European Legal Framework Research Articles

The Legal Framework for Protecting the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion in Romania as a Member State of the European Union

<em>The freedom of thought, conscience and religion constitutes nowadays a basic right of individuals for determining their perception of human life and society, which is why it represents a necessary requirement for all democratic societies. Taking into account that violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion may exacerbate intolerance and often constitute early indicators of potential violence and conflicts, the aim of this study is to raise public awareness on the fact that this freedom is a fundamental right of every human being, a right that needs to be protected everywhere and for everyone. For this purpose, the analysis is focused, in a first stage, on clarifying the essential features of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion so that, in a second stage, to be presented the European and Romanian legal frameworks for protection of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. As a novelty, this study attempts to outline how it is implemented the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion in Romania, highlighting achievements, but without trying to avoid weaknesses and the less pleasant aspects as it shown in US Department of State’s report.</em>

Data protection for networked and robotic toys - a legal perspective

This paper is aimed to understand the state of the art and the resulting consequences of the legal framework in Europe, with regard to the protection of children's data. Especially when they interact with networked and robotic toys, like in 'My friend Cayla' case. In order to evaluate the practical implications of the use of IoT devices by children or teenager users, the first part of the paper presents an analysis of the international guiding principles of the protection of minors, a category which enjoys a higher level of protection of their fundamental rights, due to their condition of lack of physical and psychological maturity. Secondly, the focus is moved upon the protection of personal data of children. Only after confronting previous data protection legal instruments and having compared them with the novelties set forth in General Data Protection Regulation, it is reasonable to assume that new provisions such as "privacy by design" principle, adequacy of security measures and codes of conduct, can support data controllers in ensuring compliance (in line with the accountability principle) in the field of IoT toys. In conclusion, the paper supports a view of Data Protection Authorities as a relevant player in enhancing these renovated tools in order to achieve the protection of children's rights, as to ensure their substantial protection against the threats of the interconnected world.

VALUE ADDED TAX IN REORGANISATION

This paper discusses the current Czech and European legal framework applicable to the adjustment to the taxable amount with respect to claims partially cancelled due to the insolvency of the customer resolved by reorganisation. The partial cancellation, according to the authors, serves as grounds to adjust a taxable amount under the EU VAT Directive. The supplier is entitled to issue a corrective invoice and claim a refund of a proportion of the VAT paid with respect to the delivery of goods or services to an insolvent debtor. However, such practice is not yet followed by the Czech tax authorities who do not allow for a reduction of a taxable amount in reorganisation and only allow such reductions in the case of bankruptcy liquidation. The paper argues that this approach is not compatible with European law. Moreover, such a different treatment of VAT payers in bankruptcy liquidation (resulting in higher satisfaction of VAT taxpayers as creditors) puts reorganisation at a considerable disadvantage and is contrary to the basic principles of insolvency law. Finally, the paper argues that the corresponding claim of the tax authority resulting from the VAT base adjustment constitutes a standard pre-insolvency claim and should not be preferred in the insolvency proceedings under Czech law.

The Italian law on informed consent and advance directives: its impact on intensive care units and the European legal framework

The Italian Parliament has recently approved a law on informed consent, advance directives and advance care planning. The law also deals with health care proxy and health care decisions for minors and adults who are not able to give consent. The Italian law arrived quite late in comparison with other European countries. After several years of debate on the need to approve such a law, the focus has now shifted to the assessment of the legislative provisions and their impact on clinical practice. In this article, the authors firstly offer an overview of the findings from the empirical research regarding the use of the different legal tools in the field of intensive care medicine; secondly, they present the tools now provided by law no. 219/2017 particularly with regard to the decision-making processes in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU); thirdly, the authors offer a comparison between the new Italian law and other European legal orders, with special reference to France, Spain, Germany and England. The aim of the article is to assess the degree of innovation of the law vis-à-vis the previous framework.

Transferring Health Big Data between public and private companies within the European Legal Framework

Transferring Health Big Data between public and private companies within the European Legal Framework

Transferring Health Big Data between public and private companies within the European Legal Framework

Transferring Health Big Data between public and private companies within the European Legal Framework

The Carles Puigdemont Case: Europe's Criminal Law in the Crisis of Confidence

AbstractThe case of Carles Puigdemont underlines that European criminal law is in a crisis of confidence. The Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein has rejected a Spanish European arrest warrant for the criminal offence of rebellion because it lacks double criminality. It applied German law de lege artis without, however, questioning the European legal framework. The case would have provided an opportunity to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in order to further specify the European law criteria of double criminality. This would have been the adequate legal response to a politically explosive case. In the end, the Spanish judiciary sees itself disavowed and the system of the European arrest warrant called into question.

Actual Challenges for Fundamental Rights Protection in the Use of Drone Technology

Drone is one of the current technological devices with the greatest prospects for use. It is estimated that last year the drone business mobilized more than 7 million dollars worldwide in the distribution sector, and that this figure would approach 30 million by 2021. Certainly, although its use is very widespread in the military field, its use in the civil field also presents great challenges, particularly from the perspective of fundamental rights that may be affected by the use of drones (privacy, image, data protection) which impact may vary —and it likely will— as the technology can incorporate progresses. Drone operations must respect and guarantee the regulations for the protection of rights at the European level, in particular the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, but also at national level in the respective scoop of application. Our aim in this paper is to develop an overview on the actual European legal framework for the civil use of drones outlining fundamental rights protection challenges from multilevel constitutional perspective.

State of the Art of Automated Buses

Urban transportation in the next few decades will shift worldwide toward electrification and automation, with the final aim of increasing energy efficiency and safety for passengers. Such a big change requires strong collaboration and efforts among public administration, research and stakeholders in developing, testing and promoting these technologies in public transportation. Working in this direction, this work provides a review of the impact of the introduction of driverless electric minibuses, for the first and last mile transportation, in public service. More specifically, this paper covers the state of the art in terms of technological background for automation, energy efficiency via electrification and the current state of the legal framework in Europe with a focus on the Baltic Sea Region.

Electronic Identification, Signature and Trust Services

The generalization of the use of electronic communications in all spheres of human activities brings along a need for a new legal perspective. This need is particularly felt at European Union level with the assumed aim of building a trustable Digital Single Market. Regulation 910/2014 was set as the main European legal framework aimed at harmonizing the understanding of instruments such as electronic identification, electronic authentication, electronic services, and other trust services of information society, such as electronic seals, electronic time stamps, electronic registered delivery services and website authentication. In the whole, Regulation 910/2014 is intended to establish a common legal framework allowing European citizens to take full advantage of digital services in a technically and legally secure environment.

Plea for Uniform Regulation and Challenges of Implementing the New Insurance Distribution Directive

This study takes up and evaluates new developments in EU insurance regulation, in particular the new EU Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD-Directive 2016/97/EU). The Directive sets a new European legal framework for insurance distribution with an implementation deadline of 23 February 2018, now postponed 7 months to 1 October 2018. The new IDD attempts to reduce cross-sectoral and cross-border inconsistencies by establishing a more uniform regulatory framework in the European insurance market. For this purpose, minimum quality standards and disclosure requirements are introduced to insurance distribution systems. In contrast, U.S. insurance regulation mostly continues to be the purview of state government, leading to cumbersome and conflicting provisions as well as higher compliance costs. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the new EU IDD rules, to discuss potential challenges of the transposition of the IDD into national law, and to answer whether the new EU regulatory uniformity could set an example for U.S. regulatory dispersion.

Legal Challenges of Implementing the System of Monitoring Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Maritime Transport within Ports of Call under the Jurisdiction of EU Member States

The subject analysed in this paper is European achievements and legal standards for the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from maritime transport. The author re-examines the ecological aspect of European maritime navigation and its important role in reducing CO2 emissions as the most important greenhouse gas. By reviewing the sources of European law relevant to this matter, the author examines European legal origins based on the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport. In order to provide a systematic overview of the European legal framework, the author also analyses provisions that complement the rules and methods for monitoring CO2 emissions from maritime transport, i.e. the provisions contained in Regulation (EC) No. 2016/1927 and Regulation (EC) No. 2016/1928. The underlying concept of this paper is a discussion concerning the provisions of the regional monitoring, reporting and verification system of CO2 emissions from maritime transport, applicable to all ships irrespective of the flag the ship flies. The author further presents and analyses the effect that the application of the relevant provisions has on the reduction of CO2 emissions in ports and the measures that the European ports of call will be authorized to take, on 1st July 2019, in the sense of checking the Document of Compliance of the ship with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 2015/757. Taking into account the justification and functionality of the regional approach to addressing CO2 emissions issues from ships, the author considers it necessary to achieve international uniformity in order to reduce CO2 emissions from maritime transport globally.

Women are scaredy-cats and men are conquerors?

The European legal framework requires that financial consultants assess their clients’ risk tolerance before advising them on investments. The study aims at further testing an alternative measure to quantify the risk attitudes of investors: The Implicit Association Test (IAT). This study examines differences in implicit, unconscious, and explicit cognitive attitudes of men and women. The results of the IAT are compared with their answers from a risk tolerance questionnaire used by practitioners and self-selected asset allocation (portfolio). The data show that implicit attitude, and, thus, unconscious and uncontrolled thinking, can differ from conscious processes. Furthermore, in this study, there is no gender gap in risk attitude and risk tolerance. The findings suggest that experience and financial knowledge are likely the most important determinants of risk attitudes with no significant difference between men and women.

Health and Safety at Work: Labour Security as a Primary Challenge for Human Security

The matter of accidents at work and occupational diseases falls within the aims of various EU and international rules. This is part of a more general interest of the International community, as well as of the European Union’s legislator and judge, for safety and health in the workplace. At this regard, the present paper aims at analyzing the capacity for the implementation and development of an occupational safety and health management approach at the international and European Union’s level. The analysis is conducted through the examination of the international and European legal framework governing the matter, as well as through the investigation of the most recent and relevant case law on accidents at work and occupational diseases. From this research an effort emerges, at the European and international level, to ensure safety and health standards. However, such efforts are inadequate with respect to a constantly changing labor market, characterized by less and less stable employment relationships, new working patterns and an ageing workforce. Neither are all the people concerned by those changes adequately covered by the existing health, safety and insurance legislation, as well as the increasing number of temporary workers and workers with atypical contracts.

Uncertain liability and stagnating CCS deployment in the European Union: Is it the Member States’ turn?

AbstractEven though the European Union (EU) decided to promote carbon capture and storage (CCS) and it enacted a directive eight years ago to speed up the safe deployment of this technology, there is no functioning project yet in the EU. While this is a well‐understood technology with an important emission reduction potential, it requires a legal regime which affords sufficient certainty to operators about their potential liabilities. However, the European legal framework is perceived as achieving the opposite effect. The operator's liability is uncertain both in temporal and financial terms. This article considers that after the 2015 review of the CCS Directive, it is clear that at least a part in overcoming the industry's difficulties is more Member State action in the form of pragmatic interpretation and tailor‐made agreements, as it is the case in the ROAD project. Subsequently, certain technical and financial issues related to European CCS are analysed with a view to facilitate its deployment.

European Legal Framework for Algorithmic and High Frequency Trading (Mifid 2 and MAR)

AbstractAlgorithmic and high frequency trading use computer algorithms to execute strategies and the confluence of trends in computer hardware, programming, mathematical modelling, and financial innovation have pushed the limits of trading speed to unprecedented levels. Algorithms are fast and automatically spread disruptions through the financial system. Over the last decade, the ensuing systemic risk called for new regulations. This article attempts an early assessment of the new European legal framework (Mifid 2 and Market Abuse Regime) intended to tackle the technological risks of the modern trading paradigm.

Legal Framework of European Inland Waterways and Croatian Legislation on Inland Waterways Navigation – Problems of Non-Harmonized Rules

Inland waterway transport, as one of the oldest modes of transport, is still under-used in the European Union. Though it has many advantages over other modes of transport (it is environmentally friendly, cost-saving, energy- efficient, safety), it also faces several significant problems. The European Union has recognized the importance of inland waterway transport and has adopted several regulations establishing a legal framework for this area of transport, and has launched some programs and projects to promote it. The Republic of Croatia has harmonized its national legislation with the European, and is also the party of the most important international agreements regulating inland waterway navigation. Despite this, inland waterway navigation continues to lag behind other modes of transport. One of the reasons may be that the existing legal framework (on international, European and national level) is still not satisfactory. Further improvements, harmonization of rules and preferably unification is needed. This paper analyses the international and European legal framework as well as the Croatian legislation on inland waterway transport and makes recommendations for further changes to the existing legislation.

Codification and Legal Sources in the Albanian Legal System: Comparative Approach to Legal Systems

The civil law system entered the codification path during the 19th century, enabling the creation of uniformity, such as drafting a civil code and building a new (national) identity. The structure of the code suggests that it provides a comprehensive, internally coherent set of rules for private law. The adopted civil codes secure lawyers a systematic and coherent foundation for the legal system and legal reasoning. Codification allowed laws to be in an easily identified document easily. Traditionally, the civil law system has been subject to several codification and consolidation processes during different periods in time, influenced from political, social or economic reforms. In Albania after the proclamation of the Monarchy, work began on the preparation of various codes, with the crucial one being the Civil Code. The first Albanian Civil Code entered in force on the 1st of April 1929. This process was the first step for the Albanian Legislator to compare the secularity of the European legal framework to that of the Ottoman Empire. In 1991, the end of the communist era in Albania was marked by bringing the transformation of the economy into a market-oriented system and the creation of a legal system that protected the right of private property. The Albanian system as a continental system has developed a system based on systematic approach to laws, a procedure known as dogmatic approach. It has created an internal system of laws based on generally codified norms and principles. The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of political, social or economic reforms in the codification process and the nature of legal sources in Albania.

Trusting telemedicine: A discussion on risks, safety, legal implications and liability of involved stakeholders

ObjectivesThe main purpose of the article is to raise awareness among all the involved stakeholders about the risks and legal implications connected to the development and use of modern telemedicine systems. Particular focus is given to the class of “active” telemedicine systems, that imply a real-world, non-mediated, interaction with the final user. A secondary objective is to give an overview of the European legal framework that applies to these systems, in the effort to avoid defensive medicine practices and fears, which might be a barrier to their broader adoption. MethodsWe leverage on the experience gained during two international telemedicine projects, namely MobiGuide (pilot studies conducted in Spain and Italy) and AP@home (clinical trials enrolled patients in Italy, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria and Germany), whose development our group has significantly contributed to in the last 4 years, to create a map of the potential criticalities of active telemedicine systems and comment upon the legal framework that applies to them. Two workshops have been organized in December 2015 and March 2016 where the topic has been discussed in round tables with system developers, researchers, physicians, nurses, legal experts, healthcare economists and administrators. ResultsWe identified 8 features that generate relevant risks from our example use cases. These features generalize to a broad set of telemedicine applications, and suggest insights on possible risk mitigation strategies. We also discuss the relevant European legal framework that regulate this class of systems, providing pointers to specific norms and highlighting possible liability profiles for involved stakeholders. ConclusionsPatients are more and more willing to adopt telemedicine systems to improve home care and day-by-day self-management. An essential step towards a broader adoption of these systems consists in increasing their compliance with existing regulations and better defining responsibilities for all the involved stakeholders.

Development and validation of the Midwife Profiling Questionnaire assessing women’s preferred perinatal care professional and knowledge of midwives’ legal competences

ObjectivesCurrently maternity care organisation is developing worldwide. Therefore insight in the position of the midwife is important. The 'Midwife Profiling Questionnaire′ (MidProQ) measures women’s preferred perinatal care professional and their knowledge of midwives’ legal competences. MidProQ is based on the European legal framework and was tested in a pilot study. This study aims to determine its content and face validity. Study design.A two-phase validation study with a Delphi method questioning content experts (n = 10) on items relevance and clarity as well as its scale and face validity. Further semi-structured interviews were performed with lay experts (n = 10) to evaluate the questionnaire’s clarity, layout, phrasing and wording. ResultsAfter round one, most questions (42/47) were considered content valid for relevance and clarity (Item Content Validity Index 0.80–1.00). Scale (Scale Content Validity Index 0.92) and face validity (Face Validity Index 0.89) of the entire instrument was obtained. Five questions were revised until item content (0.83–1.00), scale content (0.92) and face validity (1.00) were appropriate. Lay experts’ suggestions for improving the readability and usability were taken into account. ConclusionsWe developed a valid instrument to elicit women’s preferred health professional for uncomplicated pregnancy, labour and childbirth and to determine their knowledge about midwives’ legal competences. Our instrument can be valuable in identifying knowledge gaps and improving the knowledge of the general population about the midwifery profession and maternity care. Finally, the MidProQ may improve research in the domain of maternity care culture, scale up midwifery and facilitate a more women-centred care.