Postupy Evropské komise při ukládání pokut v případech porušení pravidel ochrany soutěže

Author(s): Tomáš Fiala / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/1996

The Commission has power under Articles 15 and 16 of Regulation 17/62 to fine firms which have been guilty of offences under Articles 85 or 86 of the EEC Treaty. An individual firm may be fined as much as 1.000.000 ECU or 10% of its turnover in all products, worldwide, in the preceding year, whichever is the greate. In recent years the Commission has been imposing much heavier fines for obvious infringements of the competition rules such as dividing up the common market and price fixing. Many factors influence the Commission when deciding how large a fine to impose. These include the length and gravity of the infringement, the behaviour of the parties, the product market, profits they derive from the unlawful behaviour. Various issues may be relevant in mitigation, including the willingness with wich the parties agreed with the Commission to terminate the behaviour to which it objected. Under Article 172 of the EEC Treaty, the ECJ has unlimited jurisdiction to hear appeals against fining decisions. Payment of fines may be enforced in member States in the same way as domestic judgments. It is submitted that the Commission's fining policy needs to become more transparent. Senior Commission official suggested that the Commission should take inspiration from the U.S. experience and issue sentencing guidelines containing a transparent set of minimum tariffs for fines.

Několik informací a poznámek k instituci ombudsmana pro místní správu ve Velké Británii

Author(s): Soňa Skulová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/1996

The institution of ombudsman is stili only being discussed and respectively proposed in the Czech Republic. The object of the paper is to offer certain amount of information and experience of application of one kind of the ombudsman institution - the Local Government Ombudsmen (LGO) in Great Britain and and in greater detail in England, which is represented by the Commission for Local Administration set up by Part III of the Local Government Act 1974, consisting of the Parliamentary Ombudsman and three Local Goverment Ombudsmen. The Commission's main objective, which is set out in each annual report, is the investigation of complaints of injustice arising from maladministration with a wiev to securing, where appropriate, both satisfactory redress for the complaint and better administration. The LGO are in a position to consider complaints against almost all types of local authorities, dealing with significant areas of local administration (the vast majority of investigations involve local councils). The LGO has, in general, the power to investigate, recommend correctvive action, and issue report. lf an LGO reports a finding that injustice has been caused to the complainant in consequence of maladministration, the local authority has a duty to consider the report and notify the ombudsman of the action taken, or what action is proposed to be taken. Not all authorities, however, are prepared to accept the LGO's decision. lf an authority does not satisfactory respond to a further report, the ambudsman may require the authority to publish a statement in a local newspaper, specifying the recommended action they have not taken, and, if they wish, their reasons for not complying with the LGO's reccommendation. The paper tries to fomulate in conclusion that the institute of local ombudsman is an organic part of the system of democratic and effective public administration and the state under the Rule of Law and that time-tested experience in this field should not be neglected.

Úmluva o občanskoprávních aspektech mezinárodních únosů dětí

Author(s): Alena Prokopová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/1996

The article discusses the **Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction**, highlighting its significance and the need for its ratification by the Czech Republic. The Convention, adopted in 1980 and currently binding in 43 countries, aims to address the issue of international child abductions by providing legal mechanisms for the return of abducted children and ensuring cooperation between states. Despite being signed by Czechoslovakia in 1992, the Convention has not yet been ratified by the Czech Republic, leaving a gap in the legal framework for addressing such cases. The article emphasizes the importance of the Convention in protecting the best interests of the child and facilitating the legal return of abducted children to their rightful guardians. It also outlines the objectives of the Convention, including expediting legal proceedings, ensuring the child's safety, and promoting international cooperation. The author argues that ratifying the Convention would not only resolve the issue of child abductions but also strengthen the legal position of Czech citizens abroad.

Zákon o soudní rehabilitaci č. 82/1968 Sb. jako výraz právní diskontinuity vývoje v 50. a 60. letech

Author(s): Jaromír Císař / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/1996

The article discusses the Law on Judicial Rehabilitation No. 82/1968 Sb. in Czechoslovakia, which aimed to address injustices from the 1950s political trials. It highlights the Prague Spring as a pivotal moment for legal reforms, leading to the creation of the law. The law provided a framework for rehabilitating unjustly convicted individuals, emphasizing the need for a formal legal process. It also addressed the limitations of previous rehabilitation efforts and the political compromises involved. The article details the procedures and criteria for rehabilitation, including the establishment of special senates and the role of the Supreme Court. It also mentions the financial implications and the partial restitution of property. The law's impact was significant but limited by political and legal constraints of the time.

The Instrumentalisation of the Right to Reparation and Dealing with the Past between Germany and Poland

Author(s): Simon Andre Klein / Language(s): English Issue: 30/2022

Dealing with the past is an essential part of transitional justice. It combines the four main pillars: the right to know, the right to justice, the right to reparation, and the guarantee of non-recurrence. Dealing with the past indicates that a significant amount of time has passed since the crime and injustice. Therefore, the problem of forgetting and modifying history deliberately or unconsciously forms the core of the instrumentalisation of dealing with the past. On the one hand, unconscious forgetting or modifying is usually the result of a non-responsible educational system (youth and adult education); on the other hand, deliberate modification of the past is driven by the desire to reach an aim which morally cannot be supported by its measures. One can observe governmental desire to modify and therefore instrumentalise history to secure the government’s power, divert attention from domestic issues and thus shape national pride/patriotism which is built on a selective historical memory. This article highlights the development of German and Polish relationships in the context of reparations for World War II and a selective history spread by the German movement called ‘Prussian Claims Society’ that fights, using selective Nazi analogies, to reclaim former German property from Poland represented by the Polish government. The movement also wants to create a selective history to divert attention from the national separation of the population. The aim of the article is to show how Germans and Poles handle the topic of reparations for World War II.

КОХАБИТАЦИЈА У ДРЖАВАМА СА ПАРЛАМЕНТАРНИМ СИСТЕМОМ ВЛАСТИ И (НЕ)ФУНКЦИОНИСАЊЕ ЕГЗЕКУТИВЕ

Author(s): Milan Pilipović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2022

The term cohabitation refers to the occurrence of political coexistence between the president of the republic and the prime minister who belong to different and opposing political options. In such situations, the question arises of the functioning of the executive power, in the sense of the efficient and coordinated action of the president of the republic and the government, as two heads of the executive. The term cohabitation, in literature, is associated with the French semi-presidential system of government. However, analyzing the constitutional norms on the position of the president of the republic and the constitutional-political practice in the parliamentary countries of the region, in a situation where the directly elected president of the republic belonged to one political option, and the government and the parliamentary majority consisted of another political option, the author believes that the concept of cohabitation, in its theoretical meaning, can also be used in republics with a parliamentary system of government. This was shown and analyzed on the example of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of North Macedonia, where cohabitation existed several times.

Show Trials in Slovenia: The Case of Ljubo Sirc

Author(s): Tamara Griesser Pečar / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Ljubo Sirc was a member of the Stara pravda group. In 1943, he fled to Switzerland in order to explain the situation in Slovenia to the Yugoslav government and the British Allies, but they would not listen to him. After the Tito-Šubašič Agreement, he joined the Partisans. After the war, he was an interpreter and had contact with British, American and French representatives in Ljubljana. He also tried to organize a political opposition. Ljubo Sirc was accused of spying and treason and was sentenced to death in the so-called Nagode trial. His sentence was then commuted to twenty years of forced labour. After seven and a half years, he was set free in 1954. Because the secret police wanted him to collaborate and because he found no work, he illegally left Yugoslavia and went to Great Britain, where he was a professor of economics in Glasgow. After 34 years, he came back to Yugoslavia for the first time. His verdict was annulled, but he got only a small part of his and his family’s property restituted. In 1992, Sirc was the presidential candidate of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia.

Ustavno sodišče Republike Slovenije kot varuh človekovega dostojanstva

Author(s): Boštjan Kolarič / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2019

Human dignity and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms represent the core values of the Republic of Slovenia, thus distancing it from the SFRY, which did not respect the principles of the rule of law and severely violated human rights. In its initial period of operation, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia also gave its opinion on the previous regime and its violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which was greatly influenced by the judge of the Constitutional Court dr. Lovro Šturm. In many of its court decisions and separate opinions, the Court found that the forms of violence carried out by the communist totalitarian regime in the Slovenian territory were unlawful, since the legislation was illegitimate, and most of it was adopted and used as a means for the violence and carrying out of the communist revolution and the establishment of the totalitarian regime. Furthermore, the judiciary was politically used and misused as assistance in the carrying out and maintaining of the revolution until the fall of the communist totalitarian regime in 1990.

Dr. Franc Klar: zdravnik in narodni poslanec pred Sodiščem slovenske narodne časti

Author(s): Mateja Čoh Kladnik / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2019

Dr. Franc Klar (1896–1967) was a doctor and politician from the Prekmurje region. He began participating in politics at the beginning of the 1930s, he was associated with the Slovenian People’s Party and was also elected as a national representative. During the Second World War, he was forbidden from practicing his profession as a doctor and was under constant police surveillance. At the beginning of 1945, he was mobilised as a military doctor and carried out medical examinations of military recruits. Immediately after the war, he became the head of the medical authorities for the Lendava county. He was arrested and imprisoned in July 1945; on 24 August, he was sentenced by the Senate of the Court of Slovenian National Honour in Murska Sobota to 15 years of loss of national honour, six years of heavy forced labour and confiscation of his entire property. The trial was set up quickly, and the Court only considered the incriminating evidence when sentencing him. The trial was of a political nature, and Klar’s rights to a fair trial and defence were violated.

Prawnicy kontra zbrodniarze

Author(s): Filip Gańczak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 18/2022

Review of: Filip Gańczak - Joanna Lubecka, Niemiecki zbrodniarz przed polskim sądem. Krakowskie procesy przed Najwyższym Trybunałem Narodowym, Kraków: IPN i Ośrodek Myśli Politycznej, 2021, 392 s.

In memoriam Anton Drobnič (1928–2018)

Author(s): Tamara Griesser Pečar / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1/2018

Obituary of Anton Drobnič (1928-2018).

Ogólnopolskie seminarium naukowe „Współczesne zagrożenia demokracji: dezinformacja w kampaniach wyborczych”, Toruń, dnia 3 lutego 2022 roku

Author(s): Michał Kołbuc / Language(s): Polish Issue: 42 (1)/2023

PREGLED PROCESUIRANJA PREDMETA RATNIH ZLOČINA “A” KATEGORIJE PRED PRAVOSUĐEM BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE

Author(s): Sead Bandžović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 93/2023

The establishment of the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the year 2002, and later of its Department for War Crimes in 2005, represent significant leap towards processing of the war crimes cases committed during the war (1992-1995) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until December 2022, a total number of 256 such cases were effectively finalized. The cases of the so-called “A” category Rules of the Road procedure, drew the particular attention of the experts as well as that of the public. Namely, in February 1996, representatives of Serbia, Croatia, and B&H signed the Rome Statement declaring the Common Civil Commission for Sarajevo. Article 5 of the Statement demands that persons may be arrested or prosecuted only pursuant to a previously issued order, warrant, or indictment that has been reviewed by the International Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY). These control mechanisms (better known as the Rules of the Road) were active until 2004, when ICTY, as a part of its completion strategy, delegated this right to the Prosecution Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This article presents a brief review of the processed cases along with problems that occurred during the trials as well as a review of the current situation in this field.

Road to Democratic Confederalism - from idea of Socialist Kurdish State to Autonomous Administration

Author(s): Mehmet Sait Guler / Language(s): English Issue: 56/2023

The article analyzes the theory of Democratic Confederalism that had been established in Northern Syria in the beginning of 2014. Three cantons had been declared in Northern Syria, a region also called as Rojava by Kurds and the system for governance of the cantons was Democratic Confederalism. Democratic Confederalism is a governance system which had been theorized by Abdullah Ocalan. Democratic Confederalism is a governance system that rejects the nation-state and its ideology and proposes a new system that does not rely on any kind of state. The article started with the evolvement of A. Ocalan`s ideology from socialism, in the early 1970s, to Democratic Confederalism in the beginning of 2000s. The article also explained Democratic Confederalism and introduced the main principles of the system. After explaining the system of Democratic Confederalism, the article focuses on governance of Cantons that had been declared in Northern Syria. The last part of the paper finds out whether Democratic Confederalism is functional or not based on experience in Northern Syria.

PRIMJENA KONVENCIJE O SPREČAVANJU I KAŽNJAVANJU ZLOČINA GENOCIDA PRED MEĐUNARODNIM SUDOM U HAGU U PREDMETU BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA PROTIV SRBIJE I CRNE GORE

Author(s): Faris Hasanović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 24/2023

The subject of this paper is the analysis of the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1951 before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro, for violating the provisions of this Convention. This Court shall, in accordance with Article IX of the Convention, have jurisdiction in disputes between contracting states, concerning the interpretation, application and enforcement of the Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a state for the crime of genocide or any other offense established in Article III of the Convention. Article I of the Convention stipulates that states are obliged to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrator. Furthermore, the responsibility of states under Article IX of the Convention relates only to the state’s failure to prevent the commission of genocide and other acts under Article III of the Convention and to punish the perpetrators. An analysis of the text of the Convention and the content of the claim of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 24 April 2006, shows that the claim of Bosnia and Herzegovina falls outside the scope of Article IX of the Convention, which is especially problematized in this paper by the author.

NEGOTIATED JUSTICE IN INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTIONS AND CRIMINAL COURTS

Author(s): Alexandru Sava / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 35/2023

For the international prosecutors and judges, making use of negotiating justice is a subject of controversy. Although rarely, this solution is used when prosecutors decide it is opportune, due to particular circumstances in certain cases. In this material are analysed some of the reasons both for, and against, the use of this special procedure, regarding the activity of the International Criminal Court, and also the - foreseeable one - of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND TORTS. THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIOLATION AND INJURY IN THE LIGHT OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE (THE FIRST PART)

Author(s): Ionuț – Gabriel Dulcinatu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 35/2023

The process of administering justice is absolutely necessary to give priority to the most serious violations of human rights, those that bring the greatest impact on social relations protected by national and international criminal law on human dignity. This requires the pawns of the justice apparatus to be honest about what is possible, making the most appropriate decisions about all types of violations and their victims, i.e. adopting a transparent and accountable decision-making process. Such decisions must be based on human rights principles, including both non-discrimination and a gender-based approach. The experiences examined in this chapter make a strong case for prioritizing violations of the right to life, including disappearances and violations of personal integrity, including rape and other serious forms of sexual violence, torture, and injuries that cause personal disabilities. If these categories are sufficiently covered, other violations of personal freedom such as forced recruitment of children, internment in violation of international humanitarian law, deportation and ethnic cleansing could be included. This implies adopting a different approach from those currently used by the complaints commissions, which have accepted all types of violations, without any basis for prioritization. Treating violations as more than isolated incidents allows for more effective determination of operational or systemic failures that have led to multiple violations of international humanitarian law. This could help to address violations more comprehensively and define adjustments and reforms that could help ensure non-repetition. Furthermore, this approach supports the development of a defined policy by clearly prioritizing categories of victims according to a certain hierarchy of violations in a way that can contribute to the affirmation of the most fundamental values that govern society, emphasizing the importance of reaching poor and marginalized victims. This is particularly important when the limited availability of resources means that some categories of victims will be left out of the reparation effort. Furthermore, if the policy targets certain violations considered to be the most serious, there is no need to add a requirement that the violations be systematic or widespread in nature, which is inappropriate in defining the right to redress. Such an approach would allow all victims of violations to be included, without distinction. In situations where parties to a conflict have committed serious violations, decisions intended to include all types of violations of the same gravity can guarantee that victims of the same violations are included in ex officio programs, which cannot be guaranteed through litigation. Court decisions that grant reparations only to those who end up with successful claims can create resentment among other victims who will feel that they do not have equal access to justice and will consider themselves marginalized from society and the justice system. On the other hand, judicial decisions could prompt political solutions that could lead to agreements or policies addressed to larger groups of people, but even if this is true, the belief that a comprehensive policy will be better than isolated decisions remains incidental and that the latter are useful only in so far as they might lead to the former. Thus, litigation should not be limited but encouraged, in order to obtain the most extensive and impactful results. This is why it is of particular importance to carry out a thorough analysis of legislative violations, through the lens of identifying the specifics of their commission, in relation to the victimizing impact on the target persons. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to know the personal, social and financial implications of the violations, on the victims, in order to allow the justice system to adopt the best mechanisms in the process of repairing the damages caused.

Sprawozdanie z realizacji projektu badawczego pt. „Crises and democracy: the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on V4 countries’ electoral systems”

Author(s): Monika Florczak-Wątor,Grzegorz Kuca / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

"HEINOUS CRIMES WHOSE RECORD WOULD RUN TO MORE THAN 2,000 PAGES": AN ANALYSIS OF FIVE JAPANESE PERPETRATORS' STATEMENTS ON JAPAN'S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN CHINA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Author(s): Kyu-hyun Jo / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2023

Using five testimonies from Japanese war criminals tried at the Shanghai Military Tribunal, I argue that the testimonies commonly reflect three facts. First, Japanese war crimes in China during World War II can be classified into four types: murder, rape, destruction of private property, and "academic espionage"— reporting on China's political and socio-economic conditions to assist and facilitate Japan's invasion of China. Second, although the perpetrators did confess their crimes, their apologies could not be judged as entirely sincere, for some used the Japanese Emperor or the imperial system as a scapegoat and an excuse for committing the crimes. Finally, the variety of crimes which the Japanese witnesses admitted and their use of the Japanese emperor and Japanese imperialism as excuses to justify their engagement in such crimes demonstrates the necessity of further research into the extent of Japan's war crimes and a corresponding acknowledgement and an official apology from the Japanese Government.

Un nou caz de TVA pierdut de Romania la Curtea de Justitie a Uniunii Europene - C-532/22 Westside Unicat

Author(s): Cristian Velcu,Teodora Rusu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 6/2023

With this negative decision, the ANAF score in VAT cases resolved by the Court of Justice of the European Union is of only approximately 10% won cases (although the percentage of wins in cases resolved by Romanian courts is of 60-70% and the percentage of wins as a result of resolving appeals by the Ministry of Finance is of approximately 90%). In case C-532/22 Westside Unicat, although the subject is of limited applicability (the VAT treatment applicable to video chat services), the approach of the tax authorities is relevant. Although it is legal for ANAF to have an unitary approach in the application of fiscal treatment for similar factual situations, the assumed opinion was erroneous from the beginning. All the legal and factual arguments had indicated a different VAT treatment (including the fact that the Ministry of Finance had consulted the EU VAT Committee on this subject and the answer received was unequivocal). The court decision is mandatory for all the open litigations on this topic in Romania.