Suppose the USA had REACH: ramifications for formaldehyde

The Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation for regulating chemicals came into force in the EU in June 2007. This framework is stricter and more precautionary than its counterpart in the USA – the Toxic Substances Control Act – in that it requires data submissions for not only new but existing chemicals as well. This study evaluates the REACH process by assuming that the program exists in the USA and by taking formaldehyde, which is widely used yet toxic at certain doses, through the steps of REACH. We find that the attractive features of REACH are that it shifts more of the technical burdens of regulation to industry and that it may stimulate competitive pressures for safer, ‘greener’ products. Downsides include technical ambiguities in the analytical guidance, a potential for creating large amounts of paperwork, and perhaps a small risk reduction relative to the costs of the legislation. We recommend additional case studies with other existing chemicals to obtain a fuller picture of the potential ramifications of REACH‐like legislation in the USA.     

The ‘perfect storm’ of REACH: charting regulatory controversy in the age of information,sustainable development,and globalization

The European Union's new chemicals regulation, REACH, has been one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in EU history. Indeed, the debate over REACH is akin to a ‘perfect storm’ in that the intense controversy over it has been caused by three regulatory aspects of the regime. First, REACH privatizes information collection, provision and assessment. Second, REACH represents a significant application of sustainable development and in so doing, redefines the conditions on which the EU chemicals market operates. Third, REACH will inevitably have inter‐jurisdictional impacts for both supranational and national legal cultures including trade law implications, REACH being a template for international initiatives, it being a policy/legal irritant in other jurisdictions, and it providing information for public and private action in other jurisdictions. A charting of these different aspects of the regime not only provides a more nuanced account of REACH but also provides a clearer understanding of the challenges of regulating environmental and health risks in an era of market globalization.     

Catastrophe Risk Financing in the United States and the European Union: A Comparative Analysis of Alternative Regulatory Approaches

The regulation of insurance companies in the United States and the European Union (EU) continues to evolve in response to market forces and the changing nature of risk but with somewhat different philosophies and at different rates. One important area where both economic realities and markets are changing is catastrophe risk and its financing. This article examines and compares regulatory and other government policies in the United States and the EU generally and their approaches to the financing of catastrophe risk specifically. It is important to understand the fundamental differences between the two systems to gain insights into their disparate treatment of catastrophe risk financing. Although policies could be improved in both jurisdictions, we argue that the much greater reform is needed in the United States relative to the EU regulatory policies that are being developed. We offer recommendations on how U.S. policies could be significantly improved as well as comment on issues facing the EU. We conclude with some observations on the needs for further progress in the U.S. and EU regulatory systems.     

THE EFFECT OF STATE TORT REFORMS ON CLAIM FILINGS

Abstract: Currently, the U.S. Congress continues to debate the passage of a tort reform bill. Such a bill is intended to limit legal liabilities, particularly as they relate to product accidents. While passage of a federal law in the 1990s remains difficult, many states found tort reform a successful proposition a decade earlier. The intent of this paper is to add to the discussion regarding the expected effects of tort law modifications by providing some background on the most widely enacted state tort reforms, presenting results from the literature on actual and expected effects of these reforms, and presenting new empirical evidence on the efficacy of these same reforms. The results indicate that caps on non-economic damages and imposition of fines on frivolous litigation are negatively related to the rate of tort filings, while modification of joint and several liability demonstrates a positive relationship with the rate of tort filings, and reforms of the collateral source rule and imposition of punitive damages demonstrate no effect.     

The role of transparency in regulatory governance: comparing US and EU regulatory systems

The United States and European Union have focused on improving the practices used to develop and implement legal requirements as a way to improve the quality of regulations themselves. Transparency in the regulatory process, from determining regulatory goals, to evaluating alternative means to achieve those goals, to enforcing regulatory requirements, features high on the agenda of cross-cutting government reform programs that address the issue of ‘regulatory quality.’ This article examines the transparency of procedures in the US and the EU related to impact analysis and public comment. It examines the importance of transparency for ensuring the effectiveness of these two regulatory practices, summarizes regulatory procedures in the US and the EU, compares the different approaches, and highlights the relative merits of each.     

税收法定原则的宪法植入方式

全面落实税收法定的政策要求与立法实践,保障着我国财税制度改革能够获得稳定的法律环境。然而,作为税法基本原则的税收法定主义在我国宪法中却未能得到确立,宪法第五十六条显然无法兼容"控制政府征税权"的逻辑基点。为使征税权控制获得根本法层面的正当性,并使宪法内容与改革所追求的社会秩序相适应,梳理和借鉴域外各国的经验模式,应当在宪法的"公民权利义务"章节和"人民代表大会职权"章节做出条款补充,以符合中国实际的小范围修宪的方式,稳妥地实现税收法定原则的宪法植入。     

美欧规制大型科技企业不正当竞争行为举措简析

近几年,美欧围绕搜索引擎、社交媒体、在线零售服务等领域,聚焦垄断、侵犯数据隐私、规避税款等问题,频频对谷歌、苹果、脸书、亚马逊等科技巨头开展调查.近期,为维护消费者等利益相关方合法权益,促进市场公平竞争,美欧加紧推进立法,明确在线平台责任,加大对科技巨头规制力度.本文分析了美欧针对大型科技企业采取的相关规制举措,指出由于科技巨头商业模式复杂隐蔽,以及监管立场差异性,美欧相关规制措施成效仍有待观察.鉴于我国数字经济整体仍处于大而不强阶段,不宜照搬美欧监管模式,而应平衡规范与发展二元目标,既要加强规制,坚决反对垄断和不正当竞争行为,又应支持数字经济发展壮大,推动平台经济、共享经济平稳健康发展.     

The risk-based approach under the new EU data protection regulation: a critical perspective

Abstract

The first broad reform of personal data protection legislation in the European Union entered into force in May 2018 (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the General Data Protection Regulation). Remarkably, with this reform a risk-based approach has been introduced as the core data protection enforcement model, while data protection authorities see their regulatory role significantly weakened. The risk-based approach is to be implemented by the data controllers (i.e. the operators) via data protection impact assessments (evoking the established environmental impact assessment procedure) and notification of breaches, among other procedures. Hence the scope of both the concepts of risk and risk regulation spread beyond conventional domains, namely the environment, public health or safety, i.e. physical risks, to encompass risks to intangible values, i.e. individual rights and freedoms, presumably harder to assess and manage. Strikingly, the reform has been accompanied by a confident discourse by EU institutions, and their avowed belief in the reform’s ability to safeguard the fundamental right to data protection in the face of evolving data processing techniques, specifically, big data, the Internet of Things, and related algorithmic decision-making. However, one may wonder whether there isn’t cause for concern in view of the way the risk-based approach has been designed in the data protection legislation. In this article, the risk-based approach to data protection is analysed in the light of the reform’s underlying rationality. Comparison with the risk regulatory experience in environmental law, particularly the environmental impact assessment procedure, is drawn upon to assist us in pondering the shortcomings, as well as the opportunities of the novel risk-based approach.     

一个有远见的税收制度应当关注未来的税基——特朗普新税法的成本分析及政策建议

20世纪50年代以来,美国企业所得税税率持续下降,政府税收收入也处于较低水平。2017年,特朗普新税法的实施大幅度降低了企业所得税税率,导致政府税收损失远超预期。然而,新税法实施后,美国企业投资和长期经济增长并没有明显改善。本文认为,一个国家经济效率主要取决于税基而非税率,美国政府应通过税收制度改革,增加对企业投资和研发投入的激励,从而扩大税基,实现经济的长期改善。     

在商法与消费者法之间寻求平衡的保险法--美国《责任保险法重述》评述与启示

《责任保险法重述》可以说是美国保险法近年来发展的总结。《重述》以被保险人与保险人之间的权利义务关系为中心展开,以亲保险人规则(Pro Insurer Rule)与亲被保险人规则(Pro Insured Rule)之间的冲突博弈为主线,在保险合同解释、不实陈述、抗辩义务、强制执行与救济等方面对规则进行了澄清。伴随着金融消费者权益保护运动的兴起,我国保险法未来发展是更偏向于消费者权益保护法还是商法,长期以来存在争议。由于美国对我国保险法的规则制定和保险业务实践均有不同程度的影响,因此,以《重述》作为我们观察的制度样本,不仅可以从规则内容上为我国保险法改革提供借鉴;而且还提供了以"美国"作为方法论,探讨《重述》经历项目性质变更,在后金融危机时代保护保险消费者利益与维护保险人商业经营之间所作的努力与妥协,为我们回答"商法"与"消费者法"之争提供参考。     

美国长期护理保障制度改革及其对我国的启示

本文主要运用文献研究法,对美国长期护理保障制度的现状进行了分析。分析发现,当前关国长期护理保障制度存在两大问题,分别是政府财政转移支付缺乏可持续性、私人保单难以覆盖广大中低收入阶层。为解决上述问题,关国政府对长期护理保障制度采取了一系列改革措施,但改革始终没能达到预期效果。美国长期护理保障制度改革启示我们,长期护理保障...     

Financial Regulatory Structure and the Resolution of Conflicting Goals

The debate over modernizing the financial structure is raising questions about the merits of modernizing the financial regulatory structure. Regulatory structure is important because an almost unavoidable feature of our current system of government is that Congress assigns multiple goals, which sometimes have conflicting policy implications, to the regulatory agencies. The structure of the agencies is important to the resolution of these conflicts. Responsibility for two or more goals that have conflicting implications may be assigned to a single agency, which is likely to resolve the conflict with a consistent set of policies based on the agency's priorities. Alternatively, the goals may be assigned to more than one agency, an action that often results in the conflicts being debated in the public arena but that also may result in the agencies implementing inconsistent policies. This paper uses the problem of goal conflicts to provide a framework for evaluating alternative regulatory structures.     

美国金融监管制度改革的新趋势及启示

本文基于美国国会于2010年7月15日通过的《金融监管改革法案》,比较了次贷危机前后美国金融监管制度的异同,特别是针对美国在反思其传统监管模式基础上从预防系统性风险角度出发所进行的金融监管改革的新趋势,提出了美国金融监管制度改革对我国金融业未来发展以及金融监管改革的启示。     

1994年以来出口退税率的过度调整及其原因

考察中国出口退税率变化的基本情况,可以发现1994年以来出口退税率调整存在过度倾向。从表面来看,调节出口规模、减轻中央财政压力和支持产业结构调整等多重政策目标是出口退税率过频过大调整的原因,但是问题的根源还主要在于出口贸易调控工具的有限性、出口退税负担机制改革的不彻底以及产业结构调整政策体系的不健全。     

国际保险集团偿付能力监管改革及启示

美国次贷危机以来,不少知名国际保险集团纷纷出现偿付能力不足甚至破产的情形,保险集团偿付能力监管改革被推上了风口浪尖。本文重点研究国际保险集团偿付能力监管体系改革的新动向和新发展,并对监管理念的变革进行总结,以期对国际保险集团偿付能力监管改革有一个清晰的认识,对我国保险集团偿付能力监管体系建设有所借鉴。     

美国金融监管体系的问题与变革

金融危机暴露美国金融监管出了问题,既有自由市场主义监管理念的根本问题,也有原监管体系在对付混业经营过程中的诸多缺陷和漏洞,美国政府试图通过立法对金融监管体系进行重大变革,以防范未来的系统性风险和金融危机,实现金融市场效率与风险的平衡。     

现行出口退税制度对企业的影响及对策

出口退税政策是一国政府为增强出口商品的国际竞争力,将出口商品中所含的间接税部分或全部退还给出口商,使得出口商品以含部分税或者不含税的价格进入国际市场所实施的一项政策。我国出口退税制度伴随着政治经济的变革和发展经历了若干发展阶段,经历了导入期、成长期,并且已经进入了成熟期,成为国民经济增长“三驾马车”之一的助推器。但现存的问题和改革开放的深入推进为出口退税制度的完善提出了新的需求,需要从法制的、体制的、机制的、管理的等层面增强制度的有效供给,以使我国的出口退税制度更加完善。     

Enforced Standards Versus Evolution by General Acceptance: A Comparative Study of E-Commerce Privacy Disclosure and Practice in the United States and the United Kingdom

We present data on privacy practices in e‐commerce under the European Union's formal regulatory regime prevailing in the United Kingdom and compare it with the data from a previous study of U.S. practices that evolved in the absence of government laws or enforcement. The codification by the E.U. law, and the enforcement by the U.K. government, improves neither the disclosure nor the practice of e‐commerce privacy relative to the United States. Regulation in the United Kingdom also appears to stifle development of a market for Web assurance services. Both U.S. and U.K. consumers continue to be vulnerable to a small number of e‐commerce Web sites that spam their customers, ignoring the latter's expressed or implied preferences. These results raise important questions about finding a balance between enforced standards and conventions in financial reporting. In the second half of the 20th century, financial reporting has been characterized by both a preference for legislated standards and a lack of faith in its evolution as a body of social conventions. Evidence on whether this faith in standards over conventions is justified remains to be marshaled.     

论新《食品安全法》对食品行业监管的法律规定——以我国奶产业为例

我国新《食品安全法》出台之前,政府对食品行业的监管范围和职责不甚明确。新《食品安全法》明确了政府及相关职能部门是食品安全的监管主体,在实际的监管过程中,政府应当依照法律落实各项监管措施。宏观调控不仅仅要求加强立法,也要求严格执法。新《食品安全法》对食品质量标准做出了各种具体细致的技术性规定,然而,现实生活中,生产经营者为了达到利润最大化,违法手段层出不穷,监测标准规范再细致也难以防范时时更新变化的违法行为。如何更好地落实新《食品安全法》,保障消费者人身权利,是值得探讨的问题。     

欧洲债务危机对吉林省对外贸易的影响

2009年12月欧洲债务危机爆发以来,希腊、比利时、意大利和西班牙等国先后陷入危机,多国面临国际信用评级下调。目前,欧债危机愈演愈烈,由于吉林省对外贸易往来中欧盟份额较大,其中进口比重已超过60%,因此此次欧债危机对吉林省对外贸易影响不容忽视。相关企业如何积极趋利避害,因势利导,有效应对危机,相关管理部门如何宣传引导,鼎力扶持,促进吉林省对外贸易健康发展,值得密切关注与思考。