Regulatory Regime Research Articles

How Do AI Companies “Fine-Tune” Policy? Examining Regulatory Capture in AI Governance

Industry actors in the United States have gained extensive influence in conversations about the regulation of general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Although industry participation is an important part of the policy process, it can also cause regulatory capture, whereby industry co-opts regulatory regimes to prioritize private over public welfare. Capture of AI policy by AI developers and deployers could hinder such regulatory goals as ensuring the safety, fairness, beneficence, transparency, or innovation of general-purpose AI systems. In this paper, we first introduce different models of regulatory capture from the social science literature. We then present results from interviews with 17 AI policy experts on what policy outcomes could compose regulatory capture in US AI policy, which AI industry actors are influencing the policy process, and whether and how AI industry actors attempt to achieve outcomes of regulatory capture. Experts were primarily concerned with capture leading to a lack of AI regulation, weak regulation, or regulation that over-emphasizes certain policy goals over others. Experts most commonly identified agenda-setting (15 of 17 interviews), advocacy (13), academic capture (10), information management (9), cultural capture through status (7), and media capture (7) as channels for industry influence. To mitigate these particular forms of industry influence, we recommend systemic changes in developing technical expertise in government and civil society, independent funding streams for the AI ecosystem, increased transparency and ethics requirements, greater civil society access to policy, and various procedural safeguards.

US FDA Advisory Panel Members’ Assessment of Premarket Approval Process and Suggestions for Improvement

The manufacturing and marketing of medical devices is regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the FDA premarket approval (PMA) process evaluates the safety and effectiveness of medical devices. The PMA process includes a detailed scientific, regulatory and quality system review and is critical to ensure that novel devices are safe, effective, and meet the needs of patients. To survey current voting members serving on panels of the FDA's Medical Devices Advisory Committee to better characterize panel decision-making and identify steps for improvement. This qualitative survey study included 36 questions that were mailed to FDA device panelists regarding their opinions on the influence of sources of information, pivotal trial design, quality of evidence, panel composition and internal deliberative process, time allocation, and impartiality of the FDA. The survey was mailed to the members of all 18 FDA device panels in January and February 2017. Data were collected from January to May 2017 and analyzed from 2018 to 2019. Respondents read and returned the aforementioned paper survey, while nonrespondents did not. The main outcomes included panel members' perceptions, and their implications for process improvement. χ2 or Fisher exact tests were used to test differences between subgroups. Of 64 of 92 panel members who responded (69.6%), 38 of 64 (59.4%) were male, 3 of 63 (4.8%) were Black respondents, 46 of 63 (73.0%) were White respondents, and 36 of 60 (60.0%) were in academic practice. The mean (range) panel service was 6.8 (1-22) years with 3.9 (1-19) meetings attended. Overall, respondents considered information presented by the FDA unbiased, and 28 of 61 (45.9%) believed that pivotal trials were frequently well-designed, 55 of 62 respondents (88.7%) suggested FDA consult panel members preemptively regarding trial design and 54 of 64 (84.4%) regarding the device label. Most indicated that prior FDA approval of another device serving the same medical purpose (43 of 62 [69.4%]) or approval in other countries with comparable regulatory regimes, such as Canada and Europe (39 of 62 [62.9%]), would make them more likely to recommend approval. Respondents rated written information (50 of 60 [83.3%]), live presentations (43 of 58 [74.1%]), and prior professional knowledge (41 of 60 [68.3%]) as the most important sources of information in deciding whether to recommend approval. Additionally, 52 of 58 respondents (89.7%) recommended that a panel member-only executive session would allow more clarity and honesty in deliberations, and 33 of 59 (55.9%) believed a three-fourths majority appropriate for recommending approval, which would be a deviation from the current system in which an overall vote is reported without designation of a vote threshold. In this survey study of FDA device panel members, respondents wanted improved study designs, more relevant clinical data, including from other countries, involvement of panelists in study design and device label development, and inclusion of an executive session. Demographically, panels could be made more diverse.

The perils of cybersecurity regulation

AbstractCybersecurity is a major U.S. policy issue with a sizable coalition advocating for greater government intervention due to perceived information challenges. Most proposals, however, do not assess whether the prescription actually improves the transmission of relevant knowledge and appropriately channels motivations towards producing socially optimal cybersecurity. In fact, knowledge and incentive problems associated with regulatory regimes may imperil the market’s ability to innovate, which is critical due to the dynamics of cyberspace. I employ Israel Kirzner’s (University of Chicago Press, 1985) market process framework to investigate these regulatory perils, highlighting analogous policies that have resulted in worse information security outcomes. Incorrect policy prescriptions, regime uncertainty, procedural rigidity, increased barriers to entry, and perverse incentives are among the leading threats to cybersecurity market entrepreneurialism from state intervention.

A platform-based Natural Language processing-driven strategy for digitalising regulatory compliance processes for the built environment

The digitalisation of the regulatory compliance process has been an active area of research for several decades. However, more recently the level of activities in this area has increased considerably. In the UK, the tragic incident of Grenfell fire in 2017 has been a major catalyst for this as a result of the Hackitt report’s recommendations pointing a lot of the blame on the broken regulatory regime in the country. The Hackitt report emphasises the need to overhaul the building regulations, but the approach to do so remains an open research question. Existing work in this space tends to overlook the processing of actual regulatory documents, or limits their scope to solving a relatively small subtask. This paper presents a new comprehensive platform approach to the digitalisation of the regulatory compliance processing. We present i-ReC (intelligent Regulatory Compliance), a platform approach to digitalisation of regulatory compliance that takes into consideration the enormous diversity of all the stakeholders’ activities. A historical perspective on research in this area is first presented to put things in perspective which identifies the challenges in such an endeavour and identifies the gaps in state-of-the-art. After enumerating all the challenges in implementing a platform-based approach to digitalising the regulatory compliance process, the implementation of some parts of the platform is described. Our research demonstrates that the identification and extraction of all relevant requirements from the corpus of several hundred regulatory documents is a key part of the whole process which underlies the entire process from authoring to eventually compliance checking of designs. Some of the issues that need addressing in this endeavour include ambiguous language, inconsistent use of terms, contradicting requirements and handling multi-word expressions. The implementation of these tools is driven by NLP, ML and Semantic Web technologies. A semantic search engine was developed and validated against other popular and comparable engines with a corpus of 420 (out of about 800) documents used in the UK for compliance checking of building designs. In every search scenario, our search engine performed better on all objective criteria. Limitations of the approach are discussed which includes the challenges around licensing for all the documents in the corpus. Further work includes improving the performance of SPaR.txt (the tool created to identify multi-word expressions) as well as the information retrieval engine by increasing the dataset and providing the model with examples from more diverse formats of regulations. There is also a need to develop and align strategies to collect a comprehensive set of domain vocabularies to be combined in a Knowledge Graph.

Urban displacement and placemaking in public space for wellbeing: a systematic review of global literature

Cities and towns are critical geographies of refuge for a globally unprecedented number of forcibly displaced people. Yet urban processes also expose these groups and the local urban poor to recurrent displacements. While such experiences are shared, studies often treat these populations as distinct. Drawing on Yiftachel’s notion of displaceability, this paper systematically reviews and synthesizes a global literature on diversely displaced people’s placemaking in urban public space. Observing a significant analytical gap regarding cities of the so-called global South, the paper identifies a heuristic, and key analytical dimensions shaping divergent access and uses of public space by variously displaced populations. These concern: temporal patterns; powerful meta-narratives of people and place; and complex multi-scalar and multi-actor configurations of regulatory regimes governing public space. Simultaneously, acquisition and deployment of urban knowledge and a practice of (in)visibility enable differentially displaced populations’ everyday claims to public space for wellbeing.

Events, turns, and critical junctures: unpacking the temporality of supporter rights and democracy in English football

ABSTRACT The future of professional men’s football in England stands at a critical juncture. In the wake of a global pandemic, the national game has been beset by volatility and upheaval. In April 2021, six of the most storied clubs in England announced they would be joining a new breakaway European Super League (ESL). These proposals triggered vehement opposition from fan movements, catalysing the intervention of the UK government who established a fan-led review of football governance (FLR) to consult fans on future regulatory reform and the security and safety of supporters at major events. Emerging out of these exogenous shocks and endogenous change, the governance of English football is set to be radically transformed via the establishment of a new regulatory regime. In this article, we employ eventful sociology and historical institutionalism to operationalise the concept of critical juncture and apply this through an analysis of two temporal periods (1985-1990) and (2020-2024). In doing so, we show how the current ‘regulatory turn’ is interdependently linked to prior historical transformative events, namely the Heysel and Hillsborough stadium disasters and the subsequent neoliberal transformation of English football across the last four decades. Incorporating a more nuanced understanding of change and continuity in the governance of English football, we argue that new regulatory frameworks, despite their transformative potential, may continue to exhibit institutional legacies of the existing regime and prevailing political economy.

Brevetoxin Aptamer Selection and Biolayer Interferometry Biosensor Application.

Brevetoxins (PbTxs) are very potent marine neurotoxins that can cause an illness clinically described as neurologic shellfish poisoning (NSP). These toxins are cyclic polyether in chemistry and have increased their geographical distribution in the past 2 decades. However, the ethical problems as well as technical difficulties associated with currently employed analysis methods for marine toxins have spurred the quest for suitable alternatives to be applied in a regulatory monitoring regime. In this work, we reported the first instance of concurrent aptamer selection of Brevetoxin-1 (PbTx-1) and Brevetoxin-2 (PbTx-2) and constructed a biolayer interferometry (BLI) biosensor utilizing PbTx-1 aptamer as a specific recognition element. Through an in vitro selection process, we have, for the first time, successfully selected DNA aptamers with high affinity and specificity to PbTx-1 and PbTx-2 from a vast pool of random sequences. Among the selected aptamers, aptamer A5 exhibited the strongest binding affinity to PbTx-1, with an equilibrium dissociation constant (KD) of 2.56 μM. Subsequently, we optimized aptamer A5 by truncation to obtain the core sequence (A5-S3). Further refinement was achieved through mutations based on the predictions of a QGRS mapper, resulting in aptamer A5-S3G, which showed a significant increase in the KD value by approximately 100-fold. Utilizing aptamer A5-S3G, we fabricated a label-free, real-time optical BLI aptasensor for the detection of PbTx-1. This aptasensor displayed a broad detection range from 100 nM to 4000 nM PbTx-1, with a linear range between 100 nM and 2000 nM, and a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 4.5 nM. Importantly, the aptasensor showed no cross-reactivity to PbTx-2 or other marine toxins, indicating a high level of specificity for PbTx-1. Moreover, the aptasensor exhibited excellent reproducibility and stability when applied for the detection of PbTx-1 in spiked shellfish samples. We strongly believe that this innovative aptasensor offers a promising alternative to traditional immunological methods for the specific and reliable detection of PbTx-1.

Characterization of contractual relations in digital turnover

The article is devoted to identifying the peculiarities of contractual relations in digital circulation. Digital turnover is becoming increasingly widespread, which leads to the emergence of new forms of contractual relations characterized by significant differences. The purpose of the article is to reveal the characteristics and peculiarities of contractual relations arising within the framework of digital civil turnover. The study of contractual relations in digital circulation is necessitated by the lack of sustainable legal regulation of this area which requires further improvement. The peculiarity of building relations in digital circulation is associated with its technical properties, primarily the need to gain access to digital platforms for the exercise of subjective rights by users. The author emphasizes that the exercise of subjective rights in digital circulation can be realized only through the use of complex intellectual property objects, in particular, those combining computer programs, databases, music, animation objects, photographs, etc. The author proposes to distinguish the following types of relations in the field of digital circulation: 1) regarding the creation and maintenance of digital circulation (legal regime of intellectual property rights); 2) organizational relations in the field of business administration of the digital environment (corporate, labor relations with the appropriate legal regime); 3) between the user and the administrator of the relevant digital environment (contractual regulation, with elements of the legal regime of personal data protection); 4) between users of the digital space regarding digital assets (a complex regime of legal regulation which may combine the legal regimes of. The author emphasizes that contractual relations in digital circulation are based on both civil law and rules and standards used in electronic systems. It is proved that different types of relations require a comprehensive application of different legal norms and are mediated by different agreements, such as: license agreements; agreements for the provision of digital services (cloud storage, marketplaces); sale and purchase of goods; exchange and pledge of digital assets; token agreements (regulating the use of cryptocurrencies and other tokens in digital ecosystems), etc.

Unregistered industrial design: legal regime and peculiarities of legal regulation

The article is dedicated to current issues of legal protection of unregistered industrial designs. It has been established that an unregistered industrial design is a type of industrial design that has its own legal regime, containing features inherent only to an unregistered industrial design. It has been proven that an unregistered industrial design as an industrial design must meet the conditions for granting legal protection, which are established by law. It was established that bringing an unregistered industrial design to the public should take place precisely on the territory of Ukraine. It is substantiated that the disclosure that took place on the Internet cannot always be interpreted as disclosure on the territory of Ukraine. It is established that the owner of an unregistered industrial design has an exclusive right to its use. It is justified that the owner of a registered industrial design has broader rights to prohibit unauthorized use of the industrial design than the owner of an unregistered industrial design, since the owner of a registered industrial design can prohibit both the copying of his industrial design and the use of a similar product if «its appearance causes informed user has the same overall impression as the protected industrial design.» It is well-founded that the owner of an unregistered industrial design has narrowed opportunities to protect the rights to the industrial design, as he can only prohibit direct copying of the product and even then with restrictions. It has been proven that when protecting rights to an unregistered industrial design, it is necessary to prove the existence of rights to such an unregistered industrial design. It has been proven that an unregistered industrial design is an important object of industrial property, it is a type of industrial design, intellectual property rights to which arise from the moment it is brought to public notice on the territory of Ukraine and which are valid for three years (shortened term of legal protection), it does not require registration and entry into the State Register of Industrial Designs of Ukraine, the rights to it are not certified by the Certificate, its owner has narrowed rights to its use and protection of rights to it, compared to the powers of the owner of a registered industrial design. It is substantiated that the legal regulation regarding the unregistered industrial design needs to be clarified in terms of the exercise of exclusive property rights of intellectual property.

Examining the Indonesian dual banking system: an exploration of market discipline indicators

PurposeThis research aims to investigate the disciplinary functions of depositors and subordinated debt holders within Indonesia's dual banking system, examining the impact of regulatory changes on market discipline.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a comprehensive analysis of the dual banking system in Indonesia over 15 years. Utilizing a non-public dataset from the Financial Services Authority and the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation, the study employs propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analysis.FindingsThe findings reveal distinct patterns in the exercise of market discipline by depositors over different regulatory regimes. During the blanket guarantee regime (2002–2005), depositors lacked the incentive to monitor banks but resumed their disciplinary role under the limited guarantee regime (2005–2017). Islamic banks faced simultaneous market and regulatory discipline, with market discipline prevailing.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by providing novel insights into the interplay between regulatory changes, market discipline and depositor behavior within Indonesia's dual banking system. The utilization of a comprehensive non-public dataset from regulatory authorities adds to the originality of the research.

Revolutionizing plant breeding: a historical perspective from cross-pollination to gene editing

The history of plant breeding can be broadly divided into four eras: the Pre-Mendelian era (before 1900), the Mendelian era (1900-1920), the post-Mendelian era (1921-1950), and the Modern era (after 1950). Significant milestones include the release of the first hybrid maize varieties in 1961, the first sorghum hybrid (CSH-1) in 1964, the first bajra hybrid (HB-1) in 1965, and the first pigeon pea hybrid (ICPH-8) in 1991. Achieving a world with zero hunger requires a sustainable increase in food production and distribution and elimination of poverty. This goal demands scientific, logistical, and humanitarian approaches to ensure food security from farmers and breeders to policymakers and governments. Conventional breeding techniques alone are insufficient to meet the challenges posed by climate change, biotic and abiotic stress, and the growing global population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. Novel plant breeding techniques, such as genome editing, speed breeding, and omics technology integration, offer precise, cost-effective, and less time-consuming solutions. These techniques enable the editing of agriculturally significant genes, promoting hybrid seed production, induced apomixis, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Genome editing technologies have evolved, with CRISPR/Cas9 and its variants, base editing (BE), and prime editing (PE) playing pivotal roles in generating transgene-free plants. These advancements have significant implications for crop improvement, meeting food and nutrition security, and catering to regional preferences. Syngenta's initiative to open rights to CRISPR-based technologies through the Shoots by Syngenta platform exemplifies the collaborative efforts needed to drive agricultural innovation and sustainability. The review discusses the current regulatory regimes governing genome-edited crops, prospects of new tools such as DNA-free editing systems and nanotechnology, and their applicability in crop improvement. A multidisciplinary approach involving political, social, economic, and scientific stakeholders is essential for the successful adoption of genome editing technologies, which will ultimately make agriculture a lucrative profession and attract youth to the field.

Understanding Financial Constraints: Causes, Effects, and Strategies for Overcoming Economic Limitations

In developing countries like Nigeria, the development and sustainability of people, companies, and economies were greatly impeded by economic and financial limitations. The main causes of these constraints included the limited availability of financial resources, high interest rates, rigorous regulatory regimes, and volatile economic situations. The most severe obstacles were encountered by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) and marginalised people, who frequently struggle to get the required funds for growth and development. The ramifications of financial limitations were extensive, resulting in less investment, hindered economic expansion, more joblessness, and worsened wealth disparity. These constraints may also sustain societal instability, thereby further eroding economic resilience. Successfully managing financial limitations requires a holistic strategy that addresses both the supply and demand dimensions of money. A crucial aspect of the supply side was enhancing loan accessibility by creating novel financial products and services specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and marginalised groups. Both microfinance organisations and fintech solutions have shown potential for offering alternative financial methods, especially in rural regions. By improving financial literacy, people and companies may make well-informed financial choices and efficiently allocate resources on the demand side. Government actions, such as implementing regulatory changes and stabilising macroeconomic factors, are crucial for establishing a more favourable financial climate. This research aimed to acquire knowledge on the factors, consequences, and approaches for surmounting financial limitations in Nigeria. Therefore, it emphasised the need for customised solutions that took into account the distinct economic, social, and cultural circumstances of the area. By conducting a comprehensive examination of peer-reviewed literature and empirical research, this study identified significant obstacles and suggested practical suggestions to improve financial accessibility, stimulate economic growth, and guarantee sustainable development. The results emphasised the importance of implementing targeted policies and regularly assessing current methods to tackle the changing financial environment in Nigeria. Keywords: Economic limitations, Financial limitations, Developing countries, Sustainability, Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

‘What are they thinking of?’

This article explains the thinking underlying recent activism in digital markets by competition regulators – with reference to cases undertaken by the CMA, the European Commission and the US authorities, and to the new UK and EU regulatory regimes for competition in digital markets. It addresses some common misconceptions about competition authorities’ thinking on digital markets, and identifies strategies most likely to be effective for tech companies in dealing with competition authorities. It argues that: (i) the consumer and competition benefits brought by the tech industry are real and substantial; (ii) contrary to common belief, these benefits are recognized by competition authorities; (iii) recent competition regulatory activism should be understood in the context of a belief that it is necessary to preserve those benefits, by allowing new generations of tech disruptors to emerge; (iv) when tech companies face competition investigations or interventions, they should resist the temptation to kneejerk dismissal of all possible concerns, which is unlikely to be effective in advancing their business interests, because it misunderstands the authorities’ thinking; and (v) smarter strategies involve engaging with the specific facts of a particular case (economic, legal and technical) to challenge whether proposed interventions or remedies are, in reality, both effective and proportionate.

Strategic Process of Mergers and Acquisitions Market Plans

Merger and acquisition activity in India is booming, the percentage of cross-border transactionshas risen significantly. Flow of FDI’s is greatly encouraged with enactment of new laws and tweaking ofexisting policies. In the IT sector phenomenal growth of cross-border transactions is recorded. Foreignonline firms are focusing on companies in the digital space to gain access to skilled talent and aburgeoning market. However there are factors that need to be ascertained in order to fine-tune theecosystem to be more attractive to the investor community. What emerges from these facts is that thecountry’s regulatory regime has to be thoroughly reviewed in order to devise measures to fine-tune itoptimally for the growth and prosperity of the country’s IT sector. The two biggest obstacles in the wayof completing a merger or an amalgamation remains the often long drawn procedure required for thesanction of a scheme of arrangement and achieving a culture synergy between the combining entities.

A Comparative Analysis of the Regulatory Framework and Collaborative Environment for Pediatric Medical Device Development in Japan and the United States: Identifying Challenges, Support Mechanisms, and Emerging Opportunities.

There are specific obstacles to designing medical devices for children, such as commercial distortions and regulatory hurdles. This study compares the regulatory frameworks and collaborative ecosystems of the United States (US) and Japan, enabling the development of pediatric medical devices. The study illustrates the differences as well as parallels between the two countries by outlining their primary obstacles, channels of assistance, and prospects. The regulatory regimes of the US and Japan pose substantial challenges due to their intricate approval procedures and the dearth of pediatric-specific guidelines. However, while Japan's ecosystem is more dispersed, the US offers more well-established support mechanisms, such as funding initiatives and research alliances. Despite these difficulties, there are still prospects for innovative thinking and collaborative work. The article demonstrates successful partnerships between business, academia, and government in both countries, which have helped propel the advancement of pediatric devices. For stakeholders endeavoring to maneuver through thecomplex terrain of pediatric medical device development, this study offers valuable insights. With a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory and collaborative frameworks in Japan and the US, developers can more effectively leverage resources, overcome obstacles, and bring vital technology to market. The study's findings have implications for researchers, industry leaders, and policy regulators, providing recommendations for strategies aimed at stimulating innovation and enhancing children's healthcare outcomes internationally.

Hurtful Digital Communications In Hong Kong: Stakeholder Accounts

Hurtful digital communications (HDC) is an umbrella term referring to a wide variety of text and image-based practices online, such as cyberbullying or the non-consensual distribution of intimate images (NCDII). They can cause significant harm to victims and, as elsewhere, these practices are on the rise in Hong Kong. This paper represents the first stage of a project aimed at developing a coherent, broad-spectrum response to that rise. It discusses nine interviews with stakeholder groups or representatives in Hong Kong, revealing commonalities and themes in their experiences with clients who have been victims of HDC. While Hong Kong has recently adopted piecemeal reform of criminal laws targeting certain HDC practices such as ‘up-skirting’, NCDII, and doxing, these interviews suggest that these reforms alone are unlikely prove effective. Amongst other things, the interviews reveal a desire by victims not simply for punishment but resolution and restitution. Other jurisdictions have responded to these desires through the adoption both of expanded civil actions and broader regulatory regimes. This paper sets the groundwork for justifying similar reforms in Hong Kong. Keywords: Law, Technology, Cyberbullying, NCDII, Communications, Hong Kong, Privacy, Tort, Regulation

Secularity and Muslim-Christian Relations in Uganda

Abstract The article reconstructs aspects of the secularizing project of the British colonial administration in Uganda by exploring how state regulatory practices in the field of Western school education set the conditions for two forms of religious difference: first, relations between Muslims as members of a religious minority and the Christian majority, and second, dynamics among Muslims that transpired not only in leadership competition but also in controversies over education and proper religious practice. Focusing on the intersections between a state regulatory regime and the activities of Muslims who claimed religious and political leadership on behalf of other Muslims in the areas of Buganda and Bugisu, the article argues that these Muslim intellectuals mediated and contributed to the colonial administration’s production of Muslims as a religious minority. As articulators of Islam, they (re)formulated and debated the forms and purpose of Muslim education and partly novel understandings of proper religious practice, and what it means to be a modern, pious Muslim in the new colonial order. Their political aspirations were hampered, not only as a direct consequence of the colonial administration’s production of systematic inequalities between Christians and Muslims, but also as a result of the dynamics of intra-Muslim plurality.

The Montenegrin Olympic Committee: exploring issues in Sports Governance

ABSTRACT The recent doping scandal in Montenegro waterpolo team during the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar this year, yet again opened the debate on a number of sports-related governance issues. The foundation of these challenges lies in the very essence of how the sports ecosystem is structured, organized, and operated. The major outputs of the contemporary studies confirmed that the politicization of relations within the sports ecosystem plays a principal role, in shaping, directing, and utilizing sports for non-sporting objectives. The results indicate that this constellation has been facilitated through the transformation of informal practices into regulatory regimes or bypassing, when needed, existing legislative frameworks in order to contribute to institutional stability. The politicization represents a joint determinant of the closed, vertically structured governing bodies and decision-making system with long-lasting individuals in decision-making positions without any internal or external control in practice. The internal regulations facilitate no restrictions on conflicts of interest, measures aimed to tackle corruption, or to provide a check and balance system between governing bodies. Furthermore, following the public service culture, the Montenegro Olympic Committee maintains its closed and exclusive composition of governing bodies rests on discretionary power and a decision-making approach with a democratic deficit.

The Migrant Personal Work Relation: A New Category of Employment

ABSTRACT The relationship between UK immigration law and labour law is increasingly intertwined and complex. Migrant workers are regularly incorporated into the labour market on an unequal and instrumental basis as economic commodities. A central aim of this paper is to expand our conceptual understanding of the legal nature and form of migrant employment. I contend that the regulatory integration of immigration law with labour law into a distinct, intermediate legal framework of 'migrant labour law' challenges and disrupts existing categories of employment classification and orthodox conceptions of modern employment. It does so by constructing ‘migrant personal work relations’ with a unique hybrid legal character of private contract and public immigration status, using migrants’ private capacities to regulate their relationship with the state and vice versa. Central to this endeavour is an idea of labour regulation that incorporates immigration norms of conditionality, deportability, deterrence and immobility into the construction of the migrant personal work relation. Five elements of the migrant personal work relation illustrate its hybrid character: formation, structure, content, variation, and termination. The interplay of public and private law doctrines exhibits immigration status distorting the employment contract and shows that migrant employment cannot be explained on a contractual basis. As a result, we start observing a juridical divide between migrant workers and citizen workers as separate legal subjects allocated to different regulatory regimes. It constitutes a whole new category of employment. Finally, the article examines the implications of its construction and legal character for its power dynamics. I argue that vulnerability to exploitation is a structural feature of the ‘migrant personal work relation’, such that it is a vulnerability-inducing legal institution. It exacerbates the pre-existing asymmetrical distribution of power and creates special vulnerabilities additional to those ordinarily present.

Prospects and Issues Concerning the Regulatory Regime of E-Payment System in Nigeria

Prospects and Issues Concerning the Regulatory Regime of E-Payment System in Nigeria