Uniform Rules Research Articles

Odpowiedzialność karna nieletnich w kontekście neuroprawa (neurolaw) – zagadnienia wybrane

In the article the subject of criminal liability of juveniles was taken up. The practice in the scope of applying neurobiological techniques in the aim to determine ability to participate in the trial and assingibility of responsibility for commited act (neurolaw in juvenile justice). The attempt to answer the question was taken up whether these kind of measures could turn out to be useful in the context of creating universal tool leading to uniform rules of criminal responsibility of the juveniles in the European Union. Having regars to the issues of the paper taken up it was concentrated especially on aspects regarding to the degree of development of the juvenile. The hypothesis was formulated that neurolaw could be useful in the limited degree in the assessment criterium of insanity whereas useless in the reference to possible redefining of the term of underage.

An Examination of the Applicability and Propriety of the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

The unprecedented surge in international commerce created the need for a uniform law on the international sale of goods. Owing to the wide difference in various national laws governing sales transactions, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) was created to bridge this gap and to assist in promoting international trade. The CISG provides a set of uniform rules governing the formation, performance and remedies for breach of contracts for the international sale of goods within its scope. Its purpose is to provide a modern, uniform and fair regime for contracts for the international sale of goods thereby ensuring certainty in commercial exchanges. Particularly, the Convention applies to contracts for sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in different Contracting States, subject to the right of the parties to opt out in whole or part from the Convention. By all counts, the CISG represents the international community's most ambitious effort to promote efficiency and sustained growth of international trade. The innovations made by the CISG have been praised for decades however the loopholes inherent in the Convention have left parties to international sales contracts with so many challenges in their commercial dealings. This article attempts to examine the impact and relevance of the CISG to international sales transactions since it came into force. It examines among others, issues pertaining to the applicability of the CISG vis-a-vis its many pitfalls which constitute very serious challenges to parties whose sales negotiations fall within the purview of the Convention. This article concludes that whilst the CISG is a remarkable improvement from what used to be the status quo in international trade, it is nonetheless a vague document which did not coherently address the questions that necessitated its creation.

Summary judgment — Quo vadis?

The summary judgment procedure in South African law provides for a speedy judgment in favour of a deserving plaintiff where it can be shown that the defendant does not have a triable defence. In 2019 the Rules Board made certain drastic amendments to the procedure of summary judgment in the high court. In this article the historical development of the procedure of summary judgment will be discussed, and the new amendments to rule 32 of the Uniform Rules of Court critically evaluated. It will be argued that the amendments to rule 32 were unnecessary and that it may diminish the right to access to justice in civil disputes. It will, however, also be argued that there are some merits in the critique raised by the Rules Board in relation to rule 32 and that the Rules Board missed a golden opportunity to overhaul the entire summary judgment procedure in a more sensible manner and in line with the core constitutional values of s 34 of the Constitution. It will be argued that rule 32 should be replaced in its entirety by a new, more streamlined procedure, and some recommendations for legal reform will be made in this regard.

About the Need to Define Uniform Rules for the Operation of Insurance Guarantee Schemes in the Event of Insurer's Bankruptcy in the European Union

The European Union has been working for years to establish uniform rules for the operation of insurance guarantee funds in the Member States. They are the equivalents of the Polish Insurance Guarantee Fund. The rules should increase the protection of consumers, i.e. policyholders and the injured. However, it has not been decided yet who will actually be protected by the new regulation, namely whether these will be all the insured or only those who have concluded a compulsory insurance contract. Will all Europeans be protected in the same way or only residents of individual Member States? What is more, the ultimate cost of the systemic changes to be introduced into the Polish market is also unknown. If the system applied to numerous business lines and covered natural persons as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, insurance would certainly become very expensive, leaving many Poles without protection. This article aims to familiarize readers with the current state of legislative works as well as the directions for the development of systemic changes.

DOMESTICATION OF THE CISG: EXAMPLES FROM A FEW JURISDICTIONS

The importance and influence of the CISG as an international treaty should not only be assessed from the perspective of the number of ratifications it received from around the globe. It should, rather, also include an analysis of the impact the Convention has had on domestic jurisdictions, either by being used as a model law for domestic sales law, or simply by influencing the reform process while different countries were drafting their new contract law. For that reason, this paper shall present a number of examples where the effect of the CISG has gone beyond its initial purpose of creating uniform rules in international trade. This paper initially shows the interesting case of Kosovo, where the text of the CISG was used as domestic law for sales contracts for more than a decade. It further shows some other examples, from Nordic countries and beyond, where the CISG was either used as a model for domestic sales or as a source of inspiration for drafting contract law.

Różne perspektywy dotyczące skutków art. 95 CISG

The 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) was adopted in order to provide uniform rules governing the international sale of goods. It has already been ratified by an impressive number of 92 Contracting States, with the major trading countries taking the lead. The CISG applies to contracts for the sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in different States, where the States are CISG Contracting States (Article 1(1)(a)). Moreover, it applies to contracts for the sale of goods when the contracting parties have their places of business in different States and when the rules of private international law lead to the application of the law of a CISG Contracting State (Article 1(1)(b)). However, at the time of ratification, the prospective Contracting States are given the possibility of making additional reservations, including one set out in Article 95 CISG, which limits the application of Article 1(1)(b) of the Convention. Although there are some CISG Contracting States that initially applied the reservation but have since withdrawn it, there are still a few Contracting States where the reservation remains[1], including the two largest trading countries – China and the United States. The paper presents various approaches regarding the interpretation of the effects of the reservation set out in Article 95 CISG, which in fact challenge the principle of the uniform interpretation and application of the Convention’s provisions. The author argues that the Article 95 CISG reservation leads to increased confusion and problematic conflict of law issues that bring more chaos than benefits. [1] The remaining Article 95 CISG Reservatory States are: Armenia, China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Slovakia and the United States of America. Information is based on the official website: https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=X-10&chapter=10 (accessed: 9.12.2019).

Executing a debt against residential property: The potential application of Rule 46A of the Uniform Rules of Court beyond a literal reading of “property of a judgment debtor”

Executing a debt against residential property: The potential application of Rule 46A of the Uniform Rules of Court beyond a literal reading of “property of a judgment debtor”

The Regulation of European Venture Capital Funds (‘Euvecas’)

Venture capital provides finance to undertakings that are generally very small, that are in the initial stages of their corporate existence and that display a strong potential for growth and expansion. In addition, venture capital funds provide undertakings with valuable expertise and knowledge, business contacts, brand equity and strategic advice. By providing finance and advice to those undertakings, venture capital funds stimulate economic growth, contribute to the creation of jobs and capital mobilization, foster the establishment and expansion of innovative undertakings, increase their investment in research and development and foster entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness. To that end, the EuVECAR as an optional specialist regime available to alternative investment fund managers (‘AIFMs’) registered or authorized under the AIFMD was adopted. AIFMs managing qualifying venture capital funds (‘EuVECA’) can optionally opt into using the ‘EuVECA’ label for these funds and market them to professional, and certain high net-worth investors through the EU under the EuVECA marketing passport. The EuVECAR establishes uniform rules, so that a clear demarcation line can be drawn between a qualifying venture capital fund and alternative investment funds (‘AIFs’) that engage in other, less specialized, investment strategies, which the EuVECAR is not seeking to promote. The EuVECAR establishes a uniform regulatory framework on the nature of EuVECAs, in particular on qualifying portfolio undertakings into which the qualifying venture capital funds are to be permitted to invest, and the investment instruments to be used. The EuVECAR is an optional regime. Where AIFMs do not wish to use the designation ‘EuVECA’ then the EuVECAR does not apply. In those cases, AIFMs may continue to base themselves upon labels under existing national rules and general EU law applies. This contribution discusses the EuVECAR legal framework. To that end, Section 2 discusses the EuVECAR’s scope, including the relationship between Full AIFMs managing EuVECAs that are subject to the AIFMD and the ‘EuVECAR regime’ for Small AIFMs managing EuVECAs. Section 3 focuses on the EuVECAR and the relationship between ‘intermediary’, ‘product’ and ‘marketing/sales regulation’. These are elaborated in more detail in Section 4 (‘manager regulation’), Section 5 (‘depositary regulation’), and Section 6 (‘marketing & sales regulation’). Section 7 explains the registration regime for both Full/Small AIFMs intending to manage EuVECAs and the ‘product’ EuVECA itself and Section 8 concludes.

The Regulation of European Long-Term Investment Funds (‘ELTIFs’)

In accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy, long-term finance is a crucial enabling tool for putting the European economy on a path of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth with high employment, and competitiveness for building tomorrow’s economy in a way that is less prone to systemic risks and is more resilient. Certain types of alternative investment funds (‘AIFs’) provide finance of lasting duration to various infrastructure projects, unlisted companies, or listed small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’) that issue equity or debt instruments for which there is no readily identifiable buyer. By providing finance to such projects, these types of AIFs contribute to the financing of the European Union’s real economy. Furthermore, AIFs, on the demand side, provide a steady income stream for pension administrators, insurance companies and other entities that face regular and recurrent liabilities and are seeking long-term returns within well-regulated structures. While providing less liquidity than investments in transferable securities, AIFs can provide a steady income stream for individual investors that rely on the regular cash flow that an AIF can produce. Furthermore, AIFs can also offer good opportunities for capital appreciation over time for those investors not receiving a steady income stream. ‘Long-term financing’ for projects, such as transport infrastructure, can be scarce. As the financial crisis in 2007/2008 has shown, complementing bank financing with a wider variety of financing sources that better mobilize capital markets could help tackle financing gaps. AIFs, under certain conditions, can play a crucial role in this respect. The ELTIFR as an optional specialist regime has been adopted for alternative investment fund managers (‘AIFMs’) to boost European long-term investments in the real economy. Long- term investments in projects, undertakings, and infrastructure in third countries can also bring capital to ELTIFs and thereby benefit the European economy. To that end, the European legislator has introduced a dedicated legal framework for AIFMs managing European long-term investment funds (‘ELTIFs’). This regime designates those AIFs as ‘ELTIFs’ that comply with the requirements under the Regulation (EU) 2015/760 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on European long-term investment funds, as amended (‘ELTIFR’). EU AIFs with an ‘ELTIF’ label may be marketed to professional and certain high net-worth investors throughout the EU. The ELTIFR establishes uniform rules, so that a clear demarcation line can be drawn between an ELTIF and other AIFs that engage in other, less specialized, investment strategies, which the ELTIFR is not seeking to promote. The ELTIFR establishes a uniform regulatory framework on the nature of ELTIFs, in particular on eligible investments in which ELTIFs are to be permitted to invest, and the investment instruments to be used. The ELTIFR is an optional regime. Where AIFMs do not wish to use the designation ‘ELTIF’, the ELTIFR does not apply. In those cases, AIFMs may continue to base themselves upon labels under existing national rules and general EU law applies. This contribution discusses the ELTIF legal framework. Section 2 discusses the ELTIFR’s scope, including the relationship between the AIFMD and the ‘ELTIFR top-up’. Section 3 focuses on the ELTIFR and the relationship between ‘intermediary’, ‘product’ and ‘marketing/sales regulation’. These are elaborated in more detail in Section 4 (‘manager regulation’), Section 5 (‘product regulation’), Section 6 (‘depositary regulation’), and Section 7 (‘marketing & sales regulation’). Section 8 discusses the ‘ELTIFR retail investor regime’, including the retail provisions AIFMs managing ELTIFs and their distributors have to comply with. Section 9 explains the authorization regime for both AIFMs intending to manage ELTIFs and the ‘product’ ELTIF itself and Section 10 concludes.

Coordinated global and private job-flow scheduling in grid virtual organizations

In this work, an approach for a preference-based job-flow scheduling in Grid virtual organizations is proposed and studied. Virtual organizations provide uniform rules of the resources sharing and consumption and should respect individual and common preferences of its stakeholders: users, resource providers and administrators. In most cases, a virtual organization’s stakeholders pursue contradictory market-based goals, which may be expressed in terms of time and cost. Still, mutually beneficial job-flow scheduling scenarios are possible in such multi-agent computing environments when the different optimization criteria are coordinated. For this purpose we consider different resources allocation heuristics and scenarios based on a simple linear combination of global (group) and private (user) job scheduling criteria. We study backfilling-based job queue scheduling procedure with a secondary preference-based optimization performed only on the resources allocation step. This approach allows us to respect backfilling-based jobs execution priorities together with more specific individual jobs criteria, including total execution cost or time minimization.

Monopoly of advocates: national trends and foreign experience

The author examines the key characteristics of professional legal aid considering national trends of monopoly of advocates andrelevant foreign experience. It is stressed that the special significance of guaranteeing and providing legal aid is currently caused byobjective and subjective factors, including: the growing role of law and legal institutes in satisfaction of economic, political, spiritualand other interests of individuals; the inability of the majority of citizens to defend their rights and legitimate interests, to protect themselvesfrom arbitrariness by public authorities, which is caused by lack of legal knowledge and law-enforcement background; insufficientlevel of development of legal comprehension and legal culture of citizens, which challenges the usage of basic individual rights,freedoms and legitimate interests in concrete life situations.In addition, in most countries significant problems are reported in the mechanism of providing legal aid, which does not complywith the rule of law principle. It is emphasized that only in the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal system the monopoly of advocateshas been shaped in an absolute form. However, research by the International Bar Association suggests that, in addition to monopoly ofadvocates in court claims, most national jurisdictions prohibit noncertified advocates to provide legal assistance at all. In most Europeancountries, including Greece, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Republic of Korea,the monopoly of advocates extends far beyond the court actions.It is concluded that the monopoly of advocates does not mean restricting the freedom of the market of legal services, on the cont -rary, the adequate regulation and uniform rules that would make the legal aid services more predictable and evolutionary. This wouldguarantee everyone equal access to a highly qualified advocate, would nourish the level of legal culture in society and would improvethe quality of court trials and the functioning of the law enforcement agencies. In this way, uniform standards for the provision of legalaid should be introduced. At the same time, the lack of competent and professional staff makes the very idea of qualified legal aid mea -ningless, moreover, poor quality services create a real threat of infringement within the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of citi -zens.

Harmonization of tax and financial systems within BRICS

The modern world economy is characterized by such factors as capital mobility, intensification of production processes and cash flows. In such circumstances, it is particularly important for economic entities to understand all possible legal consequences of their operations. Financial policy should be formed by public legal entities, taking into account the guarantees of avoiding unjustified financial, economic and other barriers to the development of the world economy and international trade. The BRICS countries, which have a huge potential for building and developing close economic ties, have different and sometimes contradictory law enforcement and legislative approaches. Such contradictions are most acute in the tax sphere, currency, administrative and customs relations. The current international legal framework seeks to bring legal regulation closer to comparable or uniform rules.

Muslim Female Healthcare Personnel Dress Code: A Proposed Guideline

Introduction: The struggle of Muslim women to comply with Islamic teaching while working in the healthcare sector has been a long-standing issue. Following the case of a Muslim nurse who was allegedly fired for non-adherence to the short-sleeve uniform rule, the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association highlighted the need for a uniform guideline to prevent similar instances. Yet, no guideline has been issued to date. Materials and Methods: This conceptual study employed library research method to gather relevant materials. Library research was able to retrieve guidelines from seven Muslim-minority countries but none from Muslim-majority countries. Document analysis of the materials gathered was undertaken. The different guidelines were compared, with special reference to awrah-related issues. Results: Several major issues that healthcare personnel dress code considers are the safety, health, cleanliness, and comfort for both patients and healthcare personnel. Islamic dressing requirement is not only in line with clinical practice but Islam also highly promotes maintenance of safety, health, cleanliness, and comfort. The widely adopted ‘bare below the elbows (BBE) policy is the only practice that may contradict Islamic rules. However, some healthcare institutions in Muslim-minority countries allow modifications of uniform rules on religious grounds; some of the modifications are not observed in Muslim-majority countries. When providing direct patient care that requires BBE, the use of disposable over-sleeves is a good alternative to adhere to both clinical and Islamic standards. Conclusion: Healthcare personnel dress code policy that is concordant to both clinical and Islamic standards is possible although it may require greater resources.

Evaluation of risk and safety in building structures under construction

Many of the structural defects in the past have happened during the project development process. While a structural engineer must build a safe, economic and functional structure, the durability of the partially constructed structure cannot be ignored at various construction levels. During the building, structural health is a major problem for the industry of construction. Collapses of temporary structures or unfinished permanent structures pose a hazard to safety. Predictive risk analysis methods have been applied over the past decade to evaluate the efficiency of the current existing structural building framework. Identification of risks is aimed at recognizing possible risks that can result in accidents. It describes the types of hazards and random parameters connected with the individual risks and subsequent incidents. The quantifying risk values identified with building structures built according to uniform rules are widely distributed. This study provided importance to a conversation about risk and safety in building structures under construction, to build buildings without damage and destroying, also steps of safety in building structures. The outcome of the project depends on the specifics of the prescription. Building structure safety may lead to big problems if subjected to those loads such as earthquakes and storms. A lot of structural problems happen during construction. Most failures were related to a malfunction in the formwork. This study describes how building systems can carry risks to buildings, as well as resisting the impact of loads that could cause trouble.

Bank Guarantee: Significance and Regulation Issues of the solvet et repete Principle

Bank Guarantee: Significance and Regulation Issues of the solvet et repete Principle

Automated Valuation Methods through the Cost Approach in a BIM and GIS Integration Framework for Smart City Appraisals

The principle behind sustainable city movements is represented by the idea of “good living”, which is the possibility of having solutions and services that allow citizens to live in an easy, simple, and enjoyable way. Policies for urban quality play a central role in the slow cities manifesto, often suggesting the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ITC) in the development of interactive services for citizens. Among these, an interesting possibility is to offer citizens digital real estate consultancy services through the implementation of automated evaluation methods. An automated appraisal action—which is already complex in itself owing to the need to collect data in a consistent, standardized, but also differentiated way so as to require the adoption of real estate due diligence—collides on the operational level with the concrete difficulty of acquiring necessary data, much more so since the reference market is dark, atypical, and viscous. These operational difficulties are deepened by the epistemological nature of the appraisal discipline itself, which bases its methodology on the forecast postulate, recalling the need to objectify as much as possible the evaluation from the perspective of an intersubjective sharing argument. These circumstances have led, on the one hand, to the definition of internationally accepted uniform evaluation rules (IVS, 2017) and, on the other, to the testing of automated valuation methods aimed at returning computer-based appraisals (AVM). Starting from the awareness that real estate valuation refers essentially to information and georeferences, this paper aims to demonstrate how real estate appraisal analysis can be further improved through information technology (IT), directing real estate valuation towards objectivity in compliance with international valuation standards. Particularly, the paper intends to show the potential of combining geographic information systems (GISs) and building information models (BIMs) in automated valuation methods through the depreciated reproduction cost. The paper also proposes a BIM-GIS semi-automatic prototype based on the depreciated reconstruction cost through an experimentation in Rende (Italy).

Application of the FSB “Accounting policy, estimates and errors” in medical institutions

The article deals with the issues of reform, which the state pays special attention to. It is the Federal accounting standards for the public sector that take into account the specifics of the management and functioning of such entities, since these standards are necessary in order to establish uniform accounting rules for all state budget and Autonomous institutions, which will facilitate a comparative analysis of the activities of these organizations. Moreover, the development of the regulatory framework is moving towards providing organizations with greater independence and freedom of choice in the organization of accounting. It should be noted that such independence can be implemented by forming one of the most important documents for any organization, including the budget — accounting policy.

Digital information exchange technologies at electric power facilities of the railway transport and its cost-benefit

This article provides the economic assessment of the application of digital in-formation exchange technologies at electric power facilities of Transenergo, a branch of the JSC Russian Railways, which is one of the first in the world to implement a pilot project of a specialized traction substation of the railway transport. One of the goals of the Digital traction substation project is a universal and scalable information infrastructure controlled by the uniform operation rules. A significant part of the economic indicators of the digital traction substation is advanced diagnostics of equipment, timely condition-based repair, increased reliability due to duplication of information processes of management and protection, modeling and forecasting of equipment operating modes and condition. In this article, the authors attempt to develop approaches to the economic assessment of the application of digital information exchange technologies at electric power facilities of transport and determine the most effective digitization level for traction substations.

РАЗВИТИЕ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННОГО ПОТЕНЦИАЛА И СНИЖЕНИЕ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННЫХ РИСКОВ ТОМСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

The article substantiates the relevance of the topic, taking into account the global areas of work designated by the President of the Russian Federation. The special role of regional authorities in creating conditions for a favorable investment climate was noted. The analysis of the current state of the Tomsk region’s investment attractiveness is carried out; the potentials and risks of the region are determined. We have identified the “weaknesses” or the risks for attracting investment to the Tomsk region, namely: - infrastructural risk: low density of transport infrastructure, uneven development of communication infrastructure, deterioration of the communal infrastructure; and also the small volume of the intraregional market. The legal support of investment activity is considered in detail, including federal and regional aspects. The characteristic of the “basic” and “special” regional laws, regulating investment activities in the region, is given. The forms and mechanisms of state support for investors in the Tomsk region are presented, including subsidies and tax incentives for investors, the provision of land plots with infrastructure for the placement of investment projects, the functioning of the infrastructure for supporting entrepreneurship, a simplified form of land provision (for rent without tenders), the procedure for assessing the regulatory impact of regulatory legal acts affecting business issues, etc. The directions for the development of federal and regional legislation in order to improve the investment climate are outlined, including decriminalization of certain acts; systematization and consolidation of uniform rules for the introduction, change and collection of non-tax payments from entrepreneurs; “prevention, not punishment”; introduction of long-term tariff setting; simplification of the PPP (public-private partnership) mechanism and concessions for infrastructure projects; formation of legislation for the “digital Economy”; formation of legislation for development in the areas of the National Technology Initiative. At the end of the article, well-founded conclusions are made and proposals are made to increase the investment potential and reduce investment risks.

Data Protection Maturity: an analysis of methodological tools and frameworks

This paper discusses the maturity of data protection and privacy measures in order to develop a better understanding of the importance and impacts of this domain.
 The practical relevance of this topic is that the General Data Protection Regulation provides that data controllers in EU Member States shall comply with uniform data protection rules. Even though European legislation sets detailed requirements for data controllers, the implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures can be realised at different levels of maturity. Based on the analysis of the pertinent literature, various maturity models are available to assess privacy policies, but GDPR requirements are addressed just partially. The exploration of the issue of maturity offers a new relevant research opportunity to assist data controllers in finding the appropriate methodology for the assessment and further development of their data protection measures.
 This paper has three main objectives. First, to systematically review the relevant literature on the issue of maturity. Second, to analyse the relevant maturity models and their main methodological elements. Third, to make suggestions for a new specific model focusing on GDPR requirements.