Šišková, N. et al.: European Law II. EU’s Single Internal Market.
Review of: Šišková, N. et al. "European Law II. EU’s Single Internal Market"; Praha, Wolters Kluwer ČR, 2012, 263 p by: Pavel Svoboda
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Review of: Šišková, N. et al. "European Law II. EU’s Single Internal Market"; Praha, Wolters Kluwer ČR, 2012, 263 p by: Pavel Svoboda
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Fair-trial guarantees were originally developed for the protection of natural persons accused of criminal conduct, taking into account the fact that such persons might be punished by imprisonment in case they would be found guilty. These guarantees stem from international, European and national law and the corresponding jurisprudence. Increasingly, this jurisprudence is being employed in proceedings of different nature - proceedings with legal persons, most often undertakings, equipped constantly with professional legal representation. Most case-law of such nature is connected with antitrust proceedings. On an example of privilege against self-incrimination, this article will argue that in antitrust proceedings against undertakings, the traditional jurisprudence, developed for the purposes of criminal proceedings, cannot be fully employed.
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Review of: Klimek, L. European Arrest Warrant, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015, 375 p. ISBN 978-3-319-07337-8
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Recent developments in certain Member States of the European Union have revealed that the values of the Union mentioned in Article 2 TEU are jeopardized. This holds true with regard to the respect for rule of law, the principle of democracy and human rights in particular. These tendencies have triggered a discussion as to the meaning and the implications of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU. The author pursues the thesis that these values can be described as constitutional principles underscoring that the Union is a public authority which relies on a constitution with substantive foundations. Moreover, these values are not of a purely meta-legal character but also permeate the whole legal order of the Union. As binding legal norms they inform the institutional system of the Union and shape the legal relationship between the Union and the Member States on the one hand and between the Member States on the other hand. The values may also serve as a yardstick for judicial review by the ECJ.
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The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept and content of EU acquis as well as on its role in the legal regulation of the European integration and of the EU external relations. The content of acquis is characterized by stability and flexibility depending on whether it forms the basis for the legal order of the European Union or fixed in international agreements with the third countries thus transposing the EU law in their internal legal orders. The signing of the Association Agreement by Ukraine with the European Union and its Member States provides for the country a perspective of its integration in the Union with possible membership in it upon the creation of the free trade area between both partners. The effective using of implementation legal tools requires from Ukraine establishing the proper and relevant legal background. Certain prerequisites for the application of the EU acquis into the Ukrainian legal order have been created. The legal basis for the realization of the EU law in Ukraine is formed by the Constitution and national legislation of Ukraine. However, Ukraine is required to make some radical amendments in its legislation to insure the efficient realization of the Association Agreement in the internal legal order. The most important instrument of the realization EU acquis in the internal legal order of Ukraine is harmonization of legislation. In relations between the EU and Ukraine the compatibility of the Ukrainian legislation with EU law can be achieved at the level of international obligations and the level of EU obligations. Harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with that of the EU remains the most powerful legal instrument for the expansion of the acquis into the internal legal order of Ukraine.
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Both competition and public procurement law constitute complex and independent, but to a large extent “closed” areas of law, with limited interdisciplinary discussions. An exemption is represented by a specific form of cartel agreements, taking place in the tendering procedure and manipulating with its outcome; these agreement are known as bid rigging. The relationship between competition and public procurement law is nonetheless more complex. We will argue in this article that certain principles, characteristic and indisputably beneficial in one of these disciplines, may be counterproductive in the other unless a right balance in their implementation is struck.
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The European Union called for the adoption of specific post-Lisbon instruments to ensure the protection of victims, namely the European protection order. The contribution deals with the European protection order in criminal matters and its comparison to the European protection order in civil matters. It is divided into three sections. While the first section is focused on general overview and legal basis of the European protection order in criminal matters, the second section analyses its definition and scope of application. In the third section the author compares the European protection order in criminal matters and the European protection order in civil matters.
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Until the end of December 2016, the Damage Directive 2014/104/EU shall be implemented into Czech law, as well as into national laws of all EU Member States. The new Directive should facilitate private claims based on infringement of competition law, known as “private enforcement". Although private enforcement is already available in all Member States, its implementation in practice is limited and uneven, due to numerous factual as well as legal barriers for potential claimants. The principle aim of this article is to evaluate the actual experience with private enforcement in selected EU Member States, namely in the Czech Republic, France and Hungary, on the basis of a thorough comparative analysis of several issues known to cause problems for private enforcment in practice.
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Europe is the green continent surrounded by water. Sea has always played an important role in connecting Europe to the rest of the world. After the dawn of 21th Century and further globalization of trade dependency of Europeans to inland waterways and international ports is growing more than ever. High level of seaborne economic activities at the EU is a good indicator for wealth and number of lives floating at any given moment and raises concerns regarding safety measures taken by Member States and the Union in order to minimise perils of sea for involved stakeholders. The EU enjoys establishment of strong regulatory framework in the area of maritime industry. However, no regularity system would be implemented effectively without existence of monitoring and compliance systems. Importance of access to monitoring and compliance system is much more evident in maritime industry due to its international nature, multiplicity of jurisdiction, dealing with long distance trips and difficulties on the way of inspections in international waters. There is no doubt that monitoring compliance at level of the EU ports is a huge challenge. However, use of effective monitoring and enforcement systems can be among the choices of authorities for the purpose of ensuring compliance of maritime industry with safety regulations. Therefore, paper tries to answer the question of what is the legal basis for monitoring and enforcement of compliance of ships during port state controls at the EU level and what are the tools used for this purpose? Towards achieving its gaol, paper continues with providing a short overview on EMSA in second chapter. Third part will discuss Port State Control System and it Legal framework in the EU. Forth part explains the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control while fifth part describes THETIS system as the operational arm used for enforcement of maritime regulations by EU authorities. At the end, final part will provide concluding remarks on the subject matter.
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The article deals with the relevant feature of the concept of undertaking in European competition law, particularly its definition as economic unit and possible transplantation of this concept into bankruptcy law. The main features of this concept that are related to parent liability and economic continuity. Furthermore the concept of parental liability is compared to concept of beneficial owner in European anti-money-laundering legislation and the concept of related party in Slovak insolvency law.
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The meaning of the general principles of EU law has been broadly developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union; however, for many years it had only limited competence in deciding criminal cases. The principle of direct effect is important for ensuring the efficient functioning of EU law. The aim of this research is to find out if and how this principle affects criminal justice. To reach this objective, the researchers examine how the substance and content of the principle, through the doctrine and the judgments of Court of Justice of the European Union, can influence national criminal law and criminal procedure. Afterwards, the actual impact of EU law on national criminal law is evaluated, taking Lithuania as an example. The analysis reveals that direct application of directives in material criminal law is highly unlikely, while in criminal procedural, law such a possibility is real if EU norms are clear, unconditional, and precise.
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This paper deals with the question, whether, how and to what extent the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU could enter the scene of constitutional review before the Czech Constitutional Court. In connection to Czech Republic, this question must react on the special constitutional category – Czech constitutional order, which includes also international agreements on human rights which are binding for the Czech Republic. The paper analyses the question, whether EU Charter can be understood as such international commitment or not and what are the options of its application by the Czech Constitutional Court and also how we can define its relation to the constitutional order. Paper distinguishes 3 scenarios: 1) inclusion of the EU Charter into the constitutional order of the Czech Republic; 2) refusal of formal inclusion of the EU Charter into the constitutional order of the Czech Republic; and 3) understanding of the EU Charter as association of constitutional order, capable to be used within the constitutional order even without the formal inclusion into the set of Czech constitutional rules.
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While the current EU Commission has shown a clear commitment to Western Balkans Enlargement, member states are divided. Germany and France, the two biggest EU member states have opposite views, whereas Germany is clearly in favour, France has its concerns. Throughout this article we assess the advantages (to enhance the geopolitical power of the EU) but also the challenges that this enlargement process entails (EU internal instability due to lack of rule of law). We conclude that differentiated integration could be the best option in finding a common agreement between the ones that support and the ones that oppose further EU enlargement by ensuring the EU influence in the region at the same time that it reduces the possible risks of internally weakening the EU.
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This article deals with the legal instrument of collective actions for competition law infringements. The text touches upon the pros but also cons of this concept interpreted usually as the boost needed for private enforcement of competition law, yet bringing also risks of selective protection of competition and even bullying competitors. The article provides illustration of the struggle between the effort to make collective actions and thus the private enforcement of competition law in general more attractive in the light of the blooming U.S. model and the concurrent legislators´ will to refrain from the most negative features of the model mentioned. An insight into the hitherto soft and hard law initiatives in the area of collective actions in the EU and the Czech Republic and their interplay with competition law is offered.
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Geo-blocking is the new phenomenon of the current digital era, which affects our everyday lives. Geo-blocking is a modern form of discrimination which is considered a geographically based restriction for consumers that may be a ban for free movements and therefore affect the single market of the European Union, too. The European Commission adopted the Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy in 2015 by which a new path forward to innovation was taken down. The new EU Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen aims not only the continuation of the development of the DSM to improve our digital welfare, but introduced the concept of the promotion of European way of life which is strongly interlinked with the digital aspects, too. As the human perspectives of our lifestyles came up to a higher level of policymaking, digital readiness, skills, and geo-discrimination might also be part of current debates. The research intends to present the geo-blocking as a new issue for the society, politics and economy, then broadly summarizes its definitions and the latest solutions for the treatment of unjustified restrictions in the EU.
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Tracing back the roots of the Global Compact for Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees, from the Sutherland Report, the New York Declaration, the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the Nansen Initiative, back to the Balkan wars, which led to the Temporary Protection Directive, one can identify two challenges, which combine, especially taking into account increasing mixed migration: One root is the wish to cope with situations of mass influx, when large numbers of people start to move across borders as refugees, displaced people or migrants. The other source is the climate change, which also could lead to migration and displacement of people. These two challenges were brought into a structure by the two compacts. This article describes the development, which led to the compacts, analyses, that the compacts do not create new obligations for the states and new individual rights, but give suggestions how to improve migration management, and shows, what the next steps could be.
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This paper outlines the complex trends of the EU-China relationship. The EU and China have an extensive and growing economic engagement. China’s “going global” and the Belt and Road initiative may provide further opportunities for cooperation. However, considerable challenges, concerns and uncertainty exist. There is a divergence of values and diversity of interests. The wider frameworks and regional formats, such as 17+1 have mixed results. Moreover, tense relations between the US and China complicate even further complex and delicate balance of interests and expectations between the EU and China. This study identifies the existing trends and add the new contributing impetus to EU-China relations from the Baltic perspective.
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Due to rapid technological developments, the sector of electronic communications law is very specific. In many aspects, electronic communications law is strongly linked to the application of competition law rules. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the terminology used in the Czech Act on Electronic Communications and its compliance with the terminology used in the Czech Act on the Protection of Competition, as well as its compliance with the EU terminology. Problems may be caused by inconsistencies in the terminology used, for example when defining the relevant market and subsequently identifying a competitor/an undertaking with a significant market power.
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The following work aims at analyzing the theme of regional environmental cooperation within the Northern Dimension, a joint policy created by the European Union together with Norway, Iceland and the Russian Federation which sees the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership as a collaborative dimension between governments, private companies, public stakeholders and local communities in the implementation of projects aimed at environmental protection. In the logic of international law, the dynamics of the NDEP are particularly interesting to study as representing a model of virtuous cooperation in the environmental protection field and in the prevention of international disputes related to cross-border pollution in the Nordic region. The precautionary approach that is actively enforced through the implementation of the of international environmental law obligations, makes the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership considered a unique example of its kind, thanks to its ability in contributing to sustainable development in the region.
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Article 50 of the TEU acknowledges the right of the member states to withdraw from the EU. The provision entitles to a unilateral, unconditional, but not immediate withdrawal from the European Union, which renders relatively easy in procedural terms to trigger the process. As landmark need should also be noted, Article 50 of the TEU releases from the strictures of public international law, and in case its absence of an explicit withdrawal, so the applicable law will be the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties. Short and long-term impacts could result from the negotiation process between the UK and the EU and “Hard” or “Soft” Brexit. In particular, how the “internal market” will be regulated, will it remain as a complete package or some part will be transformed depending on the future relations between the UK and the EU, the article will focus on the possible forms of relations such as Free Trade Agreement (FTA), European Economic Area (EEA), Custom Union Agreement (CUA), and Bilateral Agreement (BA).
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