Supranational Regulation Research Articles

Corporate Governance - La responsabilité des conseils d'administration dans les sociétés

This article, which is based on the reports presented in 1998 at the Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, is devoted to the study of corporate governance, a concept which has come from the United States and which is recognised today in various European countries. The idea of corporate governance has led to a wide ranging consideration of the balance of powers in limited companies and of ways of improving their operation, notably thanks to the creation of committees (audit, voting rights, remuneration…). In this context, shareholders and investors, particularly pension funds, are demanding better financial information and greater transparency. Having explained the concept of corporate governance, the author deals with the issues raised by that concept and analyses the relevant legal rules. He concludes that national laws have produced a variety of responses to these issues, and that (supranational) regulation of the matter is required.

Privatization and commercialization of the Western‐European and South‐East Asian broadcasting media

The European and Asian communications environments are undergoing a number of major structural changes. Nowhere, perhaps, are these changes more profound than in the field of broadcasting, which is ceasing to be an activity almost entirely governed by national legislation and market forces. With rather different economic political infrastructures and broadcast traditions, there are intriguing regional differences and similarities when the course of development is examined. In Europe, with the strong presence of the European Community, international and supranational regulations have become increasingly important in regulating electronic media. While in Asia, wrestling with transnational media largely remains a domestic affair. However, in both regions there are worrying signs of the influences of commercialism over local cultural development.

Supra-national regulation for supra-national telecommunications carriers?

The article reviews the extraordinary number of international ventures by major telecommunications organizations and explores problems for traditional national regulation that these global networks create. A theoretical model is defined that illustrates the adjustment process of different national policies to each other. The choice of various supra-national regulatory arrangements is shown to be affecting substantive policy. The article then discusses options for coordination and concludes that the concrete problems created by supra-national carriers do not justify the hidden cost of elaborate mechanisms of supra-national policy. Since such coordination has traditionally been used to prop up monopoly arrangements, a better approach for the foreseeable future is to encourage more national policy experimentation and focus less on international policy coordination.

INSTITUTIONS AND POLICY CHANGE IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES: THE CASE OF MERGER CONTROL1

The supranational regulation of merger and acquisition activity presents valuable evidence for examining the dynamics of policy change within the European Communities. Over the years four merger regimes can be seen to have existed. The first, restricted to the coal and steel industries, originated in the specific postwar wish to control (German) heavy industry and retains its separate character. Other industries were a matter for the later Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (ECC). It was not until 1989 that a clear ECC regime was established after two ‘false starts’ arising from rulings by the European Court of Justice on specific mergers. Agreement eventually came once ministers and industrialists realized that clear rules were needed, if the necessary orderly corporate restructuring were to be facilitated in the run‐up to completion of the single market.A ‘new institutionalist’ approach is adopted in analysing the evolution of supranational merger regulation. Accordingly, the article examines how far the capacity of the two treaties, and the capacities of the individual institutions, can explain the resultant pattern of supranational merger regulation.

Justification and Excuses in the European Community - Adjudication of the Court of Justice of the European Community and Tendencies of the National Legal Systems as a Basis for a Supranational Regulation

Justification and Excuses in the European Community - Adjudication of the Court of Justice of the European Community and Tendencies of the National Legal Systems as a Basis for a Supranational Regulation

Maintaining Competitive Markets: UK and EC Merger Policy

In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the number of mergers and takeovers in the UK referred by the Office of Fair Trading to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission for investigation and report. This reflects an ongoing concern of the UK competition authorities with the maintenance and promotion of competitive markets. Surveys UK merger policy alongside a concurrent development – the introduction in 1990 of a new supranational Merger Regulation by the European Community. Outlines the regulatory frameworks operating in the UK and EC and highlights particular points of interest in the application of policy control by reference to selected merger cases.

Stand und Trend bei der Gesetzgebung zur analytischen Erfassung der Abwasser‐Inhaltsstoffe

AbstractCurrent status and future trends in legislation for the analytical determination of the constituents of waste water. If national and supranational regulations are to be translated into enforceable water law (e. g. national water codes), then all those concerned must work together effectively. Experience in recent years gives reason to hope that legislators will take more careful account of scientific factors in the future. The problems of waste‐water analysis are described in the light of the parameters of the waste‐water levy act. The determination of settleable substances serves as a typical example of what is, from the analytical point of view, an unsuitable parameter; the chemical oxygen demand (COD) is determined in accordance with a precisely specified convention. The problems of trace analysis are illustrated in the determination of the heavy metals mercury and cadmium. In the fish test, the peculiarities of biological test methods are demonstrated. In order to ensure that the results of analyses are reliable, it is essential that sampling and preservation be both objective and problem‐related. In the long term, it is important to find ways of reducing the work involved to an acceptable level without any serious loss of information.

Supra-National Regulation of Insurance

Supra-National Regulation of Insurance