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2018. No. 4
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Legal thought: history and contemporarity
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6–23
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This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of “state immunity” as reflectedin the legislation and judicial practice of the Russian Federation. A study in decisions ofRussian courts prior to the adoption of the Federal Law on Immunities of 2016 leads to theconclusion that, even during the juridical consolidation of the theory of absolute immunity inRussia, on a number of questions Russia in fact adhered to a theory of functional immunity.The concept of absolute immunity which the USSR followed (and which Russia as itslegal successor subsequently also followed) gradually began to conflict with the RussianFederation’s foreign economic activity and contract practices, and instances of Russia’srenunciation of absolute immunity increased in frequency. This tendency clearly shows that inthe 21st century the state cannot have absolute immunity because that version of sovereigntyconflicts with the global practice of state participation in private international relations. Inother words, the Russian Federation with the adoption of its Federal Law on Immunities hasmoved away from a theory of absolute immunity to acknowledge and employ a theory of thefunctional immunity of the state. At the same time, the Law on Immunities of 2016 alreadyrequires more elaboration and corrections even though it was only recently passed andimplemented. The methodology of study is based on the application of formal, logicaland comparative research methods together with general systematic methods of analysisand synthesis, deduction and induction. Questions touched upon in this article are widelydiscussed in establishing doctrines of private international law in both foreign and in Russianstudies. Issues connected with state immunity are raised by the authors and suggestions fortheir resolution are formulated based on the legal experience of contemporary Russia. |
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24–48
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In the digital age the development of robotics using artificial intelligence has reached anew scale and raises both socio-economic and legal problems. Of particular relevancein this context is the problem of the legal personality of robots, which are able to performindependent actions and to adapt to the environment. The resolution of the EuropeanParliament on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (2017) shows that the problem has not onlyscientific, but also practical or applied significance. In legal science, the interpretationof the concept of a person differs depending on legal understanding. According to a“narrowly realistic” understanding of the law a robot cannot be recognized as a legalsubject. On the contrary, according to the approach to the legal world as a special andself-sufficient reality, the question of the legal personality of the robot is pragmatic. Thearticle analyzes the history of the formation of the legal concept of a person and its rolein the legal concept of the world. For Roman jurists, the concept of a person (persona)meant, in the first place, a “mask”, i.e. this or that social function of a person. For themthe meaning of the legal concept of a person was never identical to the meaning of theconcept of the human personality. On the contrary, for European law, which was stronglyinfluenced by philosophical ideas, the problem of confusing the concepts of the personand the human personality is quite characteristic. The authors of the article come to theconclusion that uncritical perception of non-legal ideas and theories can become anobstacle to the development of law. The law can play an active role in the developmentof the economy and society as a whole only by preserving its identity. Thus, the questionof the legal personality of robots should be decided on the basis of a comprehensiveanalysis of the possible (economic and social) costs and benefits. Recognition of a robotas a legal entity is connected, first of all, with the need for more efficient allocation ofresponsibility. At the same time, the distribution of responsibilities is aimed at solving not only the economic, but also the legal problem, that of balancing the interests andadapting the law to social reality. The flexibility and elasticity of civil-law concepts leads tothe conclusion that the choice of a specific model of legal personality and distribution ofresponsibilities will depend on current needs and practices. |
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49–73
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The article is devoted to the soft law concept and its evolution in the modern world. Soft law reduces the degree of uncertainty in the law and at times is the only alternative to abandoning any regulation of people’s interactions. It is pointed out that the norms addressed to particular agents may have different degrees of being mandatory. If we depict the whole system of rules as a continuum and place each rule along it according to how binding it is, then soft law would be placed in the “grey zone” between law and non-law. It is not yet the law, but it is not merely politics, morality, traditions and the like. It is something intermediate between the two. Soft law instruments create uniform “rules of the game” for actors in cross-border relations. The purpose of the soft law concept is to decrease the “zones of uncertainty” in the law. Because of this, soft law, whether it is employed in global law-making systems or not, may be viewed as a source of effective instruments that decrease the level of uncertainty within systems of law. At the same time, the alternative to soft law is not hard law but the absence of any purposeful regulation at all. It is my considered opinion that in the prevailing condition of fragmentation in the official sources of international law, where common approaches are not supported by universal acts and are more typically regulated by bilateral agreements, soft law can offer all interested parties steady, uniform guidelines arrived at through compromise for law-abiding and mutually beneficial behaviour, thus increasing the stability and certainty of cross-border interactions. |
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74–92
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The institute of public discussion of legal act draft as a way of interaction between societyand state, a form of direct participation of citizens in public administration is important forensuring the effectiveness of law-making. High-profile public discussions that have takenplace recently, as well as the adoption of some normative legal acts without prior publicdiscussion, which caused a negative reaction from the public, scientific and businesscommunity, demonstrate the need for further study of the institute of public discussionof draft which contributes to establish a dialogue between civil society and state, to raisethe level of public level of confidence in public authorities and local self-government. Thepurpose of article is the doctrinal justification of the ways to improving legal regulation ofpublic discussion on draft. Using formal legal, historical, systematic methods of research,as well as the method of modeling, the authors come to the following conclusions andproposals: on overcoming terminological uncertainty of the current legislative andsublegislative regulation concerning public discussion and public expertise; on includingregulations on public discussion of the draft normative legal act in the Federal law, it ismore preferable — in the Federal law «On normative legal acts» and in the Federal law«On public discussion of drafting» (more detailed special regulation) taking into accountthe available positive experience of subordinate entities of federation; on expanding thescope of application of public discussion and the circle of initiators of public discussion;on establishing an obligatory character of public discussions of the draft of the FederalConstitutional law and Federal law; about the inclusion of the most significant projectsof normative legal acts in special sections to the Internet portal «regulation.gov.ru» tofacilitate their searching; on the mandatory drafting of current and future plans of lawmakingactivity of the authorities alongside with their publication for public information(except for plans of drafting of documents constituting a state secret, etc.), which,among other measures will help to solve the problem of the insufficient popularity ofpublic discussion procedures. It is concluded that public discussion should become anobligatory element of the law-making process. |
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93–111
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In Russia, 1990s have seen a hard process of transfer to market relations and to themodern principles of organizing public power, which affected seriously, but not abolishedcontent of state planning. Even in the most crisis prone period of national development,which has occurred between 1990 and 1993, the process of social and economicplanning at the level of the federal government developed fast. More than a hundred state programs were adopted in those years. The contemporary Budgetary Code had focusedon reforming the budget system to integrate it. Its main objectives were program-orientedapproach, ensuring the goal-oriented approach at its short-, mid- and long-term levels.Organizationally, the reform developed at there stages: 1) federal, 2) regional and 3) local.The specifics of the second one are that in the phenomenon of complex subordinateentity having emerged in the 1990s. These entities had required, in particular, a specialapproach to organizing and performing budgetary planning. The first decade of the 21stcentury saw an attempt to find a solution of the issue by the enlargement of some RussianFederation subordinate entities by attaching autonomous regions to krais and oblasts.However, due to a number of causes, it was not made with the Khanty-Mansiysk district /Yugra within Tyomen oblast and the Yamalo Nenets district still within Arkhangelsk oblast.As early as in the 1990s, a unique mechanism of the interaction of the regions in budgetarysphere started its formation. The research of the mechanism is of value as it serves as aguarantor of the Russian economy and budgetary system in 21st century. |
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112–127
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This article examines one of the issues of the Russian tax law, namely, the issue of accurate definition of forfeit under the legislation on taxes and charges. The paper analyses the change in the legal nature of forfeit under the Russian tax legislation, from the measure of responsibility for violation of tax legislation in the 1990s to the means of securing discharge of tax duty (with the entry into force of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in 1999).The research identifies the reasons of the alteration of the forfeit definition under Russian tax law and assesses their consequences for maintaining the balance of public and private interests in tax law.In accordance with current tax legislation the forfeit is charged with the goal of securing the performance of tax duty, which it (the forfeit) cannot fulfill due to the lack of appropriate material resources. Unlike bank guarantee, a suretyship and pledge of property, the forfeit does not guarantee compensation of the potential amount of the tax arrears, and as defined by the Constitutional Court of Russia, the forfeit is a restorative measure of a compulsory nature, which compensates to the budget system of the Russia untimely and incomplete payment of taxes.With the change in approaches to the definition of forfeit in tax law, there is a situation where three branches of legislation — tax, budget and customs — provide different definitions of forfeit. Obviously, this circumstance in Russian legislation cannot be considered satisfactory. The article addresses matters related to the novel legislations, which amended the rules of calculation of forfeit for the taxpayers — organizations and individuals. The new rules for calculation of forfeit for tax arrears created by the organizations are aimed at making the long delay with the payment of taxes as unfavorable as possible. The changes that took place in 2017 in the system of public finance management in Russia and the establishment of a single fiscal channel that combined taxes, customs payments and insurance contributions make it necessary to take a fresh look at the relationship between the institute of securing the performance of tax duty and the institute of securing payment of customs duties and taxes in accordance with the customs legislation of the EAEU. On the base of a comparative method, author compares the means of securing payment of customs duties and approaches on defining the forfeit charged for untimely payment of customs duties and taxes in all EAEU member states.The research formulates proposals on improving legislation regarding tax relations for the computation and payment of forfeit. |
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128–141
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On January 1, 2018, the Customs Code of the EAEU entered into force. Important developments are related to the fact that electronic declaration has now become an area of focus. This paper investigates impact of the application of this declaration form upon the efficiency of customs payments administration. For this purpose, the author conducted an analysis of the application of information and communication technologies in the activities of the customs authorities of the Russian Federation. It was justified that currently required level of organization of customs payments administration is not accomplished including due to the underdevelopment of the system for obtaining information on foreign trade prices, the lack of a systematic approach to the analysis of information on participants in foreign economic activities. The arguments are presented to confirm the conclusion that elimination of these obstacles is possible only with the use of progressive, innovative tools for administration of customs payments. The research substantiates the position that electronic declaration is the required instrument. For this purpose, a study in current application of the electronic declaration and the basis for its legal regulation in the Russian Federation was provided. The inherent positive aspects and identified unsolved problems were formulated and commented. It is indicated that modernization of information technologies, including for electronic declaration, is not new, but continues to fulfill the requirements of the action plan (“road map”) for improving customs administration. This statement is illustrated by the project on the administration of funds on the resource of the Unified Personal Accounts of the FC of Russia. The conclusion is substantiated that its application can be considered an effective tool for improving the of customs payments by simplifying calculations and reducing time of their implementation, as well as in connection with decrease of human factor influence. The position is argued that the mechanisms of the “single window” and electronic declaration are interrelated and the efficiency of the system of customs administration as a whole and customs payments as its component depends on their development. It was established the expectations from the application of electronic declaration, including on the improvement ofthe administration of customs payments, can be justified only under active convergence ofnational approaches among EAEU states in the implementation of information technology;for this purpose, an analysis of its legal framework at various levels was conducted: thelegislation of the members of the EAEU, acts of supranational and international level ofregulation. The results of the study can be applied not only in the Russia, but also in all EAEUmembers, where there is also no contemporary scholar basis for solving the issue underconsideration. |
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142–161
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The article is devoted to the most topical problems arising while applying personal datalegislation performing state control over observing requirements and the analysis ofjudicial practice including the protection of personal data of minors. The requirementsregarding personal data protection are examined in terms of ensuring the balance ofinterests of personality, society and business organizations, which supposes the balance,relevance and feasibility of the requirements including the requirement to guaranteethe adequate protection of personal data. Legal and technical requirements to protectpersonal data, the rights of legal persons and judicial interests of legal persons should bebalanced and sufficient not to impede the development of market and to avoid the violationof the interests of the subjects of personal data. The author has shown that the measuresof control usually target the observation of the data protection related to citizens, theobservation of the information protection but not the observation of the rights of citizenswhile processing personal data. The paper examines the general tendencies in thedevelopment and improvement of state control. The paper concludes that it is necessaryto update the organization of control activity related to the personal data protection,application of new technologies to process information. A special attention is given to theprotection of personal data for minors, in particular their biometric personal data. |
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162–180
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The paper argues that the repentance of an offender can make his punishment inappropriate and that courts must consider repentance as a sufficient reason not to inflict punishment at all or to reduce it. The discussion begins with an examination of the communicative theory of punishment which acknowledges that punishment must aim at the repentance of offenders. However, this theory, as brilliantly presented in the works of Antony Duff, does not admit generally that repentance is a sufficient reason to remit punishment. Another representative of the communicative theory, John Tasioulas, argues that repentance must be considered as a ground for mercy. Both writers, however, perceive repentance outside the normative framework of criminal justice process. The author argues that repentance can and must be an essential element in inflicting or remitting punishment. The reasons to support such a conclusion are drawn from a variety of writings ranging from traditional criminology to the theological writings of Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin. |
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181–165
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At the present level of development of the state and society, any relations regulated by laware a component of the system, which is either integral or seeks to become such. Equally,this thesis can be extended to monetary relations, presenting them as a special system.Structural elements of such a system are banknotes, their various denominations,procedures of their issuance, and organization of their circulation. However, this systemand its proper functioning are framed by the law that describes the system itself andregulates social relations within it, which was highlighted in the last anniversary reportof the Club of Rome. This is one of the philosophical mistakes that goes back to the ideaof Adam Smith that the boundaries of the market, law and morality coincide, and thatlaw and values represent only the background of these processes. Meanwhile, recentresearch in this area shows that an economic system’s functioning is limited by morefundamental rules — i.e., by law and morality. The monetary system plays no less of animportant role in this regard, as it is an essential component of the state in view of theinterrelationship and interdependence of a country’s national security and its socialand economic development. But, like any other relations regulated by law, monetaryrelations within the framework of this system are subject to protection by the state inorder to maintain a fluid balance (harmony); and the effectiveness of a national monetarymechanism, for which the legislative framework provides a wide array of measures,including criminal law. The subject of research is the system of monetary relations asan object of criminal legal protection. The purpose of this analysis is to discover whatcriminal legal mechanisms have been used to protect the domestic currency market inthe past, and what issues the monetary system is facing today. The article is preparedon the basis of a legal and technical analysis of legal norms, as well as comparativelegal and formal logical methods; i.e., the method of systemic analysis. According to theauthor, a historical analysis of the issue as framed will positively affect the developmentof a qualitative approach to resolving modern issues. The conclusion is that financialsecurity must comply with a tangible development of monetary relations and be adaptedto modern conditions, including those of criminal justice. |
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196–215
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The article is devoted to researching criminal legal problems of regulation of responsibilityfor declining and assisting in committing suicides as well as for organizing activities relatedto the propaganda of murders and suicides. New articles of the Criminal Code need inimprovement. Besides, outside the legal framework there remains the organization ofactivities aimed at encouraging the commission of the murder. The urgency of the issuesis due to the fact that, according to statistical information and research, the number ofsuicides remains at a high level, and qualitative indicators changing towards increasingthe number of victims among minors. The number of “motiveless” acts of aggression isgrowing, including at social infrastructure facilities provoked not without the participationof communities of social networks and channels of messengers of violent subjects. Forthe purpose of the study, the authors focused on the development of recommendationsfor improving criminal legislation taking into account the recent changes made to it in thefight against inducement and the promotion of suicide, as well as the great role of socialnetworks and messengers in people’s lives. During the research, the methodologicalbasis was the dialectical method of cognition because it allowed evaluating the subjectof research in connection with the norms of criminal law and social phenomena. Suchscholar methods, as comparative legal, normative dogmatic method and content analysiswere applied with the help of which it became possible to analyze social phenomena inthe context of their legal regulation. The article analyzes the provisions of criminal lawdoctrine regarding the problems of countering the external influence on committingsuicide and murder. The study of forensic investigation allowed us to identify modernqualitative changes of such influence. In the course of the study, the authors concludedthat it is possible to combine articles 110 and 110.1 of the Criminal Code of the RussianFederation because they contain significant similarities, and the perpetrator in the courseof their execution tends to the same result. The authors also proposed a version of theexpanded version of article 110.2 of the Criminal Code, covering the organization ofactivities aimed at encouraging not only suicide, but also murders. |
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216–234
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Forced feeding of convicts sentenced to imprisonment is one of the forms of interactionbetween administration of correctional institution and the prisoner. Social relations thatdevelop in connection with the forced feeding of convicts sentenced to imprisonmentare theoretically poorly studied and have numerous shortcomings, primarily stemmingfrom their legislative regulation (essence of incarcerated convicts’ forced feeding wasn’tnot clearly determined; form of the refuse of Incarcerated convicts from food also wasn’testablished; appropriate legislative regulation of legal status of convicts, appropriateofficials of the correctional institution and etc. is absent). In fact, only part 4 of article101 of the Penal Code of Russian Federation is the legislative basis for forced feeding ofsentenced convicts, in which the grounds for the use of forced feeding include the refusalof the convict to eat and the threat to his life, and the conditions of his appointment — thepresence of medical evidence. In connection with the presence of deficiencies in theirregulation of Penal Code of Russia and other normative acts, prison administration is notalways able to respond adequately to such actions of convicts. In connection with thedefects of their regulation in the Penal Code of Russia and other normative legal acts, theprison administration is not always able to respond adequately to such infringing actionsof convicts. Comprehensive series of practical and legal measures (in the context ofachievement of correction and prevention of commission of new crimes as the purposes ofthe penal legislation) aimed on the improvement of incarcerated convicts’ forced feedingwere formulated: a list of subjects that implement it; simultaneously improvement of thelegal status regulation of prisoners and the subjects of its application was proposed; it isrecommended to divide it on four stages each of which will have its own boundary andspecific area of legal relations; was proposed to improve the recovery of costs associatedwith refusal of food from the convicts. |
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235–253
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A special role of FAO in forming the system of international food security as a basis for lawenforcement practice in this area was noted. The problem of the correlation of internationallegal norms in the field of ensuring food security, including a list of basic internationalstandards regulating the quality and safety of products in food, processing industry, tradeand public catering enterprises and national law enforcement practice, is disclosed. Theconclusion is drawn that there is a feedback between national and international legislation:national regulations and standards are re-sealed by other participants of internationalorganizations and acquire international legal significance. The main issues related to theparticipation of the Russian Federation in ensuring the global food security problem areconsidered. The conclusion is formulated that, as a member of ISO and FAO, Russia takesan active part in the project on the development of standards and legislation in the field offood quality and safety in order to ensure harmonization of the latter with international andEuropean requirements, leading to significant changes in the procedure for standardizationof food. It is argued Russia’s accession to the WTO contributed to the optimization of theorder of the domestic regulation of sanitary and phytosanitary standards: their adaptationto WTO requirements is considered by authors as a reflection of the general trend in thereception of the norms of international law in this field. In conclusion attention is drawn tothe preservation of a gap in the field of ensuring international food security: the lack of aunified methodology for risk assessment, selection and research of samples of guarantedproducts, ensuring the quality and safety of food in the catering industry, and generalrules of control and supervision. The conclusion is drawn preservation of global issue offood security necessitates the development of international legal norms aimed at creatingright of food security as a separate sub-institution of international humanitarian law. |
Law in the modern world
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254–269
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Oral international treaties can be attributed to one of the sources of international law thatare less studied in the legal sciences and rarely used in the practice of interstate relations.Therefore, in the presented article on the basis of dialectical method of research, useof general scientific methods of research, as well as such private scientific methodsas: historical legal, comparative legal, method of legal modelling and legal forecasting,the results of the study of legal nature of oral international treaties are presented. Thework shows the advantages and disadvantages of such treaties and their attitude tothem in the doctrine of international law. The issue of increasing their role in regulatinginterstate relations is raised. Ordinary and treaty rules of international law governingthe process of conclusion, action, amendment, termination of oral international treatiesand other matters related to their functioning are considered. The history of formationof oral international agreements are described, their examples are given. Similarity anddistinction between oral and written international treaties, interaction of oral international treaties and domestic law are shown. The correlation of the term “oral internationalagreement” with such terms as “gentleman’s agreement”, “verbal agreement”, “verbalarrangement” is revealed. The requirements to be satisfied by modern oral internationaltreaties are substantiated. Among them: conformity of oral international treaties withuniversally recognized principles of international law (as well as for written internationaltreaties of UN members), non-contradiction of the UN Charter, as well as the legislation ofits States; their conclusion within the powers of officials provided by national legislation,international customs or international treaties of the States concerned. It is shown thatthe intention of the parties to conclude a legally binding oral international treaty, theconviction of States and other subjects of international law in its legal force are the mainsigns that allow to distinguish this kind of Agreement among other agreements in theinternational arena that are not legally binding. An oral international treaty proposes tounderstand the legally binding international agreement concluded between States, othersubjects of international law by their authorized representatives orally and regulatedInternational law, regardless of its specific name (“oral international treaty”, “verbalagreement”, “gentleman’s agreement”, etc.) and its possible further documentation, designed to regulate inter-state relations and enforced force of the constituent entitiesof international law. |
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270–299
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When European consumers wish to make an online purchase from a business located in a Member State of the European Union other than their home country, they are often offered higher prices or less favorable terms than those enjoyed by local consumers. This situation should change after the adoption by the Council of the European Union on February 27, 2018 of the Regulation on the prohibition of “geo-blocking” practices. Once this law enters into force in December this year, online traders will have to serve foreign consumers “the same as the locals”. From buying Swedish furniture on an Italian website to renting a car for their next holidays, EU consumers will not have to pay higher prices, be offered different conditions or have their credit card refused because they live in another EU member state. This law is just one of the 16 measures initiated by the Commission as part of its Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe aiming at removing restrictions to competition imposed by suppliers on selling goods and digital content to customers located in another member state. Other key measures include harmonized European Union rules on contracts for the supply of digital content and for online sales of goods, cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws, efficient and affordable cross-border parcel delivery, simplified VAT rules, copyright modernization and assessment of the role of online platforms and intermediaries. A fully functioning digital single market has the potential to contribute on the order of EUR 415 billion per year to European GDP. |
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300–312
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The subject matter of the article is the process of harmonizing close-out nettingregulation and the most important international standards in this area. Close-out nettingis a contractual instrument for the termination of obligations under a range of financialtransactions that is widely used in international markets. Mandatory bankruptcy rulesin many countries hinder close-out netting operation resulting in the need for adoptingnational laws aimed at the recognition and enforceability of close-out netting. Supportedby international bodies in the field of financial markets regulation, international standardsfor the harmonization of close-out netting legislation were adopted. The main objectiveof these instruments is the formation of model rules and guidelines to be used bylegislators and regulators in their activities. Model Netting Act, drafted and published bythe International Swaps and Derivatives Association in 1996, became the first in a rangeof such documents. Subsequently, the organization has published updated model nettinglaws in 2002 and 2006. For eight years, these model acts were the only standards inthat area and have been used for implementing netting laws in several key jurisdictions.Subsequently, renowned international organizations in the field of unification of private lawjoined the harmonization process. UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law (2004)and UNIDROIT Principles of Close-out Netting (2013) were adopted to put close-outnetting relations in order. All close-out netting instruments have similar scope (financialcontracts) and are focused on the restriction of certain institutions of insolvency law, suchas the prohibition of set-off shortly before and amidst the bankruptcy process, the right tochallenge or reject the execution of transactions as well as imposing a moratorium on thetermination of obligations. However, the UNIDROIT Principles can be considered as themost preferred tool for legislators and regulators since the document takes into accountthe interests of all the parties involved as well as the latest developments in the field offinancial markets regulation and financial institutions resolution. |
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313–331
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The paper consists of two parts. The first part studies the content, theory and methodsof discovering illegally acquired property. The process of the discovery is defined asprocedural, cognitive, cyclic activity facilitating to study latent criminal activity andlatent illegal actions to acquire illegal property. The paper shows the major signs andcharacteristics of the process of revealing criminal activity. The second part of the paperanalyzes Law # 101/2010 On Proving the Source of Origin of Property which enteredinto force January 1, 2011. The law has failed to cope with its task and expectation. Thecourts did not make a decision on confiscation of the property in any of the cases. Thefact shows that the measures specified in the law are inefficient. To make it efficient the law requires updating. As Law # 101/2010 limits the property rights of people, itwas necessary to include exceptions due to the limitations of property rights when theproperty was obtained illegally. The law was based on the principle that every person mayconfirm officially the sources of profit. In the process of drafting the law, the experience ofItaly, England and Wales was taken into consideration. Civil procedure compared with thecriminal one is more flexible as the latter is based on the presumption of innocence, banon retroactivity, burden of proof imposed on state. |
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332–353
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At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries the Arctic region has become one of themost important centers of concentration of various international interests: economic,geopolitical, academic research, environmental and many others. But at the same time,the corresponding problems coincide with the interests of different states: the disputesthat arise between states about the legal status of certain maritime areas in the Arcticentail legal uncertainty as to the legitimacy of the extraction by representatives of a givenstate of marine living or mineral resources, the jurisdiction of the state in certain maritimeareas, as well as bringing to responsibility for damage to the natural environment and manyother issues arising in connection with human activities in the Arctic region. Moreover,at the beginning of the 21st century, such a problem arose as a disagreement betweenthe Arctic and non-Arctic states regarding the extraction of marine living resources in theArctic Ocean and the development of hydrocarbon deposits on its continental shelf andin the International Seabed Area of this ocean. To resolve and further prevent disputesarising between states in connection with their activities in the Arctic, it is necessaryto analyze the mechanism of cooperation between them in the region at all levels ofinternational legal regulation: universal, regional and subregional. Having explored themechanism of international cooperation, it is possible to designate the following: at eachlevel of international legal regulation, there are international treaties and internationalorganizations that are called upon to implement them, in the Arctic region. But at the sametime, the levels of legal regulation of the Arctic regime are not linked, because there is nodirect relationship either between treaties adopted at various levels, or between bodiesor organizations functioning in accordance with such treaties. It is also important to notethat many sectoral cooperation in the Arctic region have not yet been resolved at all oronly partially resolved. In this connection, it seems appropriate to conclude internationaltreaties aimed at regulating cooperation on specific (sectoral) issues: the legal status ofthe peoples of the Arctic, the development of mineral resources, the extraction of marineliving resources and the protection of the environment. |
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354–376
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In this article based on the use of the comparative legal research method (internaland external) the constitutional legal nature and the inherent features of the status ofCanadian Indians and their settlements are studied. On the basis of the historical-legalmethod, the genesis of the institutionalization of legal status of the Indians in the contextof the implementation in Canada of trends and forms of equating them is studied. Thedialectical method is involved in identifying identities and contradictions betweenconstitutional-legal approaches to regulating the status of Indians among themselves,as well as settlements in relation to the provinces and municipalities of Canada, theconcept of territorial autonomy. The relevance of the topic is determined by the feasibilityof studying the Canadian experience for its possible consideration in the legal regulationof the status of the indigenous peoples of Russia. The novelty of study is predeterminedby a certain lack of relevant materials in Russian legal science on constitutional-legalproblems of regulating the statuses of Indian, Indian settlements. In addition, for thefirst time, the constitutional-legal status of Indian settlements was analyzed fromthe perspective of the concept of territorial autonomy. According to the results of thiswork, the author substantiates the principle expediency of consolidating the status ofindigenous peoples in the form of a self-government regime in the national constitution,within the framework and on the basis of which an adaptive regulatory and legal systemcould later be developed more productively. With regard to Canadian statehood, it should be noted the regulation of the constitutional and legal status of Indians is carried outnot only by federal law and agreements between the federal government and the Indiancommunities, but also by provincial legislation and acts of Indian groups, which often causeconflicts. Attention is drawn to the more successful experience of the institutionalizationof the judicial authorities of the American Indian community. The criteria for determiningterritorial autonomy formulated in the scientific literature are analyzed. It is noted thatwith the formal application of these criteria to the constitutional- legal statuses ofIndian settlements in Canada, one could state their belonging to territorial autonomiesof a political type. At the same time, this approach does not quite accurately reflect theinstitutional correlation of Indian settlements and territorial autonomies. The author putsforward his own version of identification of intra-state entities as territorial autonomies,on the basis of which it is stated that Indian settlements can be qualified as territorieswith signs of limited autonomy. Such a conclusion is due to the lack of resources for theimplementation of their powers, guarantees of independence and non-intervention of thefederal authorities. As a possible conceptual tool for improving the constitutional- legalstatus of Indian settlements, the rationality of using the institution of territorial autonomyis emphasized. |
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