Licensing Regime Research Articles

The BBC’s Controversy Committee, 1928–1929

When the British Broadcasting Corporation in early 1928 was freed from earlier restrictions on addressing controversial topics in its broadcasts, its management created a special internal body to oversee their handling. The Controversy Committee addressed a range of potentially contentious subjects, making decisions and recommendations and establishing formats. Its work shows efforts to provide a practical application of the BBC’s public service broadcasting ethos, although its gatekeeping would have been influenced by its own concerns with government regulation and licensing. Its work also represented a real-world effort to implement a requirement of media under the Social Responsibility theory of the press, that of providing a forum for comment and criticism.

Public and professional stakeholders' perceptions of alcohol advertising and availability policies: A qualitative study.

Reducing alcohol availability and restricting alcohol advertising are effective ways to reduce harm from alcohol. Implementation of public health policies involves collaboration between different stakeholders, and is influenced by public opinion. This paper explores public and professional stakeholders' perceptions of alcohol advertising and availability policies. It is the first to capture consensus and divergence in narratives of these stakeholders. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 stakeholders from third sector organisations, government, public health and alcohol licensing in Scotland. We conducted 11 online focus groups with 45 participants, living in neighbourhoods in Scotland characterised by varying levels of urbanity, deprivation and retail density change. We gave participants a list of policies and discussed their views on acceptability, feasibility and likely success. Despite general consensus that regulation of alcohol advertising is an important priority, public stakeholders were concerned about the feasibility of advertising interventions and potential unintended consequences. While professional stakeholders were in favour of regulating alcohol availability, public stakeholders had misgivings about feasibility and effectiveness. When prompted to discuss specific interventions, similar views about protecting children and achieving cultural change emerged. This study highlights the importance of policy makers and other stakeholders to consider public stakeholders' opinions on alcohol policy and understanding that their views may be influenced by competing framings of alcohol problems. Attempts to increase support for alcohol control policies need to consider people's concerns about the effectiveness and potential unintended consequences of these policies, and the wider social context of alcohol consumption.

An FDA for AI? Pitfalls and Plausibility of Approval Regulation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence

Observers and practitioners of artificial intelligence (AI) have proposed an FDA-style licensing regime for the most advanced AI models, or 'frontier' models. In this paper, we explore the applicability of approval regulation -- that is, regulation of a product that combines experimental minima with government licensure conditioned partially or fully upon that experimentation -- to the regulation of frontier AI. There are a number of reasons to believe that approval regulation, simplistically applied, would be inapposite for frontier AI risks. Domains of weak fit include the difficulty of defining the regulated product, the presence of Knightian uncertainty or deep ambiguity about harms from AI, the potentially transmissible nature of risks, and distributed activities among actors involved in the AI lifecycle. We conclude by highlighting the role of policy learning and experimentation in regulatory development, describing how learning from other forms of AI regulation and improvements in evaluation and testing methods can help to overcome some of the challenges we identify.

When Systems Clash: The Case for a Single Regulatory Body for Licensing

This article examines what happens when the same subject matter is or could be controlled by different licensing regimes. It suggests that the system of control of licensed premises would be improved by appointing a single regulatory body for licensing.

Immigrants and innovators: financial inclusion and the ‘de-banking’ of the digital asset industry

ABSTRACT ‘De-banking’ refers to banks limiting or withdrawing banking services from perceived ‘high-risk’ clients. ‘High risk’ is not merely commercial risk relating to a client’s ability to pay. It also includes ‘non-commercial’ risks such as client dealings in illicit funds or activities. Debanking decisions might also be made on operational-cost grounds where continued servicing of a particular customer base becomes uneconomical. In Australia, the de-banking issue has impacted migrant communities. More recently, de-banking has impeded the ability of digital assets service providers. Under the guise of rigorous compliance legal standards, Australian banks have limited or even cut-off banking services to many Australian digital asset firms. As the financial gatekeepers to the Australian economy, Australian banks (already very protected from competitors) are undermining an industry that could potentially compete for market share. Examining strategies adopted in other jurisdictions, Australian policy makers should supplement the introduction of a licensing regime, as proposed by the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023 (Cth), with additional balanced measures in order to support innovation in the digital asset sector and maintain financial integrity.

AN APPRAISAL OF THE REGULATION OF DIGITAL BANKS IN NIGERIA

The advent of the computer age saw industries across the world hopping on the Information and Communications Technology train in a bid to survive. The financial industry is no exception, having since incorporated Information and Communications Technology in its operations. Traditional financial institutions like banks now utilize technology to render financial services to their customers. Aside the traditional banks, a new class of banks called digital banks has emerged in recent times in Nigeria, examples include Kuda, Aladdin, and VBank. These banks operate without a physical banking hall and render their services digitally. Although digital banks were not originally included in Nigerian laws, these banks now have the backing of the principal legislation regulating banks in Nigeria: the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020, hence solidifying their place in the Nigerian financial sector. With the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of the extant legal framework for digital banks in Nigeria, this paper explored the evolution of banking in Nigeria, the emergence of digital banks, the pros and cons of such banks as well as the existing legal framework for digital banks in Nigeria. The research methodology adopted is the doctrinal research methodology and primary sources like statutes, guidelines and case laws as well as secondary sources like textbooks and journals were utilized. The paper found that the existing legal framework for digital banks in Nigeria is fragmented and does not sufficiently address the uniqueness of these banks. It recommended the development of a comprehensive legal framework for digital banks in Nigeria, which incorporates a licensing regime solely for digital banks.

Legal Study of Plastic Waste Handling for Street food Business Actors

In Cirebon City, plastic waste is still an unresolved problem. With the increase in population, there will be an increase in the volume of waste generated by human activities. This study aims to determine the procedures for handling plastic waste and the elements that influence the management of plastic waste in the city of Cirebon. The type of research used is empirical juridical research using qualitative data, initial research by examining secondary data, then continued with research in the field or community. Research data obtained through field observations or obtained through interviews. This research looks at written legal products such as Law Number 18 of 2008 concerning Waste Management, and Cirebon City Regional Regulation Number 4 of 2018 concerning Waste Management. Research on this issue is carried out descriptively analytically, explaining how written law can prevent environmental pollution. Waste management is difficult to resolve due to lack of awareness among business actors and insufficient socialization and efforts from the government. Law No. 18/2008 contains administrative provisions, civil liability, several rights to sue, and criminal sanctions. Regarding administrative sanctions, the above regulation authorizes the regent/mayor to impose administrative sanctions on waste managers who violate the provisions stipulated in the permit. The sanctions given are in the form of government coercion, forced money, and license revocation.

When code isn’t law: rethinking regulation for artificial intelligence

Abstract This article examines the challenges of regulating artificial intelligence (AI) systems and proposes an adapted model of regulation suitable for AI’s novel features. Unlike past technologies, AI systems built using techniques like deep learning cannot be directly analyzed, specified, or audited against regulations. Their behavior emerges unpredictably from training rather than intentional design. However, the traditional model of delegating oversight to an expert agency, which has succeeded in high-risk sectors like aviation and nuclear power, should not be wholly discarded. Instead, policymakers must contain risks from today’s opaque models while supporting research into provably safe AI architectures. Drawing lessons from AI safety literature and past regulatory successes, effective AI governance will likely require consolidated authority, licensing regimes, mandated training data and modeling disclosures, formal verification of system behavior, and the capacity for rapid intervention.

TeenyTinyLlama: Open-source tiny language models trained in Brazilian Portuguese

Large language models (LLMs) have significantly advanced natural language processing, but their progress has yet to be equal across languages. While most LLMs are trained in high-resource languages like English, multilingual models generally underperform monolingual ones. Additionally, aspects of their multilingual foundation sometimes restrict the byproducts they produce, like computational demands and licensing regimes. In this study, we document the development of open-foundation models tailored for use in low-resource settings, their limitations, and their benefits. This is the TeenyTinyLlama pair: two compact models for Brazilian Portuguese text generation. We release them under the permissive Apache 2.0 license on GitHub and Hugging Face for community use and further development.

Pelaksanaan Reklamasi Lahan Pasca Tambang PT Rekasindo Guriang Tandang di Bengkulu

Coal mining in Indonesia is generally carried out using open pit mining methods, thereby disrupting and destroying the ecosystem and natural balance, causing negative impacts that result in environmental damage. Therefore, sustainable development with an environmental perspective is important for every nation and country that wants to protect its natural resources. The main cause of damage to the ecosystem or environment is humans. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach method. According to Williams (1988), the qualitative method is an approach that in the research proposal, process, hypothesis, going into the field, data analysis and data conclusions up to writing uses aspects of trends, non-numerical calculations, situational descriptive, interviews, in-depth analysis, deep. contents, snowballs and stories. The research findings regarding the study of the implementation of ex-mining land reclamation at PT Rekasindo Guriang Tandang's Coal Mining Business License in North Bengkulu Regency, Bengkulu Province are regarding community knowledge and participation in reclamation activities, land preparation, implementation of activities, equipment, costs, and commitment of directors or managers. The implementation of reclamation activities at PT Rekasindo Guriang Tandang did not go well because the plant growth success rate was low and plant growth was less than optimal. So the government and Mining Business License (IUP) managers need to take policies to involve the community more to play a more active role in reclamation activities carried out in areas around their environment.

AI Risk Profiles: A Standards Proposal for Pre-deployment AI Risk Disclosures

As AI systems’ sophistication and proliferation have increased, awareness of the risks has grown proportionally. The AI industry is increasingly emphasizing the need for transparency, with proposals ranging from standardizing use of technical disclosures, like model cards, to regulatory licensing regimes. Since the AI value chain is complicated, with actors bringing varied expertise, perspectives, and values, it is crucial that consumers of transparency disclosures be able to understand the risks of the AI system in question. In this paper we propose a risk profiling standard which can guide downstream decision-making, including triaging further risk assessment, informing procurement and deployment, and directing regulatory frameworks. The standard is built on our proposed taxonomy of AI risks, which distills the wide variety of risks proposed in the literature into a high-level categorization. We outline the myriad data sources needed to construct informative Risk Profiles and propose a template and methodology for collating risk information into a standard, yet flexible, structure. We apply this methodology to a number of prominent AI systems using publicly available information. To conclude, we discuss design decisions for the profiles and future work.

Effects of artisanal gold mining and routes towards sustainable development for a low‐profile mining community in Ghana

AbstractThe objective of the study is to examine the effects of artisanal and small‐scale gold mining (ASGM) and routes towards sustainable development (SD) for a low‐profile mining community in Ghana. The study drew on the literature on mining, sustainable development, and the Natural Resource Curse (NRC) theory. Data were gathered using semi‐structured interviews and focus group discussions with 203 participants selected through the purposive and snowball sampling methods. The data were analysed using the thematic approach. The findings indicate that although ASGM supported livelihoods through employment and income generation, it had numerous negative effects that weakened the ‘pillars’ of SD, namely social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Among others, the study reveals conflicts, drop‐out and absenteeism among students andpupils, drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, child labour, and violence in the host community. Economically, ASGM affected agricultural production and food security following the destruction of farms and farmlands, while labour and capital were moved from farming to mining. Environmentally, air and water bodies were polluted, flora and fauna destroyed, and productive lands degraded. In short, the SD costs were perceived to be greater than the benefits, lending credence to the NRC theory. Several of these adverse effects were due to the fact that the activities were neither formalized nor regulated. Besides, the operations were characterized by inappropriate technology and lack of geological data, leading to unsustainable mining practices resulting in anti‐development outcomes. By way of routes towards sustainability, it is recommended that the operations be formalized under the existing Community Mining Scheme and regulated to ensure responsible, accountable, and sustainable mining. The Scheme should be strengthened in order to drive positive impact‐making mining operations by means of introducing a sustainability‐oriented licensing regime, sustainable mining technologies, access to land and geological data, stakeholder participation, capacity building on sustainable mining literacy, and eco‐friendly mine closure strategies.

A comparative economic analysis of industrial fisheries targeting small pelagic fish in Mauritanian waters: Free license versus charter regime

AbstractIndustrial fisheries targeting small pelagic fish have significant socio‐economic implications for North West African countries. This study examines the economic performance of fleets operating in Mauritania's exclusive economic zone under the free license and chartering systems. Using national production data from 1989 to 2010 and economic indicator ratios from European pelagic fishing vessels, we assess the economic performance of pelagic fisheries over one decade. Our findings show that vessel characteristics have rapidly evolved, with free‐licenced vessels having a higher average fishing capacity than chartered vessels. The nominal number of free licenses increased from under 8% in 1995; the year of free licencing began in Mauritania, to over 80% in 2010. The estimated average economic output for 2000–2010 was US$ 231 million, with free licenses contributing over 80% of the total turnover (US$ 187 million). Vessels operating under free licenses made a greater contribution to wealth creation than the chartering regime. Foreign ship owners generated US$ 40.7 million (22%) in income, while chartering yielded US$ 3.6 million (8%). However, the chartering regime was more fiscally advantageous, contributing over 68% of pelagic fisheries tax revenues (estimated at over US$ 29 million). The small pelagic fishery has been subject to a system of total allowable catches and fishing quotas since 2015. This study provides insights into the economic dynamics of the small pelagic fishery, informing decision‐making and potential strategies to enhance the sector's performance and overall economic impact.

Strengthening channeling policy: the Finnish approach to protecting domestic online gambling market.

Many jurisdictions struggle to curb offshore gambling as established approaches to gambling regulation no longer apply to online gambling. This study aimed to examine the arguments used by Finnish stakeholders who discussed channeling as a tool to curb offshore gambling and the monopolistic gambling regime as a sustainable framework to tackle the issue of offshore gambling. In total, 18 Finnish public servants employed in ministries in charge of gambling matters and representatives of Veikkaus, the state-owned gambling company, were interviewed for the purpose of this study. Channeling was described by the interviewees as an important policy tool but without a regulatory framework to block offshore operation, it would remain an ideal type of political strategy. Beside the monopolistic gambling regime, the pros and cons of a potential licensing regime were discussed. This study showed that legislative and regulatory changes form a lengthy political process; the decrease of the market share of online gambling marked the beginning of a new era in Finland's gambling policy.

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Licensing Regime In 2024: Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Licensing Regime In 2024: Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream

Licensing Insolvency Practitioners in Zambia: Aligning with International Best Practices

A well-regulated insolvency regime is crucial for fostering economic activity. This article examines a recent development in Zambia’s insolvency framework – the introduction of licensing requirements for insolvency practitioners by the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) under the Corporate Insolvency Act No. 9 of 2017. We analyse how this aligns with international best practices in insolvency regulation, where jurisdictions like the UK, South Africa, and Kenya have similar licensing regimes to ensure practitioners competence and ethical conduct.The article further explores the potential for strengthening the Zambian system by considering the experience requirement for accreditation observed in other countries. We discuss the potential benefits of such a requirement, such as improved service quality and a more specialized pool of insolvency professionals. By examining Zambia’s recent licensing initiative and exploring the possibility of an experience requirement, this article contributes to the ongoing discussion on how to create effective and efficient insolvency regimes.

突厥遺蹟 出土 唐式 帶裝飾具의 歷史·考古學的 意味

During the 7th to 9th centuries, ceremonial insignia known as “Tang-style belt ornaments” representing the government license of each country in Northeast Asia spread to the Tang in China and neighboring regions such as Silla, Balhae, and Japan. It is believed that the adoption of Tang-style belt ornaments in the Turkic Khaganate was influenced by the political and military relationships between the Tang Dynasty and Turkic Khaganate, as well as the Jimifuzhou System. The adoption of Tang-style belt ornaments can be traced back to two significant periods: the year 607, when Chinese attire was introduced in the Eastern Turkic Khaganate during the Sui Dynasty; and the years 731-735, when the Tang Dynasty's official authority and materials were extensively adopted for the construction of the Qil Tegin and Bilge Kagan's ancestral sites. The social class that possessed the belt ornaments were influential tribal factions within the Turkic Khaganate. However, they are differentiated in that they are not statutory officials of the settled state. Furthermore, the style of the belt ornaments underwent changes in form that deviated from the evolution of styles seen in China. They incorporated local patterns and additional decorations, demonstrating a distinctiveness from Tang-style belt ornaments. These characteristics are believed to have influenced Shìwéi and Balhae. The existence of signboards featuring the same decorative patterns and the spread of heterogeneous signboards to the surrounding areas imply the formation of another network of interactions. The Tang-style belt ornaments unveiled in the Turkic Khaganate were introduced within the Chinese political and military context but spread within regions through different mechanisms compared to neighboring countries. Additionally, the fact that modified belt ornaments spread to the surrounding areas indicates the formation of a diverse network of material cultural interactions in the northern region.

La storia dell’esercizio cinematografico di provincia in tre momenti storici. Il caso di Gardone Val Trompia

The article uses a microhistorical approach to Gardone Val Trompia’s movie theatres. Using archives, local newspapers and other sources, it retraces historical change in management’s forms of out-of-the-city exhibitors. The aim is to highlight their radical difference: never cinema-only venues and always entangled with the local administration and civil society. Three particular moments are discussed: the origins of rural cinema among politicized mutualistic societies; the dominance of non-profit venues during the fascist era, especially those managed by Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro; the renewal and ‘professionalization’ in the mid-1950s. It is also discussed how the government license impacted locally on the cinemas’ existence.

Effectiveness of the OSSRBA (Online Single Submission Risk Based Approach) System in Business Licensing Services in Payakumbuh City DPMPTSP

OSS RBA is a digital-based application that is used as a means of issuing licensing documents for community business activities. The problem behind this research is that the OSS RBA system cannot be implemented optimally due to limitations in both the application, service providers, and the public when using OSS RBA. Research objective: to determine the effectiveness of the RBA OSS system in business licensing services at the Payakumbuh City Investment and One-Stop Integrated Services Service. Research method: descriptive with a qualitative approach. Using the theory of e-government effectiveness by Timothy Dolan, namely the Six-Dimensional Assessment Tool (6 DAT), Results/Findings: The results of this research indicate that the OSS RBA system in Payakumbuh City is still not effective. Several indicators have been met, such as a good security system, an integrated database, and application updates. However, there are still shortcomings that can be seen from the limited means of communication, lack of information regarding coordination between parties involved in the OSS RBA, low understanding of technical OPD regarding the verification process, interactivity that is still limited, the performance of government licensing services that is not yet visible, and public feedback in providing assessments on the licensing process for the OSS RBA system that is not yet available. This causes the use of the OSS RBA system in society to be not optimal, so the OSS RBA system is still at a transition stage from the old method to the new method.

Patent Dependency under European and European Union Patent Law – A Regulatory Gap

Abstract Technological progress generally is not disruptive but sequential. Innovations build on prior innovations, typically by presenting improvements or complements. Under patent law, such follow-on innovation meets with an obstacle if the use of the invention underlying it infringes a prior patent, and if, for one reason or another, the owner of that prior patent prefers, as it may, to refuse granting a license. It is only in case the follow-on (or ‘second’) invention involves an important technical advance of considerable economic significance in relation to the invention claimed in the prior (or ‘first’) patent that in Europe, in accordance with Art. 31 TRIPS, national patent laws provide for a right of the owner of the second patent to obtain, by way of a decision of the patent office or of a court, a dependency license. By contrast, the EU’s system of unitary patent protection does not provide for a dependency licensing regime. Instead, Regulation 1257/2021 on the European patent with unitary effect refers the matter to national law. This means that despite the importance of its invention the owner of a dependent patent will never obtain a mandatory license covering the Internal Market but only territorially limited national licenses for which it must apply separately in each Member State, go through multiple different procedures and comply with different national requirements. The absurdity of such hindering of follow-on innovation in the Internal Market by regulatory abstention is no less as regards national patents that the European Patent Office grants as a bundle in the form of the European patent and that are now additionally held together by the uniform infringement rules of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. After all, that category of a European patent is supposed to represent an equivalent alternative to the unitary patent and, therefore, ought to meet the same Internal Market requirements. Therefore, this study proposes to harmonize Member States’ dependency licensing regimes and to complement the system of unitary patent protection accordingly. To this end, it presents the common principles of national regimes, analyzes the particular need for and characteristics of modern mandatory licensing rules and discusses the deficits of alternative approaches that might be available under EU competition law. A particular emphasis is put on distinguishing dependency licensing from compulsory licensing in the public interest, and on the functional complementarity existing between incentivizing inventions by patent protection and stimulating follow-on innovation by mandatory licensing regimes.