International Bilateral Agreements Research Articles

Violation of Human Rights and Enforced Disappearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Every armed conflict outcome in a violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms. In areas where war conflicts are taking place, certain forms of crimes that are most often committed against civilians and other categories protected by international (humanitarian) law occur as an inevitable consequence. Thus, in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the war that took place in the period 1992-1995. committed numerous war crimes, and crimes against the peace and security of mankind. These crimes were committed against civilians and protected categories of the population, primarily prisoners of war. The issue of protection of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina is inevitably connected with the consideration of the consequences resulting from the armed aggression carried out at the end of the twentieth century. One form of crime that is particularly specific to Bosnia and Herzegovina is the crime of enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearances in Bosnia and Herzegovina are most often associated with the out-of-court detention of persons whose fate becomes unknown upon expulsion from their homes or stays in camps and other places of detention. This form of crime is especially significant because its consequences still last, even though 25 to 30 years have passed since its commission. Namely, the total number of registered forcibly missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina is 34,965. About 8,000 more people are wanted. Many families have not yet exercised their basic humanitarian right to know the truth about the fate of their family members. The bodies or remains of forcibly missing persons are most often found in unmarked individual or mass graves of a hidden locality. There are a numerous of forcibly missing persons who are still being searched for, and this is precisely the reason why studying the enforced disappearances of persons and considering the consequences of this committed crime is of special social interest. It is especially important to provide legal protection to families whose members were forcibly disappeared during the war and whose bodies or remains have not been found to date. The humane character of this issue must not be overlooked. It is important to find new possibilities in the search for forcibly missing persons, bearing in mind the fact that the passage of time and the biological processes that take place make it difficult to perform this task. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that witnesses or perpetrators of crimes who can provide adequate information end their lives. The truth about hidden bodies thus remains inaccessible. International bilateral agreements involving stakeholders represent one of the new possibilities in resolving issues related to enforced disappearances.

Settlement of inheritance relations in bilateral international agreements of Ukraine with foreign states on legal assistance in civil cases

The main features of inheritance relations with a foreign element are given. The main issues to be resolved in inheritance relations with the help of international agreements concluded by Ukraine with foreign states on legal assistance in civil cases were identified. It has been established that the norms of two dozen bilateral international agreements on legal assistance and about three dozen consular conventions that Ukraine has concluded with many states are devoted to the issue of international inheritance. Some of the conventions operate in the order of succession of Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. Comparative analysis of the content of the texts of bilateral international agreements of Ukraine with foreign states on legal assistance in civil matters allowed classifying them by methods of regulation of inheritance relations into three groups: ones that do not contain separate articles (articles) on the regulation of inheritance relations; agreements on legal relations and legal assistance in civil matters between Ukraine and foreign countries, which contain provisions on inheritance relations, which in turn are divided into two groups depending on the structure and content of the articles: inheritance cases and the right to inheritance. The analysis gives grounds to claim the lack of a unified approach to the conclusion of contracts in the third group. This cannot be explained by the will of the parties, because the content of this group of agreements has a high level of identity. The agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Cyprus on legal assistance in civil matters, which has a separate section IV on inheritance, has an exceptional content in the regulation of inheritance relations, but in comparison with other two groups of agreements with foreign countries contains very brief information. From the analyzed bilateral international agreements it was concluded that most aspects of inheritance relations are regulated by the personal law of a testator or the right of location of a property. There is a gradual overcoming of the problem of splitting the inheritance status, regardless of the location of the inheritance, the spread of the possibility of choosing the applicable law to the estate.

Trade policy and foreign trade of the European Union

Economic globalization is characterized by an increase in international trade and growing interdependence of economies at the global level. The EU's trade policy is a central tool for responding to the challenges associated with globalization and other modern challenges, such as the consequences of the pandemic and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and turning its potential into real benefits. In other words, the trade policy of the European Union is a significant lever in shaping the competitiveness of the EU in the world market and is based on a wide range of various measures, which determines the relevance of this study. The subject of the study is the peculiarities and prospects of the development of trade policy and foreign trade of the European Union. In turn, the goal is to analyze the specifics of trade policy implementation and the current state of the European Union's foreign trade. It was found that bilateral international agreements play a decisive role among EU policies. But there are also unilateral policy measures that also have a huge impact on the state and performance of foreign trade. Among them are tariff and non-tariff regulation methods. It has been found that despite the fact that the EU's share of world trade has been falling in recent years, it remains at a high level and is a key basis for growth, competitiveness and employment in the EU. At the same time, the EU's export and import dynamics have a tendency to grow, which indicates that despite the decline in the EU's share in world trade, the EU's position as one of the world's trade leaders will strengthen, but competition will grow. To achieve the set goal and solve research tasks, modern methods of scientific research were used in the performance of scientific work, in particular, general scientific and special methods of analysis of economic phenomena and processes: systematic approach, comparative analysis, historical-logical method, comparative analysis, economic-mathematical modeling, and namely: trend analysis. Therefore, the growing indicators of the EU's foreign trade prove that the EU's trade policy is successful.

International agreements in the system of sources of legal regulation consular activities

Consular offices and their employees in the performance of consular functions are guided by the legislation of Ukraine, the legislation of the host country, international treaties of Ukraine and international customs, which are a system of sources of legal regulation of consular activities. International multilateral and bilateral treaties play an important role in the regulation of consular activities, as they form the basis of consular law as a branch of public international law.
 Modern consular law is a convention law. Its important sources include the Caracas Convention on Consular Functions of 1911, the Havana Convention on Consular Officials of 1928, the European Convention on Consular Functions of 1967, and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of April 24, 1963, which entered into force on March 18, 1967. and has a universal character, as well as bilateral consular conventions (and other types of agreements in this area).
 Based on the analysis of the practice of concluding international agreements in the field of consular activities in Ukraine, the article identifies the types of such agreements and the standard structure and content of the consular convention.
 It is concluded that international treaties are an important international legal instrument in the field of initiating and implementing consular relations between states, play a systemic role in the system of sources of legal regulation of consular activities. Based on international customs, they, in turn, determine the content of national legislation of Ukraine and host countries in the field of consular relations.
 The concluded international bilateral agreements of Ukraine need to be streamlined and systematized. A systematic and unified approach also requires further conclusion of such agreements with countries with which consular relations have not yet been established (not regulated).

Effectiveness of International Documents on Bilateral International Cooperation of The Republic of Uzbekistan With The Gulf Countries

This article focuses on the realization of bilateral international agreements signed by the Republic of Uzbekistan with the Arab states in the Persian Gulf region (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait and Qatar). At the same time, the agreements concluded between these countries since the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan have been researched. The article notes that the investments made by the Arab Development Funds are mainly directed to improving infrastructure, construction and development of the economy sectors, and have shown effective results. In the concluding part of the article, the author makes proposals to strengthen the effectiveness of international agreements between Uzbekistan and the Gulf Arab states.

Арктическая зона Российской Федерации: международное сотрудничество и перспективы развития

The Arctic plays in international cooperation, due to its geographical location and the wealth of natural resources. The international legal regulation of the Arctic regime is fixed at the level of international multilateral and bilateral agreements. Multilateral international agreements are aimed at regulating the Arctic marine spaces and protecting the environment in this region. Bilateral agreements are aimed at the settlement of border disputes between the Arctic States, as well as economic cooperation. Analysis of bilateral international agreements concluded between the Russian Federation and countries such as Canada, the Kingdom of Norway, the United States of America, as well as the United Kingdom allows us to come to the following conclusions: the issues of international cooperation between the Russian Federation and Canada in the field of trade and commercial relations, environmental protection have been most fully worked out., issues of joint economic activity in the Svalbard archipelago, fishing were resolved and territorial disputes were settled between Russia and Norway. International agreements with other mentioned countries are mainly aimed at establishing territorial borders

TERMINOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF UKRAINE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENTS)

Ukraine is a party to many international agreements. International bilateral agreements on social security are among them. These contracts, like any other, must be of good quality. The quality of international agreements is achieved through the use of legislative techniques. Legislative technique involves the correct use of terminology. This article analyzes, in particular, the provisions of the Agreement between Ukraine and the Portuguese Republic on Social Security of 7 July 2009 and the Agreement between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Spain on Social Security of 7 October 1996 and demonstrates incorrect use of terminology in their text. The text of these international bilateral agreements needs to be changed. Some of the conclusions: the language of the international agreement with the participation of Ukraine must comply with the principles of scientificity and publicity. Legal terminology should not be confused with commonly used terms. Terms of private international law are mandatory for use in international agreements involving Ukraine, the rules of which regulate private law relations with a foreign element. No need to use unnecessary words in the text of an international agreement. It is not always advisable to translate the foreign text of an international agreement literally. The text of an international agreement should not be confusing, superficial. It should be complete, comprehensive, and concise. Each norm must be completed and meet the objectives of the international agreement.

СORRESPONDENCE OF THE NAMES OF THE STRUCTURAL PARTS OF INTERNATIONAL BILATERAL AGREEMENTS WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF UKRAINE TO THEIR TEXT (ON THE EXAMPLE OF AGREEMENTS ON SOCIAL SECURITY)

International treaty is mode of creating norms of international law and private international law. Treaties are legally binding agreements between two or more states. According Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties (1969, May 23), which came into force on January 27, 1980 treaty means an international agreement concluded between states in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation. International treaties are acts that contain unified rules that are binding on the subjects of law of at least two states. Ukraine participates in a significant number of international agreements, both multilateral and bilateral. The rules of legislative technique are applied to the presentation of the text of international agreements. The qualitative text of an international treaty with the participation of the state proposing the text of the treaty is the "card" of this state. This article analyzes the application of some rules of legislative technique in the creation of international treaties. The texts of international bilateral agreements with Ukraine on social security are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the names of some sections, chapters, articles of such international agreements as: Agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland on social security of May 18, 2012; Agreement between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Spain on social security of citizens of October 7, 1996; Agreement between Ukraine and the Portuguese Republic on social security of July 7, 2009. The text of these international bilateral agreements needs to be changed.

Nuclear energy: Russia’s international treaties with other EEU members

The purpose of the study is to identify trends and compare the scope of multilateral and bilateral international legal regulation of relations between Russia and other Eurasian Economic Union members in the field of peaceful use of nuclear power (energy). The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific and special legal methods. The application of these methods made it possible to subject the current national legislation in the field of nuclear energy to in-depth comparative legal analysis and to identify the prospects for its modernization. The result of the study was the absence of special provisions in the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union aimed at integration in the nuclear energy sector and the formation of a common nuclear energy market of the Eurasian Economic Union. The study’s novelty lies in the authors’ approach to the allocation and comparison of the scope and subject matter of existing international treaties of Russia with other Eurasian Economic Union members, regulating cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which are not included in the Eurasian Economic Union law. According to the authors, despite the prospects and trends of forming the Eurasian Economic Union nuclear law noted by experts, Russia’s bilateral international agreements with other Eurasian Economic Union members will continue to play a special role in regulating relations in the nuclear energy sector.

CLOUD act agreements from an EU perspective

For many years, transatlantic cooperation between the EU and the US in the area of personal data exchange has been a subject of special interest on the part of lawmakers, courts – including supranational ones – NGOs and the public. When implementing recent reform of data protection law, the European Union decided to further strengthen guarantees of the protection of privacy in cyberspace. At the same time, however, it faced the practical problem of how to ensure compliance with these principles in relation to third countries. The approach proposed in the GDPR, which is based on a newly-defined territorial scope of application, clearly indicates an attempt to apply EU rules extraterritorially in relation to data processors in third countries.Irrespective of EU activity, the United States has also introduced its own regulations addressing the same problem. An example is the federal law adopted in 2018, specifying how to execute national court orders for the transfer of electronic data. The CLOUD Act was established in response to legal doubts raised in the Microsoft v United States case regarding the transfer of electronic data stored in the cloud by US obliged entities to law enforcement authorities, as well as in cases where this data is physically located in another country and its transfer could result in violating the legal norms of a foreign jurisdiction. The CLOUD Act also facilitates bilateral international agreements that enable the cross-border transfer of e-evidence for the purposes of ongoing criminal proceedings. Both the content of the new regulations and the model proposed by the US legislature for future agreements concluded on the basis of the CLOUD Act can be seen as an alternative to regulations arising from EU law.The purpose of this paper is to analyse the CLOUD Act and CLOUD Act Agreements from the perspective of EU law and, in particular, attempt to answer the question as to whether this new legal mechanism brings the EU and the USA closer to finding common ground with regard to a coherent model of exchange and protection of personal data.

СПЕЦИФІКА ВСТАНОВЛЕННЯ ЮРИСДИКЦІЇ У СПАДКОВИХ СПРАВАХ З ІНОЗЕМНИМ ЕЛЕМЕНТОМ

The article considers the peculiarities of establishing jurisdiction in inheritance cases with a foreign element. Attention is paid to the formulation of the theoretical foundations of the institution of inheritance with a foreign element, the classification is carried out, the conceptual apparatus, the sources of international inheritance law are formulated. The analysis of the domestic legislation of Ukraine, regulates the issue of determining the jurisdiction of cases with a foreign element. In particular, attention is paid to the priority of using international legislation on domestic in jurisdictional matters. The norms of multilateral international agreements approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as bilateral international agreements on legal assistance concluded between Ukraine and other states, which establish the rules of jurisdiction of inheritance cases with a foreign element, are considered. Processes of social internationalization, which are an integral part of modern life, the expansion of various contacts of Ukrainian citizens with foreigners, as well as active migration processes, the possibility of acquiring property abroad, a significant increase in marriages with foreigners, intercountry adoption cause a sharp increase in inheritance with a foreign element, which are the subject of litigation. The foreign element in the inheritance relationship may be manifested in such a way that the testator and heirs are citizens of different states or reside in different countries. Property that is part of the inheritance may be located in different countries. In this context, there is reason to conclude that the relationship subject to legal regulation has a legal relationship with the legal systems of two or more countries. In different jurisdictions, the substantive regulation of inheritance has its own characteristics. It is concluded that the determination of the admissibility of the statement of claim in relation to the disputed inheritance relationship with a foreign element is impossible without the use of a special procedure defined in the study.

Questioning US Immigration Law Compliance with Treaties for Trade and Investment

Current US immigration law appears to be in widespread violation of bilateral international agreements on trade and investment. The US is party to a number of treaties for investment or trade that include terms on issuing temporary immigration visas, trader visas (E-1 visa) or investor visas (E-2 visa). These treaties include the older Friendship, Commerce and Navigation treaties (FCNs); Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and the more modern Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs). Rather than apply the immigration terms under each treaty, US immigration law imposes its own requirements, which in many cases are at odds with the terms under the treaties. This paper compares the various treaties to which the US is party and identifies their differences. It then contrasts the practice that the treaties require with US immigration law, further identifying where US immigration law may not be in compliance with the treaties. This practice is particularly problematic because some of the treaties for investment or trade include complaint mechanisms. Certainly a state would have grounds for complaining that the US is not living up to its treaty obligations, but there may be many reasons why a state party would not want to disturb its bilateral relationship by making such a complaint. However, many of these treaties also include a right for individuals or coporations to bring their own complaints directly against the US under mandatory investment dispute settlement. Thus, current US immigration law on treaty traders and investors is not only in violation of the underlying treaties, but the violations present a real risk of enforcement.

CUSTOMS FORMALITIES: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL EXPERIENCE

In the context of the European integration processes that are currently being actively performed in Ukraine, issues of implementationand application in the field of customs-legal regulation of theconceptual-categorical apparatus used in international acts aregetting particular relevance. The study of the legal nature of the “customs formalities” concept becomes one of the modern problems. The unification andharmonization of national legal systems in the field of customs formalities is a key problem for international cooperation in the fieldof customs. According to the Customs Code of Ukraine, customs formalities are defined as a set of actions to be executed by the relevant personsand bodies of income and fees in order to comply with the requirements of the Ukrainian national customs legislation. The “customs formalities” concept is often used in bilateral international agreements of interstate andintergovernmental nature inthe field of customs activities between Ukraine and other states. International agreements (customs conventions) play significant rolein the regulation of customs formalities. According to the Kyoto Convention, customs formalities are defined as a set of actions to be performed by the relevant persons andthe customs service in order to comply with the requirements of customs legislation. In accordance with the Istanbul Convention, customs formalities relate to obtaining from the customs authorities preliminarypermissions, the usage of privileges for the temporary importation of certain categories of goods by the relevant persons, and the impositionof prohibitions and restrictions arising from national laws and regulations. In the Glossary of International Customs Terms, published by the World Customs Organization, customs formalities are understoodas all transactions to be performed by persons concerned and by the customs authorities in order to comply with customs legislation. It can be concluded that Ukraine national customs legislation is on the path of adaptation to the international norms and standards. In the field of legal regulation of international trade there are both positive moments and imperfections,which significantly complicatetransborder movements in the process of international trade.

Keeping People in Place: Political Factors of (Im)mobility and Climate Change

While those ‘trapped’ or who choose to stay in areas affected by climate change represent a substantial policy issue, there only a small amount of empirical work specifically targeting such populations. The scant attention that is afforded to immobility often emphasizes financial constraints as factors driving (involuntary) immobility. As an essential part of the mobility spectrum, the complexity of immobility in crisis, including its political dimensions, warrants thorough investigation. In response to these gaps, this contribution locates environmental immobility within mobilities studies, its conceptual complexities, and, finally, illustrates the importance of political factors in shaping (im)mobilities. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews conducted in two developing countries experiencing the impacts of climate change. We delve into the socio-cultural and economic nature of (im)mobilities as they interact with political forces, specifically by exploring international bilateral agreements (Senegal) and a relocation program (Vietnam). In political spaces that are dominated by a desire to limit human mobility and (re)produce stasis, we challenge traditional dichotomies between mobile/immobile and sedentary/migration polices by underlining how policy interventions can simultaneously promote mobility and immobility, demonstrating complex co-existing mobilities. Keeping people in place can, in fact, mean allowing the very same people to move.

Water Pollution and Water Quality Assessment of Major Transboundary Rivers from Banat (Romania)

This study focuses on water resources management and shows the need to enforce the existing international bilateral agreements and to implement the Water Framework Directive of the European Union in order to improve the water quantity and quality received by a downstream country of a common watershed, like Timiş-Bega hydrographical basin, shared by two countries (Romania and Serbia). The spatial trend of water quality index(WQI)and its subindexes are important for determining the locations of major pollutant sources that contribute to water quality depletion in this basin. We compared the values of WQI obtained for 10 sections of the two most important rivers from Banat, which have a great importance for socioeconomic life in southwestern part of Romania and in northeastern part of Serbia. In order to assess the water quality, we calculated theWQIfor a long period of time (2004–2014), taking into account the maximum, minimum, and the mean annual values of physical, chemical, and biological parameters (DO,pH,BOD5,temperature,total P,N-NO2−, andturbidity). This article highlights the importance of using the water quality index which has not been sufficiently explored in Romania and for transboundary rivers and which is very useful in improving rivers water quality.

Международно-правовые договоры о защите иностранного инвестора

The article is devoted to the analysis of international agreements on questions of protection of foreign investments. The multilateral agreements are investigated in the indicated area. There is a detailed analysis of agreements concluded originally by the USSR and then by the Russian Federation. The author draws attention to the lack of a unified approach to the definition of the concept of “foreign investment”, which has evolved over time. It is argued that both national and foreign investments are an economic category and there is no single legal concept for them, similarly with respect to the definition of the term “an investor”. 
 The guarantees to the foreign investors by virtue of bilateral international agreements on protection of foreign investments are investigated, in particular: most favored nation treatment, national treatment, payment obligation for compensation in case of nationalization, expropriation and other measures that have analogical characters, permission of disputes between an investor and a state accepting investment.
 The author comes to the conclusion that in international law there is no ordinary norm about investment disputes settlement by international commercial arbitration.
 The author analyzes changes to the Law of the Russian Federation of July 7, 1993 No. 5338-I on International Commercial Arbitration introduced as a result of the adoption of the Federal Law of December 29, 2015 No. 409-FZ. The article highlights the influence of state courts on the activities of international commercial arbitration, the expansion of the competence of international commercial arbitration and the filling of gaps in the 1993 Law on International Commercial Arbitration. The author believes that the expansion of the use of international commercial arbitration bodies ensures the creation of conditions to protect the interests of foreign investors.

“Georgetown ain’t got a tree. We got the trees”—Amerindian Power & Participation in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy

International bi-lateral agreements to support the conservation of rainforests to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are growing in prevalence. In 2009, the governments of Guyana and Norway established Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). We examine the extent to which the participation and inclusion of Guyana’s indigenous population within the LCDS is being achieved. We conducted a single site case study, focussing on the experiences and perceptions from the Amerindian community of Chenapou. Based on 30 interviews, we find that a deficit of adequate dialogue and consultation has occurred in the six years since the LCDS was established. Moreover, key indigenous rights, inscribed at both a national and international level, have not been upheld with respect to the community of Chenapou. Our findings identify consistent shortcomings to achieve genuine participation and the distinct and reinforced marginalisation of Amerindian communities within the LCDS. A further critique is the failure of the government to act on previous research, indicating a weakness of not including indigenous groups in the Guyana-Norway bi-lateral agreement. We conclude that, if the government is to uphold the rights of Amerindian communities in Guyana, significant adjustments are needed. A more contextualised governance, decentralising power and offering genuine participation and inclusion, is required to support the engagement of marginal forest-dependent communities in the management of their natural resources.

Israel's Public Procurement Regime International and Comparative Aspects

English Abstract: This article aims to describe and analyze Israel’s public procurement regime, including its system for judicial review, with a special emphasis on its international and comparative aspects. It discusses the history and origins of Israel’s public procurement law, while showing the central role played by the Israeli Supreme Court in creating and developing this law. It also shows that when regulation moved from general (judge-made) principles to detailed (legislated) rules, the system became too rigid and too legalistically bureaucratic and agencies felt that they were unable to accomplish their objectives. This led to the an attempt to reform the system in 2009, by expanding the arsenal of tendering procedures available to procuring agencies, so that they would be more flexible, and to modernize the procurement system by introducing new technologies including electronic procurement. The article shows how these changes were influenced by foreign legal systems (mainly the EU and the US) and by international instruments, such as the UNCITRAL Model Law and the GPA. The reform also decentralized the exemption authority, granting it to each and every procuring entity. By an original analysis of official statistics, the article shows that the new tendering procedures are seldom used, that the pace of introducing electronic procurement is painfully slow, and that there has been a dangerous surge in the number of exemptions from public tendering, which probably is a result of the decentralization.The chapter also discusses Israel’s international commitments in this field, mainly under the plurilateral GPA, but also under other bilateral international agreements. These commitments are discussed on the background of Israel’s existing domestic preference polices. Finally, the chapter discusses Israel’s bid challenge system, which is performed exclusively by the judiciary, and how it serves to satisfy the obligation under the GPA to provide for an effective and independent bid challenge system. It also presents figures on the actual use of this system and on the average success rate of petitioners. The article concludes with the discussion of a recent case, which implemented GPA rules and dismissed the demand of the local producer to receive preferential treatment.תקציר בעברית: מאמר זה מטרתו לתאר ולנתח את משטר דיני המכרזים הציבוריים של ישראל, לרבות מערך הביקורת השיפוטית שלהם, עם דגש מיוחד על היבטיו הבינלאומיים וההשוואתיים. הוא דן במקורותיו ובתולדותיו של דיני הרכש הציבורי בישראל, ומראה את התפקיד המרכזי ששיחק בית המשפט העליון ביצירתו ובפיתוחו של תחום משפטי זה. המאמר מראה גם שכאשר הרגולציה עברה מעקרונות כלליים, פרי יציר הפסיקה, לכללים פרטניים סטטוטוריים, המערכת הפכה לנוקשה מדי ולבירוקרטית-לגליסטית מדי, באופן שגרם לרשויות לחוש שהן לא מסוגלות להשיג את מטרותיהן באמצעותה. תחושה זו הובילה לניסיון לבצע רפורמה בתחום זה בשנת 2009, באמצעות הרחבת ארסנל שיטות הרכש העומדות לשימוש היחידות הרוכשות. שיטות אלה נועדו לאפשר יתר גמישות ומודרניזציה של משטר הרכש באמצעות הכנסת טכנולוגיות חדשות, לרבות רכש אלקטרוני (מכרז ממוכן). המאמר מראה איך שינויים אלה היו מושפעים משיטות משפט זרות (בעיקר של האיחוד האירופי ושל ארהב) ומקודים בינלאומיים, כגון החוק לדוגמה של האום על רכש ציבורי והסכם הרכישות הממשלתיות של ארגון הסחר העולמי. הרפורמה גם ביזרה את סמכות הפטורים והעבירה חלק גדול ממנה לכל אחד מהגופים הרוכשים. על-ידי ניתוח מקורי של הסטטיסטיקה הרשמית שהתקבלה מהחשב הכללי, המאמר מראה שהשימוש בשיטות הרכש החדשות הוא נדיר ושחלה עליה מדאיגה במספר הפטורים מחובת מכרז (עד כדי 85% מכלל הרכישות!) ככל הנראה כתוצאה מהעברת סמכות הפטור מוועדת הפטורים המרכזית של החשכל אל היחידות הרוכשות.המאמר דן גם בהתחייבויות הבינלאומיות של ישראל בתחום זה, בעיקר תחת הסכם ה-GPA הפלורילטראלי, אך גם תחת הסכמים בילטראליים שונים. התחייבויות אלה נדונות על רקע מדיניות העדפת תוצרת הארץ הנוהגת ברכש הציבורי בישראל. לבסוף, המאמר דן בשיטת התקיפה של החלטות בתחום הרכש הציבורי הנוהגת בישראל אשר מתבצעת כולה במסגרת הרשות השופטת, והאופן שבו היא ממלאת אחר ההתחייבות תחת הסכם ה-GPA להעמיד שיטת ביקורת אפקטיבית ובלתי תלויה. המאמר גם מציג נתונים ביחס למידת השימוש בפועל בשיטה זו ומידת ההצלחה הממוצעת של עותרים. המאמר מסיים בדיון בפסק דין מהתקופה האחרונה אשר יישם את הסכם ה-GPA ודחה דרישה של יצרן מקומי לקבלת יחס מועדף.

Konkordat między Stolicą Apostolską i Republiką Słowacką

The relationships between Church and State are generally more precisely defined by bilateral international agreements, usually called “concordats”. These are norma­ti­ve acts whose purpose is to stabilize the relationships between the Church and the State. The independence and autonomy of the Church and the State, confirmed by the individual points of the concordat, are a necessary precondition for the true good of man, to which such an agreement is targeted. The challenges put before us these days require the coope­­ration of the Church and the State, while the concordat should serve and support such cooperation. This article presents the concordat concluded between the Holy See and the Slovak Republic, its genesis and content compared to other con­cordats and partial agreements concluded between the Slovak Republic and the Holy See.

НАЦІОНАЛЬНА БЕЗПЕКА УКРАЇНИ В КОНТЕКСТІ ПРОБЛЕМ ТРАНСПОРТНО-ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНОЇ СПІВПРАЦІ З АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНОМ НА МЕЖІ ХХ–ХХІ ст.

The article highlights the shortcomings of the national security of Ukraine on the example of the problems in development of Ukrainian-Azerbaijan cooperation in the transport and energy sector. Ukraine and Azerbaijan are of mutual interest. Since Ukraine acts as a transport-transit country between the Caspian region and Europe, at the same time, Azerbaijan is a source of raw energy for Europe and for Ukraine. Since the mid-1990s, countries have concluded a range of bilateral international agreements, including in the economic sphere. They agreed to take part in joint projects. In particular, Azerbaijan has invited Ukraine to independently produce oil on its territory. In turn, Kiev suggested Baku to participate in the managing of highway Odesa-Brody. However, the various mechanisms for the implementation of projects, as well as geopolitical factors did not allow them to support each other. In 1994 in a period of deep economic crisis in the country President Heydar Aliyev signed the largest oil and gas contract. The agreement was called the Contract of the Century. More than a dozen international organizations took part in this Contract. It would ensure internal stability and national security of the Republic of Azerbaijan, promote the recovery and growth of its economic and military potential. Formula of the main components of this plan is articulated by an Azerbaijani researcher A. Yunusov: “West — oil — stability in Azerbaijan”. Ukraine designed and built the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline without the participation of foreign investors: manufacturers, suppliers and buyers. Therefore, in Kyiv sprang up problems with the launch of the oil pipeline. The oil pipeline did not bring profits to the treasury of the country and did not ensure the needs of the national security in the energy sector. The main attention of the article is focused on the launch of the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline in direct mode. Moreover, besides the reasons of the unwillingness of Baku to sell oil to Kyiv and participate in the management of the Ukrainian oil pipeline are described. In addition, it presents geopolitical reasons of refusing Azerbaijan to transport oil via the Odesa-Brody pipeline and Baku’s participation in the construction of the oil pipeline — Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Russian sources claimes that the pipeline did not work, because the Ukrainian government failed to conclude contracts with any suppliers of oil or its customers. At the same time, an oil refi nery in the Poland and Slovakia was not profi table to export and to buy Caspian oil, which was more expensive than Russian oil and demanded a deeper technical processing. However, state company KazMunaiGaz of Kazakhstan and Central Asian oil trader “Sompetrol” were ready to the transportation of oil via the Odesa-Brody pipeline. The following agreement with the Ukrainian government was signed in 2003. However, the main obstacle was the position of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. In 2002 he got into international isolation by Western countries which accused Ukraine of supplying arms (the so-called systems of “Kolchuga”) to Iraq, as well as in the limited freedom of speech and media in the country due to political scandal with Gongadze. The lack of foreign capital in the Ukrainian transport route did not allow Ukraine to use oil pipeline as intended and to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in the transport and energy sector with its strategic partner. It also deprived it of the most realistic in today’s world security guarantees. Therefore, during 2003, Kuchma quickly reoriented to the Russian Federation, in particular he refused from Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. Thus it is disclosed importance of the foreign investments in the development of transport and energy sector for the country’s national security in the case of Ukraine and Azerbaijan. It is revealed the reasons of inability of the leadership of the Ukrainian state to withdraw the country from the sphere of Russia influence.