Current Prohibition Research Articles

Citizens' preferences for research programs on forest genetic resources: A case applied to Pinus pinaster Ait. in Spain

Research on operational programs for the conservation and improvement of forest genetic resources is associated with use and non-use values, given that such research not only generates new knowledge but also incorporates both commercial benefits and benefits related to the conservation of genetic material for reproduction. This article applies a discrete choice experiment that allows analyzing the preferences of Spanish society for operational programs for the breeding and conservation of P. pinaster. Such programs are financed mainly by public research funds, and it would be advisable to include citizens' preferences regarding programs for the conservation and improvement of forest genetic resources. The analysis quantifies the trade-offs between the various characteristics of the program, such as production improvements, biotic and abiotic risks, genetic diversity, and the biodiversity of pine forests. The results show that society is willing to pay for research in these directions, above all research on greater resistance to biotic risks. Likewise, the study shows how research on transgenic forest resources is not socially accepted, thus adding to the arguments in favor of the current prohibition in Spain on marketing this type of forest reproductive material. Finally, considering the current R&D budget and the average tax collection in Spain, the WTP seems to be biased upwards. In this sense, an analysis of individual's response time as a proxy of carelessness was performed.

Criminalization of cartels: a retrospective analysis of domestic legislation

The importance of the historical method in the research of all legal phenomena and processes have been highlight a long time ago — so even pre-revolutionary Russian jurists noted that history “indicates a natural cause of existing ugliness and all of this or that condition of criminal law, it states the source of its progressiveness, and provides data for the evaluation of both, old and new, theories and criminal law teachings”. Therefore, the current research and debate on the criminal liability of legal regulation of the problems of anti-competitive agreements should be anticipated by highlighting the evolution of the relevant norms, the development of which took place within the boundaries of three periods — pre-revolutionary, soviet and modern or post-soviet.The author, referring to the original sources, presents the historiography of the evolution of domestic legislation in the field of criminal law protection of competition, and discovers the prototypes of current prohibitions on anticompetitive agreements and mechanisms for identifying such violations.

La única vía para garantizar que la Gestación Subrogada sea éticamente correcta. Ramón Ortega Lozano

Surrogate pregnancy is a controversial topic in bioethics and its current prohibition in Spain has become one of the issues to be addressed in the political agenda of this country. This article aims to analyze the ethical aspects that are violated in the case of surrogate pregnancy. The arguments presented show how this affects especially, but not exclusively, the surrogate mother. On the basis of these arguments, this paper proposes a situation in which the surrogate pregnancy could be considered ethically correct. This argumentation should be considered in the debate concerning lifting the ban on surrogate pregnancy in Spain.

Could the community trust model be applied to regulate cannabis? Findings from a survey of two alcohol licensing trust communities in New Zealand

Introduction: New Zealand’s Alcohol Licencing Trusts (ALTs) are community-owned entities that sell alcohol in their districts and return profits back to the local community.Aim: To investigate support for applying the ALT model to regulate legal cannabis.Method: An online survey asked people living in two ALT districts to rate their support for applying the ALT model to legal cannabis; 2,379 people completed the survey. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify predictors of support for applying the ALT model to cannabis.Results: Thirty-nine per cent supported the ALT model for legal cannabis. Reasons for support included: the trust’s donations to the community (53%), potential to restrict cannabis sales (43%), controlling the cannabis industry (43%), and better than the current prohibition (42%). Support for the existing ALT (OR = 8.86), recent history of cannabis use (OR = 1.42), younger age (OR = 1.02) and not being in employment (OR = 1.46) predicted support for the model for cannabis. Cannabis users were more likely to support the trust model on pragmatic grounds (‘better than prohibition’) while non-users valued the model’s capacity to responsibly regulate sales and the cannabis industry.Discussion: The ALT model can offer a middle-ground approach that attracts support from cannabis users and non-users, albeit on different grounds.

End-of-life decision making by Austrian physicians - a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAustria has recently been embroiled in the complex debate on the legalization of measures to end life prematurely. Empirical data on end-of-life decisions made by Austrian physicians barely exists. This study is the first in Austria aimed at finding out how physicians generally approach and make end-of-life therapy decisions.MethodsThe European end-of-life decisions (EURELD) questionnaire, translated and adapted by Schildmann et al., was used to conduct this cross-sectional postal survey. Questions on palliative care training, legal issues, and use of and satisfaction with palliative care were added. All Austrian specialists in hematology and oncology, a representative sample of doctors specialized in internal medicine, and a sample of general practitioners, were invited to participate in this anonymous postal survey.ResultsFive hundred forty-eight questionnaires (response rate: 10.4%) were evaluated. 88.3% of participants had treated a patient who had died in the previous 12 months. 23% of respondents had an additional qualification in palliative medicine. The cause of death in 53.1% of patients was cancer, and 44.8% died at home. In 86.3% of cases, pain relief and / or symptom relief had been intensified. Further treatment had been withheld by 60.0%, and an existing treatment discontinued by 49.1% of respondents. In 5 cases, the respondents had prescribed, provided or administered a drug which had resulted in death. 51.3% of physicians said they would never carry out physician-assisted suicide (PAS), while 30.3% could imagine doing so under certain conditions. 38.5% of respondents supported the current prohibition of PAS, 23.9% opposed it, and 33.2% were undecided. 52.4% of physicians felt the legal situation with respect to measures to end life prematurely was ambiguous. An additional qualification in palliative medicine had no influence on measures taken, or attitudes towards PAS.ConclusionsThe majority of doctors perform symptom control in terminally ill patients. PAS is frequently requested but rarely carried out. Attending physicians felt the legal situation was ambiguous. Physicians should therefore receive training in current legislation relating to end-of-life choices and medical decisions. The data collected in this survey will help political decision-makers provide the necessary legal framework for end-of-life medical care.

A symbolic legislative gesture? An argument for active enforcement of the insider trading prohibition in Myanmar

The object of this short article is to examine one aspect of Myanmar’s recent market reform, namely, its prohibition of insider trading. The prohibition is itself uncontroversial and brings Myanmar into line with the securities laws of most other developed nations. The focus of this article is, rather, on whether the prohibition should be actively enforced or left to function as a mere symbolic legislative gesture. It is argued here that active enforcement is desirable in the developing economy context, but that the current legislative formulation of the insider trading prohibition in Myanmar leaves the prohibition to function really only as a symbolic gesture. The article undertakes a short comparative analysis with the Australian prohibition of insider trading and concludes both that prosecution under the current prohibition would be difficult and that legislative amendment is required.

Ethics, Markets, and the Legalization of Insider Trading

In light of recent doctrinal changes, we examine the confused state of U.S. insider trading law, identifying gaps that permit certain market participants to trade on the basis of material nonpublic information, and contrast U.S. insider trading doctrine with the European approach. We then explore the ethical implications of the status quo in the U.S., explaining why the dominant legal justifications for prohibiting classical insider trading and misappropriation—the fiduciary duty and property rights theories—fail to account for the wrongfulness of insider trading by eavesdroppers and certain tippees. We refute common arguments for legalizing insider trading, including arguments that insider trading is a victimless crime and that the practice promotes efficiency. We explain why insider trading constitutes the moral wrong of cheating, grounding our theory in the legitimate expectations of market participants. Having considered Kantian deontology in other work, we find that virtue ethics theory offers a helpful albeit rough framework for assessing the morality of insider trading independent of its legality. We also find that social contract theories, with norms of equality of opportunity and moral desert, provide a compelling ethical basis for retaining, clarifying and broadening current legal prohibitions against insider trading.

Algorithms as Illegal Agreements

Despite the increased transparency, connectivity, and search abilities that characterize the digital marketplace, the digital revolution has not always yielded the bargain prices that many consumers expected. What is going on? Some researchers suggest that one factor may be coordination between the algorithms used by suppliers to determine trade terms. Simple coordination-facilitating algorithms are already available off the shelf, and such coordination is only likely to become more commonplace in the near future. This is not surprising. If algorithms offer a legal way to overcome obstacles to profit-boosting coordination, and create a jointly profitable status quo in the market, why should suppliers not use them? In light of these developments, seeking solutions – both regulatory and market-driven – is timely and essential. While current research has largely focused on the concerns raised by algorithmic-facilitated coordination, this article takes the next step, asking to what extent current laws can be fitted to effectively deal with this phenomenon. To meet this challenge, this article advances in three stages. The first part analyzes the effects of algorithms on the ability of competitors to coordinate their conduct. While this issue has been addressed by other researchers, this article seeks to contribute to the analysis by systematically charting the technological abilities of algorithms that may affect coordination in the digital ecosystem in which they operate. Special emphasis is placed on the fact that the algorithms is a “recipe for action”, which can be directly or indirectly observed by competitors. The second part explores the promises as well as the limits of market solutions. In particular, it considers the use of algorithms by consumers and off-the-grid transactions to counteract some of the effects of algorithmic-facilitated coordination by suppliers. The shortcomings of such market solutions lead to the third part, which focuses on the ability of existing legal tools to deal effectively with algorithmic-facilitated coordination, while not harming the efficiencies they bring about. The analysis explores three interconnected questions that stand at the basis of designing a welfare-enhancing policy: What exactly do we wish to prohibit, and can we spell this out clearly for market participants? What types of conduct are captured under the existing antitrust laws? And is there justification for widening the regulatory net beyond its current prohibitions in light of the changing nature of the marketplace? In particular, the article explores the application of the concepts of plus factors and facilitating practices to algorithms. The analysis refutes the Federal Trade Commission’s acting Chairwoman’s claim that current laws are sufficient to deal with algorithmic-facilitated coordination.

A Nudge Toward Temperance: User-Set Consumption Limits as an Element of Cannabis Policy

Approximately four million people in the United States currently report that they have difficulty controlling their own cannabis use. That number has multiplied by approximately a factor of seven over the past quarter-century. The move toward legal availability of cannabis risks a continuation of rising trends in the rate of cannabis use disorder. Cannabis, like other “temptation goods” (Banerjee & Mullainathan, 2010; Caulkins, 2017), can generate problems because of the challenges it creates for individual decision-making. One approach to limiting such risks is to provide “nudges toward temperance”: designing the supply system with an eye to helping consumers align their daily choices with their long-term interests. A user-determined cap on purchases – a user-set quota system, or USQS – could form an element of such an approach. Under a USQS, cannabis would be sold only to registered users, each of whom would be asked to establish a personal monthly quantity limit. Vendors would deny sales exceeding any user’s stated quota. This approach to regulation would – to an extent not easily determined in advance – reduce the incidence of diagnosable cannabis problems while respecting personal autonomy: even, in a sense, enhancing it. If such a system were to succeed in the case of cannabis, it would lay a foundation for considering whether a USQS might be usefully added to the current array of alcohol-control measures, and in particular whether a user-set quota could substitute for the current prohibition of alcohol for those between 18 and 21. The same idea might be extended to some other currently-illicit drugs, with the goal of eliminating illicit markets without the upsurge in problem use that would otherwise be an expected result of legalization.

Everyday Interactions of Old Believers with Adherents of Different Faiths: Current Prohibitions and Prescriptions in Texts and Practices

The article analyzes verbal rules regulating everyday communication of the Old Believers with adherents of new-style Orthodoxy (often called Nikonians) and Jews as well as the way these rules are being put into practice. The author pays attention to personal interpretations of motivating prescriptions and explanations of the necessity to violate the norms in different situations. The empirical basis of the research includes interviews recorded in 2010–2017 in the communities of the Old Believers in the Republic of Moldova, including Transnistria. Field materials demonstrate that a lot of instructions only function in the form of knowledge about the rules, not necessarily followed by real practice. At the same time communities constantly elaborate ways of mitigating the rules, eliminating the consequences of their violation up to changing the rules, adapting them to the sociocultural context.

The Virtual Advantage: A review of the efforts to alter the rules of collection of state sales and use taxes from out-of-state e-tailers

States have been prohibited from requiring out-of-state e-retailers who lack a physical presence in the state from being able to collect and remit state sales or use taxes on revenue generated from in-state purchases. The physical presence requirement has provided e-tailers with a competitive advantage in terms of price as compared to residential businesses. Since 2004, total annual online sales in North America have increased by $318 billion, resulting in annual sales of $400 billion, with worldwide online sales exceeding $1 trillion annually. While retailers are unable to mandate collection of sales or use taxes on e-tailers without a physical presence within the state, consumers are required to report the taxes on their returns; however, it is estimated that only four percent of residents voluntarily report these taxes. As such, experts have calculated that states lose more than $12 billion per year in lost sales and use tax. In 2018, however, the Supreme Court of the United States will be hearing a case challenging the current prohibition and plethora of precedence, to determine whether a state should be able to impose the burden to collect state sales taxes on outof- state e-tailers who lack a physical presence with the state in which the consumer purchased the item. Additionally, Congress continues to consider legislative action to afford states the power to mandate collection of sales taxes on nonresident sellers who lack a physical presence within the state. The possible changes relating to state’s sales tax collection will alter e-tailers pricing strategies, minimizing the feasibility of the cost leadership approach. The purpose of this article is to analyze the genesis of cases relating to the collection of state sales taxes as well as recent congressional efforts to amend the current law and to describe how the changes will impact the ability of e-tailers to pursue a price leadership strategy. This research is important for two central reasons. First, extant research has not explored states sales tax differences in terms of Porter’s pricing strategies. Secondly, the regulatory landscape is positioned to change, meaning existing practitioners will need to reevaluate their current strategies in order to adapt to the new regulatory environment.

Could the United States Reinstitute an Official Torture Policy?

In 2015, the United States passed legislation that reaffirmed its ban on using torture and abusive techniques in national security interrogations. However, the Republican president-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to revive torture as official policy, and the idea of torturing suspected terrorists is popular with the American public. Given these facts, what are the vulnerabilities within the current prohibition that makes a return to an official torture policy possible? This paper examines the weaknesses within each branch of government and other factors that could contribute to making a return to official torture by the United States more likely. It shows that the prohibition against torture does face vulnerabilities that can be exploited to reinstitute a torture policy, and that while this may not be likely in the current political environment, it is possible.

Particular Prohibitions and Restrictions of State Corporations Employees Rights

В предлагаемой вниманию читателя статье исследуются установленные современным законодательством Российской Федерации отдельные запреты и ограничения прав работников государственных корпораций, анализируются теоретические и практические проблемы, связанные свведением данных запретов и ограничений. К числу работников, обладающих особым правовым статусом, можно отнести работников государственных корпораций. Учитывая тот факт, что имущество государственной корпорации формируется в том числе за счет имущества, переданного в еесобственность Российской Федерацией, первоочередное значение приобретает законодательное закрепление и реализация принципа недопущения любого вида коррупционных правонарушений и нецелевого расходования денежных средств (и иного имущества) в государственных корпорациях. Содержание запретов, ограничений и обязанностей, которые распространяются на работ-ников государственных корпораций, не одинаково для различных категорий работников и зависитот должности, которую занимает (на которую нанимается) работник. В статье проанализированы некоторые установленные как для всех работников государственных корпораций, так и в отношении отдельных категорий работников запреты и ограничения их правового статуса. В статье исследуется вопрос о соблюдении баланса между контролем отдельных аспектов деятельностиработников (установленными ограничениями их правового статуса, имеющими целью исключениелибо минимизацию коррупционных проявлений) и заинтересованностью работников в полученииположительных результатов в своей трудовой деятельности. Установленные законодателем запреты и ограничения прав работников государственных корпораций происходят, прежде всего, изособенностей правового статуса государственной корпорации как управляющего публичной собственностью, сочетающего в себе публичную и хозяйственную «сущности». Вопросы регулирования труда работников государственных корпораций и их правового статуса должны стать предметом серьезного и детального исследования в науке трудового права, результаты которого следуетв дальнейшем использовать при совершенствовании нормативных правовых актов или при выработке государством методических подходов к реализации запретов и ограничений прав работников государственных корпораций.

Solar Financing in North Carolina

Clean, renewable energy is an essential component of a modern energy policy. Rooftop solar photovoltaic systems constitute an important part of a state’s clean energy portfolio. But rooftop solar photovoltaic systems are too expensive for most individuals and small businesses to buy outright. Instead, they must be financed. One of the main methods used in other states for financing rooftop solar PV systems is the power purchase agreement. Under a typical power purchase agreement, a third-party financer installs a solar PV system on a property owner’s rooftop and sells the electricity generated by the system to the property owner. The price for the electricity is usually lower than the price charged by the property owner’s public utility. But the North Carolina Utilities Commission has prohibited the use of power purchase agreements in North Carolina. According to the Utilities Commission, the sale of electricity by a third-party financer under a power purchase agreement violates the competitive monopoly granted under state law to the public utility. This prohibition against power purchase agreements will slow the spread of rooftop solar PV systems in North Carolina. In addition to the detrimental environmental effects this will have, there are also equitable effects. Without power purchase agreements, only the wealthy are able to afford the economic and environmental benefits of solar ownership. This Article contends that power purchase agreements do not implicate the traditional justifications for regulation by the Utilities Commission, and are therefore outside the Commission’s authority to prohibit. The Article also offers both a legislative and a judicial solution to the current prohibition against power purchase agreements in North Carolina.

Does a ‘protective’ message reduce the impact of an advergame promoting unhealthy foods to children? An experimental study in Spain and The Netherlands

The weight of evidence points to the advertising of food affecting food consumption, especially among children. Such advertising often promotes unhealthy foods. Current policy deliberations focus on developing effective ‘protective’ messages to increase advertising literacy and consequent scepticism about advertising targeting children. This study examined whether incorporating a ‘protective’ message in an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks would reduce children's snack intake. A randomized between-subject design was conducted in the Netherlands (N = 215) and Spain (N = 382) with an advergame promoting either energy-dense snacks or nonfood products. The results showed that playing an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks increased caloric intake in both countries, irrespective of whether the ‘protective’ message was present or not. These results point to the limitations of ‘protective’ messages and advertising literacy and provide policy makers with a rationale for extending the current prohibition of food advertising to young children in the terrestrial media to online environments.

Miracle drug: Brazil approves never-tested cancer medicine.

Background Brazil recently approved synthetic phosphoetanolamine, a popularly dubbed 'cancer pill', a substance that has been shown to kill cancer cells in lab animal models but was not yet formally accessed in humans, and thus despite the existence of any evidence of its efficacy and safety. Methods The authors describe the recent decision of Brazil to aprove phosphoetanolamine in the context of growing 'judicialization' to promote access to medicines and thus reinforcing a growing sense of legal uncertainty. Results The approval of phosphoetanolamine despite the existence of any evidence of its efficacy and safety represents to the authors one of the saddest and surrealistic episodes in Brazil's recent public health history. Brazil's current economic crisis is fueling the 'judicialization' to promote access to medicines and thus reinforcing a growing sense of legal uncertainty in the context of rising economic constrains and a progressive failing state. The authors state that the Phosphoetanolamine's approval bill violates current legal prohibition of commercialisation of drugs without the Brazilian national drug regulatory agency's approval and thus may represent a potential menace to Brazil's pharmacogovernance and the country's governance to health technology assessment at the Brazilian national health systems. Conclusion Phosphoetanolamine's approval illustrates that the combination of flawed decision making, economic crisis and political interference may threaten weak governance mechanisms for drug regulation and health technology assessment and thus representing an extra burden in the sustainability of universal access-based national health systems.

SCNT Method and the Application for Patent Eligibility on Cloned Animals

Patents recognize economic right and are important for both individual and social economic benefit. Nonetheless, mere economic right does not eliminate the requirement for moral assessment when adjudicating intellectual property claims, especially in the case of claims associated with applications of biomedical technology [e.g., somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) methods]. This is so for applications for patent in the case of live-born animal clones, as governed in the setting of the judicial system of the USA. Here recent federal court decisions in the USA are reviewed, and the ethical ambiguities of this judicial review are engaged in light of the current prohibitions on human reproductive cloning. It is concluded that the legal proscription of patents on animal clones bodes well for human accountability to present and future generations in the event of human reproductive cloning.

CLASSIFYING OBJECTS IN SPACE ACCORDING TO SOUTH AFRICAN PROPERTY LAW

Traditionally, objects were classified according to their relation to man or according to their own nature. The classical division according to their relation to man relates to the question of whether something is susceptible to private ownership or not. This aspect is of cardinal importance when it comes to objects in space. This results in the need for a further distinction between things that are classified as being in commerce (res in commercium) and things that are outside of commerce (res extra commercium). After a thorough investigation it is determined that heavenly bodies, such as the Moon, as well as smaller bodies, such as asteroids, can be classified as objects of property law falling within commerce – if the required characteristics are present, and taking into consideration that the current prohibition on appropriation of heavenly bodies will either be discarded in future, or at the very least be interpreted in such a way as to allow for appropriation in certain instances. These characteristics are corporeality, external to persons, independence, appropriability/susceptibility to human control and use and value. Therefore it can be surmised that in terms of property law, it is possible to acquire ownership of heavenly bodies and other objects in space, and that these objects can be classified in terms of South African property law. However, the following (from the conclusions) flows more satisfactorily for the author – one makes the choice: By turning to the foundational aspects of property law as found in South African property law, large celestial bodies, such as the Moon, as well as smaller bodies, such as asteroids, can be classified as objects of property law falling within commerce – if the required characteristics (corporeality, external to persons, independence, appropriability/susceptibility to human control, use and value) are present. When these are present, it would follow that it would be possible to acquire a heavenly body, object in space, or part thereof by means of occupation of a res nullius. Even in cases where certain categories of things have been designated as being unappropriable, or outside of commerce (res extra commercium) due to historical reasons, the possibility exists that by exerting effective control over the object, it can be reclassified as being appropriable and hence inside of commerce (res in commercio). In addition to this classification of celestial bodies as falling insideof commerce and having the characteristics of objects, the discussion of their division according to their nature, being corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, divisible and indivisible, consumable and non-consumable, fungible and non-fungible, and singular and composite, has revealed that even in terms of this classification, heavenly bodies could in fact fall squarely within the confines of property law, and can therefore be regarded as objects of property law even in cases where they do not fall into the narrow classification of “things”.

Estimates of residential floor vibration induced by sonic booms

Future civil supersonic aircraft are expected to produce sonic boom noise within overflown communities that is substantially quieter than previous supersonic aircraft, which may allow regulators to replace the current prohibition on civil supersonic flight with a noise-based certification standard. In support of standards development, NASA has used an indoor simulation laboratory to investigate people’s reaction to combinations of transmitted sonic boom signatures and related floor vibration levels. Given the limited extent of experimental data, numerical models were used to estimate the expected range in floor vibration level that people may experience within a large assortment of houses for various low-amplitude sonic booms from different aircraft. This presentation will discuss the predictive models, compare predicted floor vibration to measurements from field experiments in similar houses, and document the range of predicted floor vibration that informed a recent psycho-acoustic laboratory study. The analyses of subjective annoyance from this laboratory study are discussed in a companion presentation (Rathsam and Klos).

A Bridge Over Troubled Water: The Second Amendment Guarantee for the Previously Mentally Institutionalized

In District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago, Ill., the Supreme Court established that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right guaranteed to all Americans. In 2014, using these opinions as a basis for its opinion, the Sixth Circuit became one of the first circuits to strike down a federal firearm control law in the post-Heller Era. In Tyler v. Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Dep’t., the Sixth Circuit struck down the federal firearm prohibition on the previously mentally institutionalized because it failed to satisfy a strict scrutiny standard of review. The Tyler court, in applying strict scrutiny, became the first circuit to apply such standard to federal firearm laws and added fuel to the debate over who should be able to possess firearms. While this debate is not new, the holding in Tyler has again made many question Congress’s existing gun regulations. One of these regulations — and the subject of this Article — is a class-based prohibition that groups the mentally ill and the previously mentally institutionalized together. This prohibition treats these two classes as one, when in reality not all the previously mentally institutionalized are still currently mentally ill and should not have their right to keep and bear arms severely restricted.In light of the Tyler opinion, this Article is the first to take an in-depth look at the prohibition on the previously mentally institutionalized, showing why the prohibition is currently unconstitutional. This Article shows that the prohibition cannot be supported by history or by public policy and subjects the prohibition to all three levels of judicial scrutiny, showing that regardless of the tested used the prohibition is unconstitutional. This Article recommends that to alleviate the current unconstitutional prohibition, Congress should reinstate the federal relief-from-disabilities program that was originally enacted with the prohibition 1968 and has since lost funding.