Regulatory Dilemma Research Articles

The Regulatory Dilemma of the U.S. Government: The Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act and the Limitations to Freedom of Speech

This article examines the legal issues surrounding First Amendment challenges in the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act. After introducing the background of the bill and an overview of the First Amendment and freedom of speech in America, this article uses case law research methods to explore the unconstitutional determination of the bill and the balancing approach adopted by the court when national security and free speech rights conflict. Finally, this article reaches a conclusion that based on past cases, intermediate scrutiny can only be passed if the federal government can submit sufficient evidence to prove that national security risks actually exist, and demonstrate the bill does not excessively restrict freedom of speech beyond necessary. The United States protects the freedom of speech in the Constitution from arbitrary infringement through the checks and balances between the courts and the legislature, so different levels of scrutiny tests are set up. However, as long as the government can provide sufficient evidence to prove that there is a more compelling government interest, it can pierce the protection of the First Amendment.

Refinement of the acute inhalation limit test for inert, nano-sized dusts by an in silico dosimetry-based evaluation: case study for the dissolution of a regulatory dilemma.

This case study aims to describe the dilemma faced when exposing rats to very high concentrations of fine, pulverulent materials for acute inhalation studies and to address the regulatory question of whether the effects seen here are relevant to humans and the subject of classification according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Many powders match the definition of nanomaterials in the EU; therefore, information on acute inhalation testing of powders up to the GHS cutoff of 5mg/L is required. However, testing rats at such a high aerosol concentration can cause physical obstruction of the airways and even mortality by suffocation. Therefore, to evaluate whether the physical effects on airway obstruction in rats exposed to 5mg/L for 4hours and alternative exposures to 1 and 2mg/L are relevant for humans, an in silico evaluation of aerosol deposition was conducted using the multiple-path particle dosimetry (MPPD) model. For this evaluation, actual exposure conditions for an organic, nano-sized pigment which produced 100% lethality in rats at 5mg/L, but not at 1mg/L, were used to assess the potential for airway obstruction in rats and accordingly in humans. As an indicator of the potential for airway obstruction, the ratio of the diameter of the deposited, aggregated aerosol to airway diameter was calculated for each exposure condition. For rats exposed to 5mg/L for 4h, approximately 75% of tracheobronchial and 22% of pulmonary/alveolar airways were considered vulnerable to significant or complete obstruction (ratios >0.5). In humans, an equivalent exposure resulted in just over 96% of human tracheobronchial airways that received deposited mass to airway diameter ratios between 0.3 and 0.4 (nasal) or 0.4 and 0.5 (oral), with no airways with ratios >0.5. For the pulmonary/alveolar region, ∼88% of the airways following nasal or oral breathing were predicted to have deposited aerosol diameter to airway diameter ratios <0.1, with no airways with ratios >0.5. Thus, the in silico results obtained for rats are in line with the pathological findings of the animal test. The predicted results in humans, however, affirm the hypothesis of a rat-specific high dose effect which does not justify a classification according to GHS.

The Regulatory Dilemma and the Way Out of China's Digital Trade Barriers in the Comparative Perspective of the United States and China

With the expansion of global digital trade, China's digital economy is becoming growingly crucial to international digital trade. In the past, the understanding of digital trade regulation was limited to protecting the security of China's data, which led to a rather one-sided regulation of China's digital trade. The imperfect regulatory system has resulted in a series of problems such as overly stringent cross-border data flow legislation, conservative data localization regulations, and challenges to personal information security in China. This paper will examine the above problems. To solve the above problems, this paper puts forward the following suggestions. China should seize the important opportunity of digital trade development to improve supporting measures, build a perfect digital regulatory system and deepen the international consultation mechanism. The above measures are expected to facilitate the process for China to adopt legislation governing digital trade and to further the positive growth of China's digital economy.

Comparison of Rationales and Approaches of Artificial Intelligence Regulatory Policies in the U.S, EU and China Draws Recommendations on a 'Fit for Purpose' Global AI Governance Mechanism

With the rapid development of AI technologies, our society is facing a global AI regulatory dilemma [1]., with a wide spectrum of AI regulatory rules not only confusing but also incurring very high costs for the participants of the AI industry [2].

Correction to: Solid Waste Collection in the Informal Settlements of African Cities: a Regulatory Dilemma for Actor’s Participation and Collaboration in Kampala

Correction to: Solid Waste Collection in the Informal Settlements of African Cities: a Regulatory Dilemma for Actor’s Participation and Collaboration in Kampala

Dilemma and Solution of Intelligent Vehicle Tort Liability Regulation in The Post-Civil Code Era

Since the concept of "artificial intelligence" was first proposed in 1956, it has been applied in many fields, and China has also entered the era of artificial intelligence. Smart cars are developing more and more rapidly, bringing great convenience to people's lives, but they cannot completely avoid the risk of traffic accidents. After a smart car is involved in a traffic accident, how to allocate responsibility has become a difficult problem. Due to the autonomy of smart cars, existing laws do not seem to be able to fully solve this problem, and after the introduction of the Civil Code, it cannot solve it. Based on the research of relevant scholars, this paper clarifies the existing legal regulatory dilemma, and attempts to combine it with the classification standard of autonomous driving, so that the tort liability allocation of smart vehicles can be solved under the existing legal framework through the principle of grading proportionality.

Solid Waste Collection in the Informal Settlements of African Cities: a Regulatory Dilemma for Actor’s Participation and Collaboration in Kampala

Formal and informal institutions exist to regulate actors providing solid waste collection services in African cities, yet collection coverage remains low. The study examines the role of institutions in enabling and/or constraining actors’ participation and collaboration in solid waste collection in Kampala City. A qualitative methodological approach is employed by conducting in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, and reviewing documents. A dilemma in waste regulation manifests. Whereas regulations favour formal actors, informal actors predominantly provide waste collection services in poor neighbourhoods. Stringent requirements for participation and discriminatory bylaws are exposed. The interplay between formal and informal actors is vibrant but not legally supported. Therefore, it is prudent for effective planning to accommodate the operations of formal and informal actors and their interface to ensure smart cities. This might encourage participation and enable actors’ collaboration, consequently reducing uncollected waste volumes and illegal waste disposal sites in the informal settlements.

Analysis of the Challenge in Fake News and Misinformation Regulation Comparative in Global Media Landscape

In the age of online social platforms, increasing interactions beyond the wildest imagination, dealing with fake news has been the most challenging. Perhaps the most visible victims of fake news today are political individuals and institutions. The delicate balance between regulation and respect of individual rights and maintenance of constitutionalism in various countries today creates a unique regulatory dilemma that allows for fake news and the use of it to continue thriving. At the same time, politicians and other institutions occupy a critical role in creating legislation towards combatting fake news. Such moves could significantly undermine the ability to observe some of the fundamental rights of individuals and the overall rule of democracy [1]. Misinformation and other cases of fake news have a relatively significant impact on societies. However, resolving fake news has proved not to be easy because of numerous issues, among them, being the need to preserve fundamental rights [2]. Desktop-based research has been conducted to achieve the objectives of this research. Critical to note that most of the information vital in completing this research is electronically availed. Hence, secondary sources of information have been utilized to reach conclusions on the existence of regulations and its effectiveness toward combating fake news in the three jurisdictions.

Does environmental administrative penalty promote the quantity and quality of green technology innovation in China? Analysis based on the peer effect

As the guarantee for the effective implementation of environmental policies, the spillover of the deterrent effect of environmental administrative penalties is crucial for solving the environmental regulatory dilemma. It is also unclear whether environmental administrative penalties can affect green technology innovation of the peer enterprises and whether they have an impact on both the quantity and quality dimensions. Taking listed firms of heavily polluting industries in China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share from 2016 to 2020 as the sample, this paper analyzes the impact of the environmental administrative penalty on the quantity and quality of corporate green technology innovation based on the perspective of peer effect. The results indicate that: 1) Environmental administrative penalty significantly promotes the quantity and quality of peer enterprises’ green technology innovation. 2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the diversity of penalties, the competitiveness of the penalized enterprises, and the property rights of peer enterprises all contribute to the different impacts of the environmental administrative penalty on the peer enterprises’ green technology innovation. 3) Further analysis shows that the promotion effect will be weakened when peer enterprises face high financing constraints. The research results expand the related research on direct government regulation and green technology innovation from the perspective of peer effect and provide policy reference for the government to formulate differentiated penalty policies according to the heterogeneity of enterprise.

Research on Supervision Mechanism of Big Data Discriminatory Pricing on the Asymmetric Service Platform—Based on SD Evolutionary Game Model

Big data discriminatory pricing behavior of service platforms frequently occurs, which affects the legitimate rights and interests of consumers as well as the healthy development of the platform economy. The SD (System Dynamics) evolutionary game model characterizing the game relationship of a big platform, small platform, and government is constructed together with its equilibrium solutions in order to analyze the regulatory dilemma and governance mechanism against big data discriminatory pricing of service platforms. This paper finds that government punishment on the behavior of big data discriminatory pricing plays a decisive role. When the government punishment is large enough, both platforms tend towards fair pricing; when the government punishment is insufficient, the big platform always tends towards discriminatory pricing. The supply chain of the service platform falls into the regulatory dilemma of big data discriminatory pricing behavior. Due to the hidden characteristics of big data discriminatory pricing and technical challenges in authentication and proof, a third party is introduced for supervision, and an SD evolutionary game model with a collaborative supervision mechanism of the government and the third party is constructed. The results show that positive supervision of the third party can effectively regulate the big data discriminatory pricing behavior of the big platform, which has specific implications for the design of the supervision mechanism against big data discriminatory pricing of service platforms.

The Regulatory Dilemma on Mass Communications Surveillance and the Digital Right to Privacy in Africa: The Case of South Africa

Behind the cloak of maintaining national security and public order, African governments and the private sector constantly encroach upon the data privacy rights of individuals. The right to privacy is not only protected by various international human rights instruments that African states have voluntarily ratified but has been enshrined in several constitutions. Yet, without proper safeguards, the same states continue to stifle the right through intrusive surveillance methods. They indiscriminately acquire, intercept, transmit, analyse and retain an individual’s data, able to be amassed to generate intimate and detailed profiles of individuals. While the right to privacy is not absolute, international human rights law requires that its limitations be legal, justifiable and reasonable 129 . Hence the purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which the South African communications surveillance law conformed to the foregoing. The article finds that the silence of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act 130 (RICA) on mass surveillance, its weak and ineffective data privacy safeguards, insufficient oversight provisions and law enforcement officials’ impunity render the law invalid for a democratic society. Further, the new personal data law 131 has exempted national security operations from its regulation. As a result, RICA needs to be reformed, as affirmed by the recent verdict of AmaBhunghane Centre for Investigative Journalism NPC v. Minister of Justice and Correctional Services &amp; Others 132 .

The Audit Regulatory Dilemma – Should Audit Regulatory Authorities Focus on Regulating the Audit Expectation Gap

Purpose: Audit failures around the world, have contributed to high-profile corporate scandals, severely impeding global economic growth. We investigate the extent to which the public trust, the public interest and the audit expectation gap, impact global financial stability and economic growth, contributing to understanding the purpose of external oversight over audit activities. These critical components of the audit environment, represent the essential elements necessary for regulating the global audit profession. Methodology: The proportion of revenue derived from audit services and non-audit services of the big four audit firms, is used as a proxy to measure the ‘audit expectation gap’. The resultant ‘audit expectation gap’ for the period 2005 to 2020, is juxtaposed against the global GDP growth for the same period, supporting the conceptual assertion that proper regulation of the audit expectation gap enables a stable financial environment, conducive for promoting economic growth. Findings: The study finds that the audit expectation gap increases during stable economic conditions, as illustrated by the reduction in the proportion of audit revenue to non-audit revenue, conversely reducing during volatile economic conditions. Originality/Value: This paper which uses the audit expectation gap as a proxy for the demand of audit services, contributes to understanding the dynamic relationship between the audit expectation gap and global economic growth, as well as the crucial role of external oversight over audit activities.

Boom and bust, Chinese style: Multi-task regulatory dilemma and China’s stock market crisis in 2015

China’s stock market experienced a major boom and bust between 2014 and 2015, with profound implications on China’s financial stability and governance reforms. Drawing on the organizational studies literature on hybrids, this article analyses how the hybridization of multiple logics has shaped the regulatory incentives, policy process and market dynamics in the evolution of China’s stock market crisis in 2015. It argues that China’s stock market governance has been trapped by the multi-task regulatory dilemma with logic volatility endogenous to its hybrid regime, which poses fundamental constraints on China’s financial stability and regulatory effectiveness. It concludes by discussing the alternative approaches of managing hybridity with integration and differentiation strategies in China’s post-crisis financial governance reforms.

Protection of geographical indications and cross‐border trade: A survey of legal and regulatory frameworks in East Africa

AbstractGeographical indications (GIs), one of a subset of intellectual property rights (IPR), have recently assumed significant role in regulating variety of sectoral policies and national and regional, and international levels. Its relevance makes it one of the critical agenda in areas such as agriculture and international trade. Internationally, the articulation of GIs under TRIPs Agreement remains unclear and leaves policy and regulatory space for each country to choose their own path. The Continental Strategy for Geographical Indications in Africa—2018–2023 has introduced a new dimension about GIs. Legal instruments governing the East African Community (EAC) proffer a harmonized policy and regulatory framework for IPR as one of the means to attain the regional objectives. However, laws governing GIs in the partner states of EAC vary in terms of the nature and scope of protection and the underlying regulatory structures, resulting into heterogeneity in GIs protection in each country. Amid this regulatory dilemma, this paper examines the GIs laws in EAC by bringing to the fore the obtaining substantive and procedural differences amongst the partner states to EAC. The paper, among others, proposes a centralized regional approach for GIs protection to attain EAC's objective.

Regulatory dilemma: a changing dynamics of the Cochin international airport

Learning outcomes The case study helps students to understand how public-private partnership (PPP) airports runs their business, how regulatory policies impact their business. The case also explains why the Cochin International Airport business model is so unique compared to any airport in India. Case overview/synopsis In 2016, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority released a new tariff regime for Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).CIAL has undergone challenges because of the tariff changes (changes every five years), which were implemented in 2017. This has impacted their business model. The CFO of CIAL was under pressure to share the impacts with the shareholders and to provide a way forward for the business. Cochin International was known to be one of the cheapest aeronautical tariff charging airports. The case discusses the issues of a public utility when it is under a regulatory price regime. The case explains different regulatory mechanisms (single till: the whole commercial revenue is cross-subsidized). The case discusses issues regarding Cochin International Airport, which is a public utility under PPP mode. Since 2016, regulator has changed the price regulatory regime from light touch (no price regulation only monitoring) to hybrid till regulation (a percentage of commercial revenue is cross-subsidized). The case explains what made Cochin International Airport so unique. It explores the challenges because of the regulatory regime, how it affects Cochin airport’s strategy for business. How should the management of CIAL to act on the above issue? What will be the impact? Will they need to change their business models? Complexity academic level The case is basically focused on MBA level students who are in their final year. There are various MBA courses in which this can be taught, which can be infrastructure management, infrastructure regulation, domain courses such as airport management. The student should have basic knowledge of economics, public utility and business strategy. The case helps them understand the impact of regulation, the role of the regulator and its impact on business strategy. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS: 10 Public Sector Management.

Regulatory Lag, Regulatory Friction and Regulatory Transition as FinTech Disenablers: Calibrating an EU Response to the Regulatory Sandbox Phenomenon

With transformative evolution involving crypto-assets, machine learning applications and data-driven finance models, complex regulatory and policy issues are emerging. Inadequate frameworks in FinTech markets create regulatory friction and regulatory fragmentation. These limitations continue to feature when piecemeal regulatory transition occurs. The danger of EU Member States being left behind in the FinTech innovation race if the regulatory landscape is cumbersome or incomplete for new business models is real. Regulatory lag and regulatory friction also act as a ‘disenabler’ for ease of cross-border FinTech trade in the EU. This article critically engages with the manner in which the regulatory sandbox has rapidly gained critical mass in Member States as a valuable adaptive measure supporting a route to market for FinTech entrepreneurs. Against the backdrop of the European Commission’s Digital Finance Strategy, the article further advances scholarship on FinTech in the EU by probing the EU’s resulting regulatory dilemma, undertaking a systematic evaluation of the continuum of complex policy options available to the European Union in response to the spreading regulatory sandbox phenomenon.

Macroprudential regulation in the post-crisis era: Has the pendulum swung too far?

This paper presents an institutional model to investigate the cooperation between a government and a central bank. The former selects the monetary policy and then delegates the organization of macroprudential policy to the latter. Their policy stances are the result of sequential constrained utility maximization. Using indirect inference, we find a set of coefficients that can capture the UK policy stances for 1993–2016. This suggests post-crisis regulation has been overly intrusive. Finally, we show that this regulatory dilemma can be avoided by committing to a highly stabilizing monetary regime that uses QE extensively.

THE CHALLENGES OF REGULATING HATE SPEECH ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN LIGHT OF THE THEORY OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Although international human rights instruments declare that everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression, many countries today have laws that censor or limit certain forms of expression on social media, including speech that fuels hatred and violence. Some free speech advocates prefer an open market of ideas where no expression is restricted thinking that the best answer to harmful speech is discussions that allow different ideas to challenge any speech freely. Still some others, on the other hand, argue that restrictions on hate speech on social media are vital for protecting minority communities from the harms caused by this speech. Hate speech raises a very complex question that tests the limits of free speech. Thus, based on the theories that underpin freedom of expression, this piece of work strives to analyze the regulatory dilemma on hate speech on social media by exploring the arguments and challenges that frame the regulatory process.

Honesty pledges for the behaviorally-based regulation of dishonesty

ABSTRACT A common regulatory dilemma is determining how much trust authorities can place in people’s self-reports, especially in contexts with an incentive to cheat. In such contexts, regulators are typically risk averse and do not readily confer trust, resulting in excessive requirements when applying for permits, licenses, etc. Studies in behavioral ethics have suggested that asking people to ex-ante pledge to behave ethically can reduce their level of dishonesty and noncompliance. However, pledges might also backfire by allowing more people to cheat with no real sanctions. Additionally, pledges’ effects have almost always been studied in one-shot decision making without sanctions. We explore pledges’ potential effects by manipulating whether pledges were accompanied by sanctions (fines) and testing their impact on sequential, repeated ethical decisions. We find that pledges can considerably and consistently reduce dishonesty, and this effect is not crowded out by the presence of fines. Furthermore, pledges also affect “brazen liars” who cheat to a large extent and also those who score low on tendency to follow rules and norms. We conclude that pledges could be an effective tool for the behavioral regulation of dishonesty, to reduce regulatory burden, and to build a more trusting relationship between government and the public.

Regulatory Lag, Regulatory Friction and Regulatory Transition as FinTech Disenablers: Calibrating an EU Response to the Regulatory Sandbox Phenomenon

With transformative evolution involving crypto-assets, machine learning applications and data-driven finance models, complex regulatory and policy issues are emerging. Inadequate frameworks in FinTech markets create regulatory friction and regulatory fragmentation. These limitations continue to feature when piecemeal regulatory transition occurs. The danger of EU Member States being left behind in the FinTech innovation race if the regulatory landscape is cumbersome or incomplete for new business models is real. Regulatory lag and regulatory friction also act as a ‘disenabler’ for ease of cross-border FinTech trade in the EU. This article critically engages with the manner in which the regulatory sandbox has rapidly gained critical mass in Member States as a valuable adaptive measure supporting a route to market for FinTech entrepreneurs. Against the backdrop of the European Commission’s Digital Finance Strategy, the article further advances scholarship on FinTech in the EU by probing the EU’s resulting regulatory dilemma, undertaking a systematic evaluation of the continuum of complex policy options available to the European Union in response to the spreading regulatory sandbox phenomenon.