Due Diligence Research Articles

The paper is a comparison of the legal provisions in Pakistan regarding online harassment and newer international strategies in Europe, United Kingdom, United States, India, and Australia. The research depends on a qualitative doctrinal approach close reading of the statutes, regulatory guidance and intergovernmental reports and discusses definitions, scope, platform obligations, enforcement structures, remedies and due-process protections. It identifies the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) and other instruments used in Pakistan as having significant points of attack against cyberstalking and crimes against dignity and modesty, but it is still not well-coordinated between criminal law and protection-based systems in the workplace, and the ability to apply it is uneven. International Newer platform-duty regimes (EU DSA, UK Online Safety Act, Australia Online Safety Act) place responsibilities on intermediaries, which have a risk assessment, removal order, and transparency requirement; whereas the U.S. mostly retains a riveter-of-news role under Section 230, and India is qualifying safe-harbor on due diligence under its Intermediary Rules 2021. The article names lack of definition, evidence and jurisdictional barriers, resource limitations, and threats to speech as the challenges and proposes opportunities that can help Pakistan modernise its situation through defining the offences (e.g., doxxing, deepfakes), enhancing victim-centred processes, and applying moderated platform-duty and transparency frameworks.

The high growth value of the culinary industry compared to other industries has caused the number of competitors owned by Kedai UKM to increase. So that to stay competitive, Kedai UKM uses an advertising strategy in the form of social media. However, because it was deemed ineffective, Kedai UKM needed a new innovation in promoting UKM shops. One form of innovation in the advertising world is to use a video game. Advergame is a form of advertising that is currently booming used to advertise a product or brand where the product or brand is inserted into a video game (In-Advertising Game) or turning the product or brand into a video game (Pure Advertising Game). The results obtained from this study are in the form of an advergame prototype for the Kedai UKM restaurant, where the advertised brand and product will be inserted into a video game that is built into an application prototype with the Android platform. The application is built using the Rapid Application Development method using Unity3D software. To see whether the application prototype has a positive response from visitors who come, the application will be tested using a due diligence. If the average score exceeds 3 out of 5, the application and research will be considered feasible and successful.

ABSTRACT: Business and Human Rights is predicated on the idea that victims of a corporate human rights violation should have access to an effective remedy. What constitutes a remedy, and how to access it has been the source of much debate and research both within the field and beyond. Most recently, there is a drive towards holding corporations legally liable through ever increasing turns to mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Whereas this offers much, we worry at what cost. Specifically, we argue that this is an imperfect outworking of a flawed system built on the outdated idea that corporations could only be responsible for their legal liabilities. Instead, we urge a commitment to continued dialogue, to participation, to negotiations and discussions with all stakeholders in business operations that the origins of due diligence promised. As such, we propose that extra-legal remedies can be a constructive way forward in redressing corporate human rights violations that can encourage better compliance with legal norms.

Abstract Collective progress towards meeting the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal (LTTG) remains insufficient, a shortfall to be addressed by new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The Agreement stipulates that countries’ NDCs will represent a progression and reflect their highest possible ambition (HPA). However, the vague conceptualisation of this HPA norm challenges its translation into practice, allowing states to reference ambition in their NDC without clear evidence. Recently, the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on climate change provided clarification regarding this norm. The level of ambition communicated in an NDC is not entirely left to the discretion of states but must constitute an adequate contribution to the collective achievement of the global temperature goal. States are obliged to exercise due diligence to ensure their NDCs reflect their best efforts. Building on the ICJ’s interpretative guidance, we propose a structured framework to operationalise the HPA norm and reflect upon considerations of ambition in countries’ NDCs. The framework’s core pillars incorporate domestic, international, and implementation considerations in NDCs, elaborated upon in two elements per pillar. Under domestic considerations, NDCs should be based on a faithful assessment of mitigation options utilising national capabilities. International considerations require contributions that adequately support the LTTG while balancing equity. Implementation considerations demand that NDCs account for the co-impact of the measures considered and be actionable in the near term to ensure ambition is translated into action. The Paris Agreement-HPA Framework can support transparent communication of the conditions under which more ambitious targets can be pursued. We apply the framework to explore the engagement of current NDCs with the framework’s elements. Finally, the framework empowers societal stakeholders to interrogate, verify and, when necessary, challenge whether NDC preparations were carried out with due diligence, supporting accountability in global and national climate action.

This article examines how the insecure and precarious legal status of adoptees gives rise to vulnerabilities, with a particular focus on the citizenship of foreign-born adoptees. The primary objective of this work is to identify vulnerabilities associated with U.S. citizenship rules. While adoption is often assumed to guarantee both familial belonging and a legal status of citizenship, the U.S. legal framework frequently reveals gaps that leave adoptees in vulnerable positions. By tracing how administrative requirements, adoptive parents’ lack of due diligence, and fragmented legal pathways create insecurity, this article shows that the law itself may generate or exacerbate vulnerabilities it purports to resolve. Drawing on the concepts of vulnerability and navigating the intersection of family law and immigration law, the analysis highlights how citizenship is more than a legal status, affecting deeper issues of identity-building and belonging. The article concludes by underscoring the need for a protective, adoptee-centered, coherent approach to citizenship rules, one that offers better legal permanence for adoptees.

Education policies are aimed at improving quality of education .The institutions of higher learning are expected to offer unparalleled education to individual’s students with and without one form of disabilities. However, educating students with disabilities in the institutions of higher learning in Kenya is not without some challenges. Thus, this paper examine the historical experiences of students with disabilities in higher education. Secondly, the paper discusses the theoretical concept of disability with particular references to existential, epistemological and its integration within social theory and proceeds to discuss various sub-types of disabilities. Thirdly, the paper identifies and explores various education polices practices being implemented in the institutions of higher learning and questions if there is any distinction observed from traditions. Fourthly, the paper identifies various strategies adopted by institutions of higher learning to enhance achievements of students with disabilities. Some of the education policy practices challenges are highlighted and it’s argued that the challenges constitute African policy narratives that can be dispensed with if due diligence are put in place. Implications of education policy practices are discussed. The paper finally recommends that departments of special needs in the institutions of higher learning be fully equipped to cater for all cadre of students with disabilities.

Intermediary liability exemption in the Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065, ‘DSA’) is generally interpreted as being unchanged compared to the e-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31). Conditional liability exemption strikes a balance between the interests of hosting providers, people affected by illegal content, and the freedom of expression of the general public. However, hosting providers and their role in society have evolved significantly since the adoption of the e-Commerce Directive. Despite their position as key infrastructure in the public debate and their sophisticated content moderation processes, they enjoy a seemingly widening exemption from liability in CJEU case law. This article argues for a narrower scope of application for intermediary liability exemption for hosting services guided by due diligence obligations and duties of care created in the DSA and sectoral regulation. This can benefit aggrieved parties in holding platforms liable and inspire better moderation of illegal content. A narrower interpretation of the liability exemption can be justified by compliance with requirements on notice-and-takedown mechanisms, a fairer economic burden of moderation, improved moderation capacity, and the geopolitical tensions which strain effective content moderation. The DSA provides clear due diligence obligations in Articles 16 and 23, and sectoral regulation requires diligence regarding specific types of content. These obligations can be used to exclude undiligent or bad faith actors from the liability exemption. This better reflects hosting providers’ positions as powerful actors and ensures a liability exemption that does not reward negligent or laissez-faire approaches to content moderation by actors that stand to gain monetarily from structurally hosting illegal content.

States increasingly formalize their climate change commitments in the language of net-zero deadlines, interim emission targets, and carbon budgets, raising the question of whether these quantified benchmarks serve as evidence of legal compliance. This research paper investigates whether Article 8 ’requirements for quantifying climate action (in particular, the European Court of Human Rights’ recent insistence on timelines, interim targets, and carbon budgets) are probative of a state’s compliance with the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s due-diligence standard for climate obligations. We analyze converging developments in human rights and international law: the Klimaseniorinnen judgment of April 2024, where the ECtHR held that states must enact binding climate targets and carbon budgets to protect the right to private life, and the ICJ’s 2025 Climate Change Advisory Opinion confirming states’ duty of “stringent” due diligence to prevent foreseeable climate harm. Our findings indicate that quantified climate action frameworks are not only politically salient but also legally significant. Their presence (or absence) is treated as compelling evidence of whether a state is meeting its international obligations. However, we argue that while such “numbers that bind’ are necessary indicators of due diligence, they are not sufficient ambition, and implementation remains paramount.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its landmark Advisory Opinion of 23 July 2025, has established a clear connection between human rights, climate action and due diligence obligations of States under treaty and customary international law. The Court appears to have elevated the concept of due diligence from a relatively soft principle to a powerful standard, against which to assess compliance of international obligations by states. In their turn, States are likely to pass on these obligations to business organisations too through various human rights and environmental due diligence schemes. There are various reporting requirements of the European Union for business organisations through several schemes that already point to a move in this direction. Thus, the impact of this ICJ Advisory Opinion is not limited to States per se . It has the potential to require business organisations to adhere to an international human rights and environmental due diligence standard, against which their own policies and practices can be evaluated. The paper seeks to examine this perspective.

The involvement of rogue Land Deed Officials (PPAT) and Notaries in illegal land title transfers, exemplified by the case of Nirina Zubir, constitutes a severe breach of their Profession Code of Ethics and professional oath. This highlights their failure to perform the principle of due diligence, as it is exploited by involving themselves in land mafias practice. The professional duty to act with honesty, integrity, diligence, independence, and impartiality, mandated by the Code of Ethics, the Notary Public Law (UUJN), and Regulation on the Office of the PPAT is violated when an authentic deed is issued based on forged documents or false identities. Such actions directly cause significant material losses and trigger a Tort (Perbuatan Melawan Hukum/PMH) under Article 1365 of the Civil Code. The consequences of these ethical violations are layered, encompassing professional disciplinary sanctions (ranging up to dishonorable discharge by the Notary Honorary Council or the PPAT Honorary Assembly), along with potential civil and criminal liability. This makes it a crucial issue demanding rigorous legal and ethical enforcement to restore the profession's integrity and ensure legal certainty in land affairs.

Abstract The corporate responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is seen increasingly as having a legal dimension, grounded in human rights, due diligence laws, and tort law. Corporate climate strategies often rely on carbon credits to offset emissions, but available credits typically fail to deliver real reductions. This raises doubts about their suitability for meeting responsibilities to reduce emissions. This article examines the issue through the lens of due diligence, a key concept in defining corporate obligations. Due diligence demands that firms prioritize preventive and effective action to address the climate impacts of their business activities. Available carbon credits meet neither condition; accordingly, they are, as a rule, unsuitable for fulfilling a corporate duty to reduce GHG emissions. The article also evaluates exceptions suggested in guidance documents, particularly the use of credits for offsetting residual and Scope 3 emissions. It concludes that these exceptions are difficult to justify from a due diligence standpoint, given the limited effectiveness of credits.

The article conducts a comprehensive analysis of corporate financing through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the stock market, focusing on the benefits and limitations of this strategic step. The study is structured to provide a holistic view, beginning with the legal definition of an IPO according to Ukrainian legislation, which synthesizes norms from key regulatory acts governing capital markets, joint-stock companies, and information disclosure. The authors place the Ukrainian IPO market in a historical context, noting its underdevelopment compared to Western Europe and identifying key reasons for this, including the legacy of voucher privatization, lack of a robust institutional investor base, currency instability, and weak protection of minority shareholder rights. The core of the article is a detailed examination of the multi-stage IPO process, which typically lasts from 6 to 12 months. The authors meticulously describe each critical phase: the selection of an underwriter (investment bank), conducting comprehensive due diligence, preparing the issuance prospectus, marketing and the road show, and the final placement and listing on the stock exchange. This structured process is presented as essential for ensuring transparency, protecting investor rights, and ensuring a successful market debut. A significant portion of the research is dedicated to a strategic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages. The benefits extend beyond direct financial enrichment and include non-financial strategic advantages such as enhanced brand prestige and trust among clients and suppliers, increased liquidity for founders and early investors, and the attraction of strategic partners. Furthermore, the transition to a public company necessitates improved corporate governance standards, including the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and transparent procedures, which ultimately increase investor confidence and the company's market valuation. Conversely, the article provides a thorough analysis of the substantial limitations and risks. These include high direct costs (underwriter commissions, legal and auditing fees) and significant indirect costs, primarily the diversion of management's attention from operational activities. Major risks also involve the potential loss of control and confidentiality due to the dilution of founders’ shares and mandatory disclosure of sensitive financial and operational information, as well as increased vulnerability to market fluctuations and legal liability. The conclusion emphasizes that an IPO is a strategically justified choice only for mature companies with a proven business model, a clear strategy for using the raised capital, and a readiness for public scrutiny. The decision must be based on a balanced analysis where the long-term benefits of accessing capital, enhancing status, and improving management outweigh the associated costs, risks, and loss of privacy. The success of an IPO is also critically dependent on favourable market conditions.

Resumen: En este trabajo se ofrece una valoración sobre la nueva normativa europea aprobada en materia de diligencia debida de las empresas y sostenibilidad, “Corporate sustainability due diligence Directive” (CS3D). Con base a esta pionera regulación se establece el deber de prevenir, mitigar y reparar los impactos negativos generados -sociales, ambientales y climáticos-, como requerimiento empresarial de obligado cumplimiento. Esta es una cuestión de interés jurídico y económico, también considerando su posible proyección internacional. Abstract: This paper offers an assessment of the newly approved European regulation on corporate due diligence and sustainability, the "Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" (CS3D). This pioneering regulation establishes the obligation to prevent, mitigate, and remedy negative impacts—social, environmental, and climate—as a mandatory business requirement. This is a matter of legal and economic interest, also considering its potential international reach. Palabras clave: Directiva europea (UE). Diligencia debida. Sostenibilidad corporativa. Cumplimiento legal. Responsabilidad social y ambiental. Keywords: European Directive (EU). Due diligence. Corporate sustainability. Legal compliance. Social and environmental responsibility. Índice: 1. Introducción 2. Motivación del interés jurídico. 3. El principio de diligencia debida en el actual contexto europeo: propósito regulatorio y principales objetivos 3.1. Objetivos principales de la Directiva sobre Debida Diligencia en Sostenibilidad de la UE (CS3D). 3.2. Innovación jurídica: principales aportaciones. 3.3. La sostenibilidad como obligación jurídica: cuestión estratégica y exigible en interés público o colectivo (ODS). 3.4. Vinculación positiva con otras normas europeas. 4. Marco declarativo internacional y proyección europea 5. Cumplimiento corporativo: sujetos obligados y marco de responsabilidad 5.1. Entidades sujetas al cumplimiento de la CS3D (sujetos obligados). 5.2. Obligaciones impuestas a los Estados miembros y a las entidades empresariales sujetas. 6. Conclusiones 7. Referencias bibliográficas Index: 1. Introduction 2. Motivation of the legal interest. 3. The due diligence principle in the current European regulatory context: regulatory purpose and main objectives 3.1. Main objectives of the EU Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). 3.2. Legal innovation: main contributions. 3.3. Sustainability as a legal obligation: a strategic and enforceable issue in the public or collective interest (SDGs). 3.4. Positive link with other European regulations. 4. International declarative framework and European projection 5. Corporate compliance: obliged parties and liability framework 5.1. Entities subject to compliance with the CS3D (obliged parties). 5.2. Obligations imposed on Member States and subject business entities. 6. Conclusions 7. Bibliographic references

Image encryption is of utmost importance in modern times, especially with the wide range of applications in sensitive domains like defense, healthcare, space exploration, etc. Due to the bulky nature of image data, the encryption techniques are required to be lightweight, which, if not designed with due diligence, can compromise security. Cryptanalysis is a major tool to identify weaknesses in existing schemes and improve them. In this paper, we identify common weaknesses forming a class of chaos-based image encryption schemes vulnerable to chosen-ciphertext attack. Such weak schemes employ single or few rounds of encryption, each involving simple permutation/substitution operations resulting in poor diffusion. We exploit the oversimplified relationship between the plain image and cipher image pixels to design a General Chosen-Ciphertext Attack (GCCA) cryptanalyzing this class of schemes. The proposed GCCA uses three chosen-cipher images to completely recover any general [Formula: see text] targeted original plain image. Besides theoretically demonstrating full recovery of the plain image, we also use the deduction approach to show our attack’s efficacy by cryptanalyzing two existing chaos-based image encryption schemes (proposed by [Ali et al.; 2023; Lone et al.; 2022], resp.) possessing identified weaknesses. Both of them over-rely on the chaotic properties of the utilized chaotic systems and other used mathematical primitives while overlooking the careful design of the respective schemes. Further, a general improved design for chaos-based image encryption schemes is proposed by mitigating the identified weaknesses. We also provide its security analysis and its demonstration by improvising the two cryptanalyzed schemes.

ABSTRACTThere are 21,999 China utility model patents with existing decisions of invalidation reexamination from 2000 to 2021 to explore application of support vector machine (SVM) with Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) kernel. This study identified significant patent indicators using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal–Wallis test, and Jonckheere–Terpstra ordered‐alternatives test and employed SVM incorporating significant patent indicators to forecast decision of invalidation reexamination with highest accuracy for patents with fully invalid claims. The study confirmed SVM with RBF to forecast patent sustainability and providing support for due diligence in mergers and acquisitions and litigation strategies.

Abstract The outsourcing of traditionally military functions in Africa to private military companies (PMCs) such as the Wagner Group and the Africa Corps has been accompanied by violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. According to the International Law Commission’s Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, state responsibility for these violations can be imputed to the states that employ PMCs to function as their agents, to exercise government authority or to act in the vacuum left by official authorities. States that do not intervene to prevent these abuses fail their obligations of due diligence through persistent non-action and should not be excused from demanding accountability by immunity agreements between the host and hiring states. We explore the possibility of the communitarian invocation of state responsibility by third-party states, on behalf of victims, in order to end impunity, drive accountability and secure effective redress for victims.

Under Serbian law one of the cases of vicarious liability explicitly foreseen by the 1978 Obligations Act is the liability of the employer for damage caused to a third party by an employee at work or in work-related situations. The employer’s liability emerges only if the employee acted with fault, whereby the existence of the employee’s fault is presumed. The employer may exempt his/her liability if successfully rebuts this presumption, namely, if proves that the employee acted with due diligence and care. Thus, there is no employer’s liability if the employee did not act with fault. Some argue that the requirement that the employee acted with fault qualifies the employer’s vicarious liability as fault-based. However, according to the prevailing opinion in the recent literature it is considered as strict liability, since the employer cannot be exempted from liability by proving that there was no fault of his/her own.However, any contemplation on the relevance of either the employee’s or employer’s fault is redundant, and thus on the nature of the employer’s liability as well, if the employee causes damage to a third party using a so-called hazardous thing, or if the performance of his/her working tasks is regarded as a so-called hazardous activity. Then, the general rules of strict liability apply and the employer cannot exclude his/her liability even by proving that the employee acted with the required care and diligence. The employer’s liability in this case is based on an increased, elevated risk of damage to the surroundings, originating from a hazardous thing or hazardous activity. If the general rules of strict liability are applied to the employer’s vicarious liability, the employer is considered as the proprietor of a hazardous thing, or a person conducting a hazardous activity, regardless that the employee directly controls the elevated risk of damage from the hazardous thing, or performs an activity considered hazardous.This paper aims to explore how Serbian case law interprets the notions of hazardous thing or activity in relation to employer’s vicarious liability. It also examines the relevant factors that may impact the outcome of such cases, such as the nature of the activity being performed, the degree of the risk of damage caused things or activities considered as hazardous, etc.

This study aims to explore the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors, and Open Innovation (OI) within the context of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). As ESG considerations increasingly influence corporate strategy and valuation, integrating AI offers powerful tools for enhancing due diligence, reducing risks, and creating long-term value. Building on the ARCTIC framework, an extension of the VRIO framework and real options theory, this paper introduces a new method for measuring AI-ESG-OI-driven synergies in mergers and acquisitions. It highlights the crucial role of Open Innovation in facilitating cross-boundary knowledge exchange, federated learning, and collaborative ESG data analysis. Based on recent advances in AI-ESG-enabled OI practices, such as multi-agent systems, synthetic data, and decentralized innovation, this paper shows how companies can address ESG complexity and cultural integration challenges. The findings indicate that incorporating OI principles into AI-ESG strategies not only enhances decision-making but also aligns M&A activities with evolving investor expectations and sustainability goals. The study concludes with practical insights and directions for future research in AI-driven, ESG-aligned corporate innovation.

Under the global wave of sustainable investment,Environmental, Social and Governance disclosure quality has become a key factor in the success or failure of mergers and acquisitions. However, traditional due diligence data is fragmented and disclosed with a lag, which amplifies risk premiums. This study adopts a single case study method, taking Geely Autos cross-border mergers and acquisitions from 2017 to 2024 as an example, to systematically analyze the causal chain between artificial intelligence, Environmental, Social and Governance disclosure quality and Merger and Acquisition Performance. The research finds that AI, through a three-step closed loop of full-domain data capture, semantic alignment, and reliable output, has increased the coverage of Merger and Acquisition Performance disclosure from 78% to 99.1% and reduced the error rate from 3.9% to 0.85%. Additionally, the event window of mergers and acquisitions has significantly expanded, with positive impacts on Return on Assets and stock price volatility. The research provides theoretical guidance for enterprises and regulators.

This paper examines how the major disaster at the Rana Plaza textile factory in Bangladesh brought inadequate occupational safety and health measures in global supply chains into the public spotlight. As a result of public pressure, awareness has grown regarding the necessity of sustainable business practices for companies, particularly in the context of ensuring occupational safety and health. It explains how voluntary compliance proved insufficient, leading to appropriate actions to establish sustainable business practices by mandating certain obligations for companies. Following the introduction of non-financial reporting requirements, which require company business reports to include information on specific social and human rights factors, including working conditions, health, and safety, Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence was recently adopted. The paper examines how, according to the provisions of this Directive, companies are obliged to engage in responsible business conduct, especially in the context of protecting workers’ safety and health. This should contribute to globally ensuring health and enhancing occupational safety through extraterritorial due diligence measures in the activity chains that companies are required to undertake. The obligations imposed on companies to which this Directive applies are analysed, as well as the ways in which they will be able to fulfill these obligations in the field of occupational safety after its implementation. Additionally, the paper reflects on the implications for the Republic of Croatia and how its implementation in the Republic of Croatia could be approached in the context of improving occupational safety standards.