EU Legal Framework Research Articles

Registered Community designs in the video game industry: a neglected yet potent tool

This article aims at demonstrating how and why registered Community designs should be integrated into the video game industry's intellectual property strategy. Although the validity of virtual designs has not yet been tested before courts, registered designs adequately address the issue of clone gaming faced by the industry. Some minor changes to the EU legal framework could contribute to balancing out the perceived legal uncertainty surrounding this intellectual property right.

Defamation on Social Media

There is no doubt that social media have become a very important part of many people’s everyday life. The consequences of their usage is an increased engagement in defamation, most likely due to the aspect of anonymity present in the online environment. Such cross-border (or more precisely border-less) defamation raises difficult challenges in terms of jurisdiction and applicable law. These challenges, which will be analysed in more detail in the article, remain unresolved up until today. Moreover, negative effects occur not only within private international law itself, but status quo significantly influences the exercise of basic human rights, too. Besides analysing the existing EU legal framework and applicable case-law, the article also looks into the possible alternatives.

A closer look on the effectiveness of the EU legal framework for excessive pricing during the COVID-19 crisis

ABSTRACT The unanticipated global mass panic that has arisen as a result of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 has had a major impact on the functioning of many markets. Many competition authorities around the world have faced with excessive pricing practices due to the dramatic price hikes of essential items, ranging from personal and medical equipment to basic food products particularly at the onset of the pandemic. The crisis has not been just about pricing, whether the public or the state is willing to pay for certain products or not; at the heart of the problem, there has been a sudden sharp asymmetry between the supply and demand. Based on this asymmetry, this article, by acknowledging that Article 102 (a) fails to deliver a swift and efficient response to this crisis due to conceptual and practical difficulties in its application, addresses other ways that competition authorities and governments use to deal with the virus-profiteers.

Current state of household waste management: world experience and ukrainian realities

Formulation of the problem. Since the late twentieth century. The world community faces challenges related to the exacerbation of global environmental problems (the impact of environmental pollution on human health, the state of the ecosystem and climate change), which has given impetus to scientific research on the most effective levers and tools to reduce the burden on the environment. Given the difficult situation in Ukraine today regarding the management of household waste, it is necessary to change the conceptual approaches, ie to make the transition from their disposal to prevention, reduction of waste generation and the introduction of sorting, recycling and use. It is advisable to use the best European and world waste management practices in order to implement the optimal model in the field of waste management as soon as possible. Given this, environmental protection and the transition to sustainable economic development and ecologically balanced system of nature management is one of the priority areas in public administration [9]. Analysis of recent research and publications. The issues of forming a waste management strategy in the countries of the European Union are devoted to the works of such domestic scientists as N. I. Romanyuk, N. M.Korniychuk, V. Yu. Колесник, V. L.Kachuriner, N. A. Public, V. V.Deregs, in which they explored the basic principles and principles of its implementation, as well as analyzed the EU legal framework in this area. The purpose of the article is to assess the current state of household waste management in developed countries and the formation of this strategy in Ukraine. The objectives of the study are: to consider the European model of waste management; to analyze measures to prevent waste generation in Europe; assess the current state of household waste management in Ukraine; assessment of the National Waste Management Strategy in Ukraine. Materials and methods of research. The theoretical basis of scientific research is the work of leading domestic and foreign economists on the problems of household waste management. The information base of the study consists of legislative and regulatory acts of Ukraine, statistical data of the European Union and materials of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. To achieve this goal, a set of general scientific methods was used: theoretical generalization, statistical analysis, comparison, retrospective analysis, systematic approach, abstract-logical. Results of the research. The European model of waste management is considered; measures to prevent waste generation in Europe are analyzed; an assessment of the current state of household waste management in Ukraine; the National Waste Management Strategy in Ukraine is considered. Field of application of results. The results of the study can be used by local authorities to prevent the generation of household waste. Conclusions. Waste prevention is the first step in dealing with waste. According to the EU Waste Directive, this can be done by: reducing the amount of waste; reducing the adverse effects of waste on the environment and human health; or by reducing the content of harmful substances in materials and products.

Europe's Farm to Fork Strategy and Its Commitment to Biotechnology and Organic Farming: Conflicting or Complementary Goals?

The European Commission's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, under the European Green Deal, acknowledges that innovative techniques, including biotechnology, may play a role in increasing sustainability. At the same time, organic farming will be promoted, and at least 25% of the EU's agricultural land shall be under organic farming by 2030. How can both biotechnology and organic farming be developed and promoted simultaneously to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We illustrate that achieving the SDGs benefits from the inclusion of recent innovations in biotechnology in organic farming. This requires a change in the law. Otherwise, the planned increase of organic production in the F2F strategy may result in less sustainable, not more sustainable, food systems.

Corporate Social Bonds: A Legal Analysis

Abstract The article focuses on corporate social bonds, which are commonly defined as debt securities whose proceeds are used to finance projects or ventures at favourable conditions, in order to achieve positive social outcomes or to address specific social issues. Social bonds belong to the family of sustainable finance currently developing on international financial markets, especially in the European Union, and where a recent interest has also emerged at the political level. Although in March 2018 the European Commission published its Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, at the moment of writing there is no specific EU legal framework for social bonds. The absence of a precise definition of social bonds and the uncertainty around the remedies for non-compliance of promised ‘social’ obligations entail serious risks of ‘socialwashing’ (i.e., the misappropriation of an increasingly attractive label).Through an analysis of the contractual design of social bonds, and the identification of different types of social bonds, the article identifies potential legal ‘Achilles heels’ of social bonds and suggests possible contractual remedies to ensure that both issuers and beneficiaries comply with their duties in terms of social impact achievement. Finally, the article suggests a European Union intervention in developing a ‘goal-oriented’ definition for social bonds.

At the crossroads of a frozen conflict: Political oversight of the Council’s administrative budget by the European Parliament

The European Parliament’s practice has turned budget discharge into a fully-fledged democratic accountability mechanism to oversee the use of public funds by EU institutions, agencies, and bodies on an annual basis. The Council is firmly opposed to submitting its budget management to parliamentary control, on the grounds of a lack of explicit legal basis vesting such power in the Parliament, which, in turn, has refused to grant budget discharge to the Council since 2011. This protracted conflict is rooted in the rigid and path-dependent EU legal framework of budget management and control. After considering the downsides of litigation and an interinstitutional agreement, the article proceeds to propose legal reform as a suitable option, not only to defuse institutional conflict, but also to restore consistency and align budget control with the values of transparency and accountability that have gained traction in other areas of the EU legal order.

Smart meters’ roll out, solutions in favour of a trust enhancing law in the EU

The article briefly describes the smart meters technology in the electricity field, its potentials and risks in terms of privacy and data protection, which could undermine the trust of customers. Then, the article delineates the EU legal framework that applies to the technology. A critical assessment of the latter follows, with the identification of some flaws. The focus shifts subsequently to the national level of legislation, when the Flemish laws on the matter are analysed. A different part is dedicated to the role that some technologies could have to reduce the risks and implement privacy. In conclusion, some recommendations are proposed to make the law more prone to enhance trust by the customers.

Towards sustainable blue energy production: an analysis of legal transformative and adaptive capacity

The achievement of a radical global reduction of greenhouse gases requires a legal-institutional setting capable of facilitating such a transition on a wide range of renewable technologies. This paper identifies and critically evaluates the key institutional, procedural and substantive legal mechanisms facilitating or preventing sustainable production of blue renewable energy with Finland as a case study country. The focus is on offshore wind power and hydropower. While we approach energy transition from the perspective of an EU member state, we simultaneously shed light on the relevant parts of the EU legal framework that significantly affect national legal frameworks.

The background of the Digital Services Act: looking towards a platform economy

The E-Commerce Directive laid the foundation of the EU legal framework for digital services. Since its adoption in 2000, the legal framework has remained largely unchanged, while the digital economy has undergone a profound transformation. The digital economy is today becoming a platform economy. Rules and legal solutions underpinning the Directive effectively accommodate the structural, operational, and behavioural features of a preliminary stage to the platform economy. Thus, the cornerstone of the EU digital services legal framework now requires a thorough revision. Despite its merits, noticeable limitations on facing new challenges surface. The aim of this Paper is to highlight those legal issues that call for attention in the Digital Services Act package.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СТАТЕВОГО ВИХОВАННЯ МОЛОДІ В ЗАКЛАДАХ ОСВІТИ КРАЇН-ЗАСНОВНИКІВ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО МАКРОРЕГІОНУ

The article attempts to clarify the peculiarities of sex education in different countries of the European macro-region, based on countries-the founders and emphasize the most characteristic features of these countries in this aspect. In particular, the author focuses on Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany and France in the field of sex education of students who have laid the foundations of modern school sex education in Europe, paying special attention to gender policy, EU legal framework and Council of Europe in the field of school education. In Belgium, for example, society has a liberal attitude towards sex and sex education, moreover, sex education is a compulsory practice that offers schools considerable autonomy in the development of curricula, including sex education. Italy is strongly influenced by the Catholic Church, so sex education is controversial in schools, and sex education programs are implemented as part of traditional classroom instruction, focusing mainly on the biological aspects of gender and behavior, adhering to the formation of traditional views on gender issues. based on the principles of morality. Luxembourg has open views on the issue of youth sexuality, the Netherlands shows one of the lowest levels of teenage pregnancy in the world, and the Dutch approach is often seen as a model for other countries. Attitudes toward sex education in Germany are characterized as liberal, accepted and recognized by federal law. This is due to the declining birth rate, which currently requires a rethinking of the position of politicians and the church on sex education and sex education of young people, while continuing to recognize the right of every citizen of the state to start a family. Sex education in France has a holistic approach and plays an important role in the sexual and emotional development of young people, helping them to resist the influence of the media and social media. Improving the national systems of school sex education in the studied countries requires the formation of an effective gender policy in each country.

A divided European data protection framework: a critical reflection on the choices of the European legislator post-Lisbon

The Lisbon Treaty introduced Article 16 in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which establishes the right to data protection. Article 16 TFEU offers the legal basis for the adoption of a framework that ensures the uniform application of data protection rules in all areas of EU law. During the major reform of the secondary European data protection legal framework, the European legislator chose to adopt the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive (LED) as the main legal instruments regulating data protection, instead of opting for one single legal instrument. The GDPR and the LED are complemented with a number of provisions and acts that draw a patchwork of data protection rules depriving the European Union from a harmonised framework. This chapter explores the complex web of provisions in the EU legal framework, focusing on the EU primary law, presents the options that existed in the hands of the European legislator and makes reflections on the favouring of a divided system in European data protection regulation.

Prava intelektualne svojine i digitalna transformacija u Estoniji - aspekti vezani za autorskopravnu i patentnu zaštitu

With almost all public services delivered online, functioning system of e-residency and established 'data embassies,' Estonia is also home to blooming creative community and numerous companies ranging from small start-ups to tech giants. Apart from being the result of a clear and long-lasting political orientation, this success is strongly correlated with Estonian legislation and, more narrowly, its regulatory framework on both information/ digital society and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). After examining the most relevant features of Estonia's legislation related to digital economy and society (Chapter 2), this paper analyses the country's regulatory framework on copyright (Chapter 3) and patents (Chapter 4) in the light of digital transformation. The author argues that there is a direct correlation between, on the one hand, regulatory framework dedicated to IPR protection on both EU and national level and, on the other, development of digital technologies. The study of Estonian legislation and practice in the field of copyright and patent protection has shown that, in numerous aspects, the country is largely dependent on the good functioning of wider EU legal and institutional framework, while, in the near future, the technological advance would require more supranational regulatory mechanisms.

The mHealth Power Paradox: Improving Data Protection in Health Apps through Self-Regulation in the European Union

An increasing number of EU citizens uses self-monitoring mHealth apps: apps used by consumers in a private setting to monitor their general health. The extensive processing of health data by these apps poses severe risks to users’ privacy. These risks are exacerbated by the inapplicability of the EU legal framework on health and patients’ rights to these apps. Furthermore, while the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation provides a solid legal framework for the protection of health data, in practice, many mHealth apps do not comply. In light of the lack of effective EU regulation, this paper examines the feasibility of self-regulation by app stores as a complementary form of regulation in order to improve the level of protection of EU mHealth app users. App stores already play an important role by regulating third-party mHealth apps distributed on their platforms in a top-down manner by means of app review procedures. In order to assess the effectiveness of these existing practices, a case study analysis is performed on the regulatory practices of Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play Store. This analysis is the basis for recommendations on how to strengthen current self-regulation initiatives by app stores in the context of health data protection.

Concept of joint investigation teams

The objective is to provide information, guidance and advice to practitioners on the formation of joint investigation teams (JITs). It was developed by the JITs Network - in cooperation with Eurojust, Europol and OLAF - and enhances the previous JITs manual in light of the acquired practical experience. The EU legal framework for setting up JITs between Member States can be found in Article 13 of the 2000 EU Mutual Legal Assistance Convention1 and the 2002 Framework Decision on JITs2. All Member States have implemented one or both of these legal bases, to date.

Upcoming legal challenges for cross-border e-health services in the EU

The paper briefly describes the current EU legal framework in the healthcare field and assess to which extent it could apply to the provision of cross border eHealth services. In particular, it analyses the provision of such services from the free movement angle, i.e. whether EU law guarantees to health professionals access to and exercise of activiti es in the 3rd type of situations, as well as whether the insured persons have the right to reimbursement of costs of such healthcare from their social security system.

EVOLUTION OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONCESSION AS A BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Despite the considerable number of discussions concerning the problems of the concession institution, the emphasis in most cases is on the methodological and practical aspects of this issue. This may create potential problems in the development of the concession mechanism in Ukraine. The article considers the theoretical support of the concession in the field of socially significant infrastructure, systematized evolution of the concession mechanism in the world practice. An analysis of the Law on Concession was developed in accordance with the EU legal framework governing public-private partnerships. It is determined that the law is aimed at simplifying the procedure of attracting private capital of national and foreign investors to the sphere of state-legal partnership. The main positive innovations in the Law on Concession are presented and analyzed. It is established that there is no single definition of the concept of "concession" in the scientific literature, so an analysis of existing approaches to its definition has been made. Based on the study of many scientific papers on the subject of concession, the author concluded that there are many varieties and gave the systematization of different types of concessions. It is important that concessions are applied not only in the relationship between business and the state, but also between organizations and individuals. The author proposes the main types of concession: commercial concession; franchising; infrastructure concession; granting the right to conduct a certain type of activity; concessions for the development of natural resources; concessions in the field of subsoil use; public service concession. An analysis of the main conditions that must be included in the concession agreement (i.e. the conditions under which the parties must agree that such an agreement is concluded) has been made. It is determined that the socially significant infrastructure means a set of enterprises and facilities that provide common conditions for the implementation of a particular activity necessary for the functioning of the society. The study considers the main stages of the concession procedure in Ukraine. Based on the above, at the last stage of the research the author provides a definition of a concession in the field of socially significant infrastructure.

The Relationship Between the Charter and General Principles: Looking Back and Looking Forward

AbstractArticle 6 Treaty on European Union sets out two sources of fundamental rights in the EU—the Charter and the general principles of EU law—without specifying a hierarchy between them. Even though the Charter became binding over a decade ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) is yet to clarify unequivocally how these two sources interact. In this article I argue based upon the relevant legal framework that the Charter ought to replace the general principles it enshrines. This leaves a role for general principles in the incorporation of new and additional rights into the EU legal framework. Such an approach is necessary to ensure that the Charter achieves its aims in enhancing the visibility of the rights protected by EU law, while also providing the impetus for more coherent rights protection within the EU. What an extensive survey of CJEU case law in the field of non-discrimination shows, however, is that the CJEU has struggled to let its general principles case law go, potentially hampering the transformative potential of the Charter.

Ethical, legal and social implications of genetically modified organism in the shadow of advanced genetic tools

In order to define the term GMO, different scientific definitions and legal explanations are available. In the regulation process of GM foods, the US and EU legal frameworks are based on the methodologies themselves. Currently, for the production of GMOs, several genome editing tools are available. Along with different site-directed nucleases (ZFN, TALENs, etc.), RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 have proven to be the very effective tools for genome editing. According to the current EU legislative, introduced in 2018, CRISPR/Cas9 and RNAi techniques are regulated as methods that produce GMOs, because the methodology of the process itself resembles the traditional breeding methods. In the past few years, a large number of scientific publications have confirmed that CRISPR/Cas9 and RNAi technology produce GMOs, supporting and suggesting that the legislation policies in the EU and especially in the USA have to be elaborated. Besides, a huge public pressure makes it difficult to develop and implement new methodologies for GMO production. For this reason, ELSI society is responsible to investigate and question whether the new genetic engineering techniques produce GMO food that is safe for human consumption.

Is the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive Fit to Effectively Tackle Abusive Debt Collection? A Critical Evaluation

The paper evaluates the adequacy of the existing EU legal framework – the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive - and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU’s in tackling abusive non-judicial debt collection practices. For this purpose, it uses a matrix of analysis consisting of several building blocks required for an efficient regulation of non-judicial debt collection practices. The paper concludes that the current legal framework is insufficient and a harmonized sector-specific regulation is needed at EU level.