Draft Convention Research Articles

RESENHA DO LIVRO ‟HACIA LA REGULACIÓN INTERNACIONAL DE LAS EMPRESAS MILITARES E DE SEGURIDAD PRIVADAS”

Trata-se de resenha do livro publicado por José Luiz Gomez Del Prado e Helena Torroja Mateu, ex-integrantes do Grupo de Trabalho da ONU sobre a utilização de mercenários, o qual aponta na direção da regulação, da supervisão e dos controles nacional e internacional das Empresas Militares e de Segurança Privadas (EMSP), conforme projeto de Convenção apresentado ao Conselho de Direitos Humanos da ONU.

Swirl flow agitation for scale suppression

Scale formation is a serious problem in the mineral processing industry. To better understand the options available for mitigating this problem, a novel scale–velocity model is proposed in this paper for slurry systems commonly found in mineral processing plants. The new qualitative scale growth model predicts that at very low fluid velocities the scale growth rate is enhanced by an increase in fluid velocity due to the mass transfer-controlled scale growth. At higher fluid velocities, the scale growth rate decreases with increasing fluid velocity due to the increased flow erosion effect, for slurry systems. This suggests the potential of particulate erosion as a scale suppression mechanism. The model predicts the existence of an optimal slurry flow velocity, where scaling rate and equipment erosion rate are both zero. The optimal fluid velocity value is proposed to be used as the main parameter to improve engineering design of mineral processes in terms of scale suppression.A novel agitator design, swirl flow technology (SFT), developed and patented by CSIRO and Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL) in Australia was introduced as an agitator design that better meets requirements for scale suppression than a widely used conventional draft-tube agitator system. SFT agitation has been installed in gibbsite precipitators at QAL's alumina plant for a decade.As shown by CFD simulations and laboratory measurements, swirled flow agitation generates more uniform velocity distribution and higher velocity values at the wall than conventional agitators for the same power input; this reduces the maximum growth rate of scaling in the tank leading to significantly prolonged precipitator's service life. Based on the full-scale operational experience at QAL, it can be suggested that SFT agitation roughly halves the scale growth rate as compared to that measured in the conventional draft tube agitator systems.

国際動産売買に関する消滅時効 (法的手続制限) 条約案

国際動産売買に関する消滅時効 (法的手続制限) 条約案

Modernising the Energy Charter Process? The Energy Charter Conference Road Map and the Russian Draft Convention on Energy Security

Modernising the Energy Charter Process? The Energy Charter Conference Road Map and the Russian Draft Convention on Energy Security

Modernizing the Energy Charter Process? The Energy Charter Conference Road Map and the Russian Draft Convention on Energy Security

On 24 November 2010, the Energy Charter Conference adopted a Map for the Modernisation of the Energy Charter Process (Road Map) as a strategic document to respond to the important changes in global energy relations since the 1990’s and ensure the relevance and authority of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in current circumstances and for the future. The Road Map expressly recognises the contribution of the Conceptual Approach to the New Legal Framework for Energy Cooperation presented in April 2009 by the President of the Russian Federation (Russia) Dmitry Medvedev, subsequently embodied in a Draft Convention on Energy Security (Draft Convention) issued in September 2010. It also makes specific reference to energy security as one of the goals of multilateral energy cooperation, a longstanding Russian concern in the Energy Charter context. How does the Road Map respond to Russia’s concerns as set out in the Draft Convention? Is Russia, having officially stated its intention on 20 August 2009 not to become a Contracting Party to the ECT as it stands, and instead proposed the Draft Convention, back in the Energy Charter process? This article assesses future developments in international energy governance in light of the Road Map and Draft Convention. It concludes that, while the Draft Convention stands in potential contradiction to the multilateral spirit of the ECT, the Road Map helps integrating Russian concerns into the Energy Charter process.

The Privatisation of Military and Security Functions and Human Rights: Comments on the UN Working Group's Draft Convention

The Privatisation of Military and Security Functions and Human Rights: Comments on the UN Working Group's Draft Convention

The Definition of Piracy Under Article 101 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – An Attempted Legal Analysis

The definition of piracy introduced in Article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea signed on 10 December 1982 in Montego Bay (known as the Jamaica Convention) is an almost direct quotation of Article 15 of the 1958 Territorial Sea Convention (known as the Geneva Convention). In their work on piracy regulations for the Geneva Convention, the International Law Commission relied heavily on the results of a private project developed in 1932 under the supervision of Professor Joseph Bingham from the Harvard University, known as the Harvard Draft Convention on Piracy (hereinafter the Harvard Draft).1 The current definition of piracy introduced in Article 101 of the Jamaica Convention is:

Portugal’s Declaration During the Negotiation of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: International Protection and Cooperation versus Possession

Portugal was the second country in Western Europe to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention, a pivotal step that occurred on September 21, 2006. In 2000 the Portuguese delegation presented a statement in the UNESCO meeting for the draft Convention, the substance of which emphasises the protection and cooperation principles concerning the underwater cultural heritage rather than the issue of its possession. In 2008, the discovery of a sixteenth century Portuguese shipwreck near Oranjemund, Namibia, confirmed that the referred statement opened a premonitory strategic window for the conciliation of interests of States around such examples of common heritage.

The Cultural Heritage Law Committee of the International Law Association: General Session, August 16, 2010

Twenty-two members of the International Law Association's Committee on Cultural Heritage Law attended a working session in The Hague. The committee first reviewed the status of its past projects, focusing this time on the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which resulted from the Committee's Buenos Aires Draft Convention on that subject. Now that the treaty is in force, the committee considered the actual and potential status of accession by maritime powers.

Searching for Accountability: The Draft UN International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight, and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies

SummaryThe proliferation of private military and security companies has attracted significant public and scholarly attention during the last decade. This comment examines the United Nations Draft International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies (Draft Convention). It discusses the significance of the Draft Convention and then describes the approach taken to the regulation of this controversial topic. Several problematic elements of the Draft Convention are identified including the definition of prohibited activities, State responsibility for the conduct of private military and security companies and the proposed International Criminal Court referral mechanism. Finally, specific policy recommendations are made for the government of Canada as a home state and contracting state of private military and security services, irrespective of the progress of negotiations on the Draft Convention.

CARRIER'S LIABILITY UNDER INTERNATIONAL MARITIME CONVENTIONS AND THE UNCITRAL DRAFT CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE OF GOODS WHOLLY OR PARTLY BY SEA

The UNCITRAL Draft Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea was approved on Thursday, 3 July 2008 and would then be presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations for endorsement later this year. Many innovative features contained in the Draft Convention fill the perceived gaps in existing transport regimes. Carrier's liability compared with international maritime conventions and the Draft Convention as well as China Maritime Code is discussed in the paper. It is pointed out that although the Draft Convention plays a very important role in the development of international private maritime law regime, the entry into the force of the Draft Convention is not optimistic.

The unecic: International trade in the digital era

The use of electronic communications in international trade communications and transactions has raised some concerns about the legal validity and legal certainty of such communications. The perception that this type of communication causes legal uncertainty has caused UNCITRAL to develop a draft convention which has now been adopted by the United Nations as the Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, 2005 (UNECIC). This contribution traverses the legislative history of the UNECIC, its scope and purpose as a background for an initial analysis of the provisions of the Convention. The author refers to interpretational methods and techniques developed and used for the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 1980 (CISG) as a possible approach to the interpretation and application of the UNECIC. The CISG is a highly successful convention and there will be an inevitable interaction between the two conventions once the UNECIC comes into operation due to the provisions of article 20 of the UNECIC. It is argued that the UNECIC will be able to draw on the experience with the CISG due to the similarity in the interpretational provisions of the two conventions. For this purpose a number of the underlying principles of the UNECIC is abstracted and discussed.The article concludes with a brief critical exposition of the provisions of the UNECIC. The convention is very new and consequently very little analysis on it has been published to date. It is concluded that the convention represents a clear and sensible solution to the issues and perceptions of legal uncertainty raised by electronic communications in international transactions and should be widely adopted.

Article 21 of the OECD Model Convention: Past, Present, and Future

This paper describes the past, present, and future of Article 21 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Model Convention (MC), also known as the ‘Other Income’ Article. Special attention is paid to the underlying principle of this Article and what income is covered. The League of Nations began dealing with double taxation in the early 1920s. In its draft conventions, there was no Other Income Article in its modern structure. However, the correlation of different articles in effect was no different than the modern Article 21(1) OECD MC. The Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and OECD, which succeeded the League of Nations in its research on double taxation, were the first to adopt an Other Income Article in its modern structure. There was still some uncertainty in the beginning, however, as to what income was covered. Today, the OECD MC is still the most widely followed model in negotiations on double taxation conventions (DTCs). There are, however,some deviations from many articles. The income covered by the Other Income Article today seems quite clear. The underlying principle, which was the same from the very beginning of defining principles of international taxation, now possibly will undergo a change influenced by other MCs and current treaty practices.

Anomalous Hydrodynamic Drafting of Interacting Flapping Flags

In aggregates of objects moving through a fluid, bodies downstream of a leader generally experience reduced drag force. This conventional drafting holds for objects of fixed shape, but interactions of deformable bodies in a flow are poorly understood, as in schools of fish. In our experiments on "schooling" flapping flags, we find that it is the leader of a group who enjoys a significant drag reduction (of up to 50%), while the downstream flag suffers a drag increase. This counterintuitive inverted drag relationship is rationalized by dissecting the mutual influence of shape and flow in determining drag. Inverted drafting has never been observed with rigid bodies, apparently due to the inability to deform in response to the altered flow field of neighbors.

Intellectual Property and Narratives of Discovery/Invention: The League of Nations' Draft Convention on ‘Scientific Property’ and its Fate

Intellectual Property and Narratives of Discovery/Invention: The League of Nations' Draft Convention on ‘Scientific Property’ and its Fate

International Jurisdiction in Torts Case- Focused on New Lugano Convention and Preliminary Draft of Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters-

International Jurisdiction in Torts Case- Focused on New Lugano Convention and Preliminary Draft of Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters-

Text of Draft Convention: Compensation Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties, in case of Unlawful Interference

Text of Draft Convention: Compensation Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties, in case of Unlawful Interference

Text of Draft Convention: Compensation for Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties

Text of Draft Convention: Compensation for Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties

A statistical overview of ship recycling

IMO is currently developing the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. For a background description of the draft Convention and of the main issues that were under discussion at the end of 2006, see Mikelis (2006). During discussions on the development of the new Convention the need has arisen for referring to relevant statistics to quantify some aspects of ship recycling. The author has taken the opportunity to collate and present in this paper statistical data which will hopefully be useful to the reader.

Lake Tanganyika ecosystem management strategies

Lake Tanganyika is a large East African rift valley system holding about 1/6 of the world's liquid freshwater with about 2000 species of organisms (fauna and flora), of which about 700 are endemic. The lake faces a number of threats including excess sedimentation, overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, along with climate change. Efforts to better understand these involved an assessment of the magnitude of the threats, through the Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity project (LTBP) in which a number of outputs such as Draft conventions, special study reports and the Strategic Action Programme were achieved. The preparation of detailed projects to address the threats through the Lake Tanganyika Management Planning Projects (LTMPP) was another strategy, as well as projects prepared for management of catchment and pollution control, along with fishing management. It can be concluded that Lake Tanganyika faces essentially man-induced threats compounded by climate change, probably resulting in declining productivity of the lake and declining water levels. It is concluded that in order to maintain sustainability of the lake, both regional and global joint efforts are required.