A European Contract Law,or an EU Contract Law Regulation for Consumers?

The paper informs about initiatives of the EC Commission to create a set of instruments for advancing a European contract law, in particular a “common frame of reference.” It questions the underlying assumptions in the still somewhat unclear and open Commission communications. It doubts whether EU has any competence to harmonise contract law under the internal market jurisdiction of Art. 95 EC. As an alternative, it proposes the elaboration and eventual adoption of an EU consumer contract law regulation (ECCLR) based on Art. 153 (3) b) EC which would take direct effect and be limited to minimal, yet directly applicable rules on consumer protection in contract law. Norbert Reich is Professor of Civil, Commercial, and EC Law at the University of Bremen. Mail address: Andreasstr. 29, D-22301 Hamburg, Germany. e-mail: n.reich1@gmx.net.     

A Comparative Study on the Good Faith Principle of Contract Law between China and America

Although Chinese law was deeplyinfluenced by the continental legal sys-tem of Europe in history, the modernChinese law especially the Chinese lawafter the reform and open times of Chinawas even more affected by the Anglo-American legal system, especiallyAmerican law system. Some Chineselaw scholars hold that in the modernChinese law legislature the influencefrom England-American legal culture issomething more than that from conti-nental legal system, (1) due to theAnglo- American countrie…     

Implementation Regulations for China's Labor Contract Law

1.Introduction On January 1,2008,the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China(LCL)became effective,resulting in wide- spread changes in labor policy for all companies and other af- fected organizations.As is the case with legislating in China, many details were left for resolution in implementing regulations,     

The Hidden Persuader: The Role of the Advisor in Negotiations and Group Decision Making—Perspectives from the European Union

Theoretical models of negotiation and group decision making often overlook or at least do not fully account for the important role played by persons who advise negotiators and participants in group decision making. Sight unseen, advisors are often “hidden persuaders,” important but unrecognized sources of influence on the negotiation dynamic. This article explores the roles and methods of advisors in the negotiation process, drawing on survey research conducted in 2013 among approximately seventy advisors at the European Union Council of Ministers. Defining advice as “\(\ldots \)a communication from one person (the advisor) to another (the client) for the purpose of helping that second person determine a course of action for solving a particular problem\(\ldots \)”, the author considers the nature of advice and the range of relationships that may exist between advisors and their clients. He argues that advising is much more than the mere transmittal of information from advisor to negotiator and that for advice to be effective a relationship must exist between the two parties. The author identifies three models of the advisor–negotiator relationship. Model I is the advisor as director, wherein the advisor tends to take control of the negotiating process, directing the negotiator in actions that the negotiator should take to achieve success at the negotiation. Model II is the advisor as servant in which the advisor merely responds to the demands of the client for help and guidance in the negotiation. Model III is the advisor as partner, wherein advisor and negotiator jointly manage the advising process and together take co-ownership of the problem to be solved. The author then explores the factors that lead advisors and negotiators to adopt each of these three models, the various advising styles that advisors adopt, and the differing effects on the negotiation process that these elements may have, drawing on historical examples as well as survey data from the EU Council of Ministers. He concludes by offering advice about advising to three important professional groups—scholars, negotiators, and advisors—on ways to carry out their respective functions more effectively.     

The Relation between EU Antidumping Law and China

China has become the main object of EU anti-dumping actionsince the late 80s of 20th century. After 90s, China has developed its exports to the EU more and more quickly, the scale of EU antidumping action on Chinese products has been bigger and bigger, thereby EU antidumping action has gradually become the main trade obstacle of Chinese exports to Europe.     

Comparison of the Investment Law between China and the ROK

China and the Republic of Korea formally set up the diplomatic relations,which has added more vitality to the cultural and economic exchanges betweenthe two countries.     

The impact of venture capital on the productivity growth of European entrepreneurial firms: ‘Screening’ or ‘value added’ effect?

We aim to ascertain to what extent the better performance of European venture capital (VC)‐backed firms in high-tech industries is due to either ‘screening’ or ‘value added’ provided by VC investors. We compare portfolio firms' productivity growth before and after the first VC round, using a matched control group as benchmark. We show that productivity growth is not significantly different between VC and non-VC-backed firms before the first round of VC financing, whereas significant differences are found in the first years after the investment event. We also find that the value-adding services provided by VC investors ‘imprint’ the portfolio firm.     

The Structure of Labour Markets in the Hotel and Catering Industry: What do Employment Law Cases Indicate?

The allocation of labour in the hotel and catering industry remains an under-researched and little understood process. Direct empirical observation of the labour market involves methodological difficulties requiring a major research project. An attempt is made to explore the labour market by analysing the facts of employment law cases which must be considered as secondary sources of data. The main conclusions are that the labour market approximates to the neo-classical model and that recent legislation has not provided statutory protection for employees at work.     

The Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on 12 May,1994;and amended at the Eighth Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on 6 April,2004.) Chapter I General Principles Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to broaden the opening to the outside world,develop the Foreign Trade, maintain the Foreign Trade order,pro- tect the legitimate rights and interests of Foreign Trade Operators,and promote a healthy development of the socialist mar- ket economy.     

The Role of China in the European Debt Crisis

G20 finance ministers' meeting closed at the end of this February focusing on how to effectively prevent the deterioration of European sovereign debt crisis and calling for the "self-help" of euro.Greece is the current focus of the media attention,but seen from     

The “end game” of the enlargement of the European Union

The process of enlargement would be facilitated if the EU and the candidates were less concerned about the date of accession and more keen to focus their efforts instead on identifying ways, on the one hand, to translate collective benefits into individual national benefits so that all member states would support enlargement and, on the other, to assess the readiness of the candidates with more precise criteria. Because of the nature of the negotiations, these two apparently unrelated problems are de facto interconnected. One way for the successful completion of the accession negotiations is for these two issues to be formally de-linked. The author, who is also acting as advisor to the Chief Negotiator of a candidate country, writes here in a strictly personal capacity. He wishes to acknowledge the very helpful comments received from Edward Best, Rita Beuter, Frank Bollen, Tom Casier and Antti Kuosmanen. Naturally, he is solely responsible for the views expressed in this paper.     

Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?

When the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF Directive) was first adopted in 1989, there was very little discussion on how food advertising should be regulated at Community level. However, things have changed as a result of rising levels of obesity in all EU Member States. Consequently, several stakeholders have suggested that the advertising of unhealthy food to children should be restricted. This article analyses whether and how, bearing the obesity epidemic in mind, the European Union could regulate the marketing of food high in fat, sugar and salt to children (HFSS food). It starts by presenting the evidence supporting such regulation. It then focuses on the contribution which the TVWF Directive and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive) could make to the debate. It finally looks at the broader regulatory framework by discussing their relationship with other instruments of Community law relating to food advertising, and in particular the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCP Directive) and the recently adopted Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods.

New Labor Contract Law：Not A Nightmare to Foreign Companies in China

On January 1, 2008, the new Labor Contract Law （LCL） went into effect in China. The New YorkTimes predicted that it was “ushering in sweeping changes to Chinese labor policy” at that time. However, over 1 year after the new LCL introduction, “sweeping” has been a forgettable word and the LCL has disappeared from the media coverage. To foreign companies in China, the financial crisis is not their only concern today,     

Looking Ahead—Future Issues when Reflecting on the Place of the iConsumer in Consumer Law and Copyright Law

The following is a brief report of the discussion and main comments that were made during a workshop ‘The place of the iConsumer in EU and US law—protecting consumers of copyright protected content’, held in Amsterdam on 14 and 15 of December 2007. The workshop was part of a series of joint events organised by the Berkeley Centre for Law and Technology, University of California (BCLT) and the Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam on copyright and a follow-up to the conference on ‘Copyright, digital rights management technology and consumer protection’ that was held at the UC Berkeley in March 2007. The main goal of the workshop was to confront a consumer law approach with the more commonly discussed approach of internalising user-related questions directly into copyright law. To this end, a selected group of European and US experts in both fields, copyright law and consumer law, were invited. The participants were then asked to share their thoughts and views from the different fields of law with regard to a number of main statements given by the organisers. The transatlantic perspective further added to the discussion. The main purpose of this report is to point to a number of issues that, according to the workshop participants, should be taken into account in future discussions concerning the legal position of the iConsumer. This report summarises the discussion along the three statements that the organisers asked participants to consider. The report gives some background information for each of the statements, to then describe the main arguments made during the workshop, to the extent that this discussion has not already been internalised in the papers that are part of this special JCP issue.

The European Union–West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement: Small impact and new questions

Despite recent modifications, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and West African (WA) countries is still being criticized for its potential detrimental effects on WA countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the EPA on these countries. A dynamic multi-country, multi-sector computable general equilibrium trade model with modeling of the dual–dual economy and with a consistent tariff aggregator is used to simulate a series of new scenarios that include updated information on the agreement. We also go beyond estimating macro-level economic effects to analyze the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that the implementation of the EPA between the EU and WA countries would have marginal but positive impacts on Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire and negative impacts on Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. The impact on poverty indicators in Ghana and Nigeria would be marginal. From the perspective of WA countries, this study supports the view that recent EU concessions are not sufficient and that domestic fiscal reforms are needed in WA countries themselves.     

The Foreign Trade Law of the People＇s Republic of China

Chapter Ⅰ General Principles
Article 1 This Law is formulated in order to broaden the opening to the outside world,develop the Foreign Trade, maintain the Foreign Trade order,protect the legitimate rights and interests of Foreign Trade Operators,and promote a healthy development of the socialist market economy.     

On the Commercial Bank Law

The Commercial Bank Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, came into effect on July 1. As a major event in the financial sector, the law has captured attention worldwide. Mr. Ying Jieyan, Vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, recently gave an introduction to the law.     

Domesticating fears and fantasies of ‘the East’: integrating the Ottoman legacy within European heritage

ABSTRACT

‘Europe’ has no fixed geographical, historical, religious or cultural boundaries. Claims for the existence of European civilization as a discrete construct are continually made yet dissolve on close scrutiny. Here, we examine these claims at one of the grandest points of existential crisis and belonging for Europe, the relationship with the ‘Other within’: Turkey, the Balkans and Ottoman heritage in Europe. Through a hybrid semiotic and Foucauldian analysis of catalogues of eight high-profile exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Belgium and Portugal we argue that an unsettled discursive struggle is at play, in which one ‘Europe’ articulates ‘reconciliation’ of profound civilizational difference while another, Ottoman, ‘Europe’ stakes a claim of right as an intrinsic component of what it means to be European in a contemporary context. We attempt to trace the role of museum marketing in the perennial accommodation/exclusion of the Ottoman Empire as an intrinsic component in the diversity of Europe’s cultural heritage.