across countries. It is relatively more flexible in North America and some Nordic countries, while it is more rigid in continental European countries and in the United Kingdom. The responsiveness of housing supply depends not only on national geographical and urban characteristics but also on policies, such as land use and planning regulations.

The gender wage gap and its institutional context: a comparative analysis of European graduates

This article examines whether there is a gender gap in monthly wages among recent graduates in 11 European countries, and which variables account for it. We extend previous works considering a broader range of variables including perceived skills, responsibility at work, family obligations and attitudes to family and work. Regression analyses applied to data from the ‘Research into Employment and professional FLEXibility’ (REFLEX) survey (2005) show that in all countries there is a significant ‘raw wage gap’, but with noticeable cross-country variation. Decomposition analyses show that the ‘residual wage gap’ (discrimination) is lower in Nordic countries and higher in the Czech Republic, with the United Kingdom, continental and southern European countries placed in between them. Employment characteristics and working hours are the most important factors accounting for the gender gap. Wage discrimination is lower in countries with high trade union density, centralized collective bargaining, family-friendly policies, and high level of women’s empowerment in society.

Necessary defense as a circumstance precluding criminality: national and international aspects

The article defines the concept of self-defense under the criminal legislation of Ukraine and the criminallaws of the countries of continental Europe, identifies key features and characteristics of self-defense shall beconsidered conditions of validity of self-defense.

Customer value disclosure and cost of equity capital

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the association between a firm's extent and precision of customer value disclosure and its implied cost of equity capital. In addition, it aims to investigate whether industry competition intensity attenuates this association.Design/methodology/approachThe content of corporate websites from four continental European countries is analysed on the presence and precision of customer value information and empirically test whether content and precision are associated with the firm's implied cost of equity capital measurement.FindingsThe results show a negative association between cross‐sectional differences in the extent of customer value disclosure and cross‐sectional differences in a firm's cost of equity capital. In addition, the precision of the customer value information disclosed affects this association. It is observed that a negative relationship between quantitative (or hard) customer value disclosure and a firm's cost of equity capital, but not for qualitative (or soft) customer value disclosure. As expected, industry competition intensity attenuates the association between quantitative customer value disclosures and a firm's cost of equity capital.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper considers web placement of customer value disclosure although a firm might disclose such information through other information channels as well.Practical implicationsA firm tends to benefit economically from more precise customer value disclosure.Originality/valueThe paper extends existing evidence by considering the capital market implications of disclosing customer value information. In addition, it examines whether industry competition affects the association between customer value disclosure and the firm's cost of equity capital.

Why Have Labour Market Outcomes of Youth in Advanced Economies Deteriorated?

Abstract: Youth labour outcomes in comparison to those of prime-age adults have worsened across the OECD since the mid-1970s. English-speaking countries experienced mostly declines in relative pay; continental European countries experienced mostly declines in relative employment. This paper aims to explain these developments by estimating a system of simultaneous equations on a panel of 10 advanced economies. The results suggest that the deterioration in the youth labour market has been due to inward shifts in relative demand, offset only partially by reductions in relative supply. The heterogeneity in the deterioration across countries was caused partly by differential rates of relative pay adjustment, depending on each country’s mix of labour market institutions and the priority attached by social partners to youth employment.

Unemployment Dynamics in the OECD

We provide a set of comparable estimates for the rates of in‡ow to and out‡ow from unemployment for fourteen OECD economies using publicly available data. We then devise a method to decompose changes in unemployment into contributions accounted for by changes in in‡ow and out‡ow rates for cases where unemployment deviates from its ‡ow steady state, as it does in many countries. Our decomposition reveals that ‡uctuations in both in‡ow and out‡ow rates contribute substantially to unemployment variation within countries. For Anglo-Saxon economies we …nd approximately a 20:80 in‡ow/out‡ow split to unemployment variation, while for Continental European and Nordic countries, we observe much closer to a 50:50 split. Using the estimated ‡ow rates we compute gross worker ‡ows into and out of unemployment. In all economies we observe that increases in in‡ows lead increases in unemployment, whereas out‡ows lag a ramp up in unemployment.

An Analysis on Development of Public Administration Study in Western Countries

Public administration study has been conducted for several hundred years in western countries, while the countries in different areas presenting diverse development paths and research approaches. Continental European countries represented by France and Germany which fail to get rid of the influence of jurisprudence till now as yet due to the close integration of early study of public administration and administrative law, embody the value orientation of nationalism and features of self-reform. Nevertheless, public administration study in countries like Britain and the Unite States shows a tendency of managerialism with strong characteristic and tendency of comparative research. Key words: Pubic administration; Public administration study; Administrative model; The new right

Agency conflicts and the demand for non‐audit services

PurposeThe aim of the present paper is to examine the impact of agency costs on the demand for non‐audit services (NAS) in Germany.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses data from German listed companies to test whether audit clients vary their purchases of NAS according to agency costs over time. The paper used multiple regressions and included ownership composition, performance‐based management compensation, and leverage as proxies for agency conflicts.FindingsOverall, the hypothesis that agency costs influence the demand for NAS was not confirmed. None of our proxies for agency conflicts were significantly associated with the purchase of NAS. These findings remain stable when alternative NAS fee measures were applied.Research limitations/implicationsFindings cannot be generalised for smaller, private companies. Particularities of the German setting might have caused the insignificance of agency costs, but this cannot be tested statistically. The contrast between these insignificant results and the significant impact of agency costs on the demand for non‐audit services revealed by many previous studies, in particular from the US and the UK, raises important questions for future research.Practical implicationsThis paper concerns management's perceptions on how stakeholders perceive the effect of NAS provision on auditor independence. Thus, its findings should be of interest to German, European and international regulators when evaluating the impact of the provision of NAS on independence in appearance.Originality/valueThis study is the first to provide evidence on the relationship between agency conflicts and the demand for non‐audit services from Germany and thus from a continental European country. Moreover, it provides evidence for periods after the introduction of stricter standards on the provision of non‐audit services. In addition, it applies a new proxy for agency costs (i.e. performance‐based management compensation).

Is there popular music out there?

Is European popular music actually ‘popular music’? Of course it is, especially if we consider that the United Kingdom is part of Europe. But perhaps the question should be formulated as follows: ‘Is continental European popular music actually “popular music”?’ Yes, if we consider that the first conference on popular music research was held in Amsterdam and offered a number of papers on non-Anglophone popular music, that IASPM was established in Sweden, that its second conference (titled What is Popular Music?) was held in Italy, that many popular music scholars are based in continental European countries, and many of them study their local genres and scenes. However, those genres and scenes are not called, in local languages, ‘popular music’, and only a semi-informal international convention made continental European scholars adopt the English term for their object of study. On the other hand, there are also many signs that Anglophone scholars, when they use the expression ‘popular music’, tend to refer to Anglo-American popular music, and incline to call other popular musics ‘world music’. Of course, the issue is not just about linguistic usage: in the article examples both from the media and the academia are commented, and their ideological implications are discussed.

Working time flexibility components and working time regimes in Europe: using company-level data across 21 countries

Working time flexibility comprises a wide variety of arrangements, from part-time, overtime, to long-term leaves. Theoretical approaches to grouping these arrangements have been developed, but empirical underpinnings are rare. This article investigates the bundles that can be found for various flexible working time arrangements, using the Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work–Life Balance, 2004/2005, covering 21 EU member states and 13 industries. The results from the factor analyses confirmed that working time arrangements can be grouped into two bundles, one for the employee-centred arrangements and second for the employer-centred arrangements, and that these two bundles are separate dimensions. We also tested the stability of the factor analysis outcome, showing that although we find some deviations from the pan-Europe and pan-industry outcome, the naming of the components as flexibility for employees and flexibility for employers can be considered rather stable. Lastly, we find three country clusters for the 21 European countries using the bundle approach. The first group includes the Northern European countries along side Poland and Czech Republic, the second group the continental European countries with UK and Ireland, and lastly, the southern European countries with Hungary and Slovenia.

Comprehensive Income, Fair Value, and Conservatism: A Conceptual Framework for Reporting Financial Performance

The introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards, mandatory for all EU listed companies from 2005 onwards, has proven to be a challenge for preparers and academicians alike, given the Standards’ emphasis on fair value as a means to improve the true and fair representation of the financial position and performance of a firm. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for explaining the choices made by the International Accounting Standards Board in setting the rules for measuring firms’ financial performance, with emphasis on the accounting literature and tradition of continental European countries, where the respect of the conservatism principle is generally considered paramount. The paper, after describing the theoretical background of both historical cost and current value accounting, and their traditional contraposition, will examine the problems arising from the introduction of a mixed model of accounting (endorsed by the IASB) in a cultural and legal framework strongly oriented towards conservatism. We suggest that some aspects of the current IASB model denote internal inconsistency and we therefore advocate for the introduction of comprehensive income in the IASB reporting framework.

Alike but not alike: Welfare state and unemployment policies in Southern Europe. Italy and Portugal compared

Although Italy and Portugal are considered to be part of the same welfare state family – the Southern European one – analysis of a key component of the welfare state, namely, unemployment policies and regulations, reveals a different evaluation. A comparative analysis of a series of specific indicators of Italian and Portuguese unemployment regimes shows that they represent two different models. Portugal appears to be a more inclusive system, closer to continental or Northern European countries than it is to Italy, or at least representing a hybrid system that combines characteristics of continental European welfare states with characteristics that are more typical of Southern European welfare states. Italy, on the contrary, is much more clearly a Southern European welfare state.

Is legal English “going European”? The case of the simple present

AbstractIn many countries in continental Europe the simple present is extensively used in main clauses in legislative texts to express obligation. Several English-speaking legal systems have witnessed an increased usage of the simple present in legal English over the last few decades, largely at the expense of shall. I examine the continuing debate among law scholars and writers of legal drafting manuals over the adoption of the simple present in prescriptive texts in English. I conclude by observing that the decision in some countries to do away with shall would appear to be linked principally to socio-pragmatic factors relating to the way this modal auxiliary is perceived in many parts of the English-speaking world today, that is, as being outdated and smacking of “legalese”, a style of legal writing that plain language exponents have been trying to eliminate.