2008 iunie « Dreptul comunitar al afacerilor. blog

Regulamentul Roma I a fost adoptat

Regulamentul Roma I, privind legea aplicabila obligatiilor contractuale, a fost adoptat la Luxembourg in 5-6 iunie 2008. Textul adoptat al Regulamentului in en, fr si ro.

Un comentariu, cu istoricul problemei precum si cu viitorul, interesant, gasiti aici.

UPDATE

Regulamentul Roma I a fost publicat in JO. [

Posted in Conflictele jurisdictiilor, Ierarhia normelor juridice, International Privat in UE
Tags: legea aplicabila obligatiilor contractuale, Regulamentul Roma I

Consiliul UE cu privire la Irlanda

Iun 23
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Concluziile Presedintiei Consiliului European din 19-20 iunie 2008.

Posted in tratate UE

Favorizarea excesiva a consumatorilor?

Iun 21
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Articolul este fara indoiala interesant.

Dino Falaschetti, CAN LOBBYING PREVENT ANTICOMPETITIVE OUTCOMES? EVIDENCE ON CONSUMER MONOPSONY IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS, Journal of Competition Law and Economics Advance Access published online on June 4, 2008 [*]

When basic competition rules cannot stop market power abuses, industry-specific regulations can improve economic performance. But regulations are also more immediately exposed to political pressures than are judicially administered antitrust laws, and this exposure can cause regulations to serve distributional rather than efficiency goals. Instead of supporting a Chicago School hypothesis where distributional forces tend to favor producers, however, I find evidence that regulations can inefficiently expand consumer surplus when producers lack a political voice. In particular, local exchange carriers maintain significantly smaller capital stocks in states that restrict campaign contributions from regulated utilities. This relationship is difficult to rationalize as either a statistical artifact or evidence that campaign finance laws discourage producers from restraining trade. Indeed, rather than endowing producers with political currency to capture regulators, allowances for campaign contributions appear to have strengthened competition by discouraging regulatory takings and balancing monopsonistic pressures from consumer-voters. These results highlight an empirically important potential for regulations to favor consumers overly, and strengthen arguments against consumer surplus as an objective for competition policies.

Posted in Antitrust, Lobby, concurenta comerciala

Despre consecintele in plan fiscal ale votului negativ din Irlanda asupra Tratatului de la Lisabona. Baza comuna de impozitare

Iun 18
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O stire interesanta, pe care o redam in continuare:

Ireland’s no vote could affect common tax base fight

Ireland may find it harder to fight the proposed common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) after the country voted no in last week’s Lisbon Treaty referendum.

The country has been the most vehement member state against a CCCTB. The government and many businesses fear the common tax base is a forerunner to a harmonised corporate tax rate throughout the EU that would be higher than Ireland’s 12.5% charge. They argue that Ireland would lose substantial tax revenues because many Irish-based subsidiaries would leave if they had to pay more tax.

“Ireland has said no again,” said James Somerville, a partner at A&L Goodbody, an Irish law firm. “It would be easier to say no to the CCCTB as good Europeans,” he said. “Ireland has lost any goodwill it had in Europe and is not popular already among a lot of member states for opposing a CCCTB.”

Corporate tax was a key issue during the referendum campaign, says Fintan Clancy, a partner at Irish law firm Arthur Cox. “Campaigners against the Lisbon Treaty put up posters all over Dublin opposing tax harmonisation,” he said.

Under Ireland’s constitution, the country must hold a referendum on any decision to give away tax sovereignty. Clancy argues that if the country had voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty the Irish government could have given away the country’s veto on direct tax policy without another vote. “This could have paved the way for a CCCTB,” he said.

But the EU’s tax commissioner Laszlo Kovacs told Reuters that the Lisbon Treaty would not affect the plans for a CCCTB. “All those that campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty with slogans that Ireland will lose tax sovereignty were simply telling lies,” Kovacs said.

Posted in Drept si politica, Integrare europeana, Suveranitate, fiscalitate comunitara, revista presei, tratate UE

Planul B al Tratatului de la Lisabona; urmeaza planurile c, d…t,u?

Iun 17
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Wolfgang Munchau, Europe’s hardball plan B for the Lisbon treaty, Financial Times, London (UK): Jun 16, 2008, pg. 9. [*]

Abstract (Summary)I personally found last week’s Irish No vote shocking, not in terms of what it means for the EU, but what it says about Ireland. Ireland is one of the EU’s great success stories. Dublin has become one of the great European cities. Both Ireland and the EU should have celebrated their relationship. The No vote leaves the country with exactly two alternatives. One is a humiliating U-turn, consisting of a Yes vote in a second referendum without a material change of circumstances. The other is that Ireland could lose its full EU membership if the second referendum produces another No victory. Ireland’s citizens would send the country back to the economic Dark Ages, from whence it emerged only a few decades ago.

Why am I so confident that the Lisbon treaty is going to be implemented? Because, contrary to widespread protestations, Europe’s leaders actually have a plan B. It is not a pretty plan. Just listen to what senior French and German politicians had to say over the weekend. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, suggested on Saturday that one way to implement the treaty was for Ireland to withdraw temporarily from the process of European integration. This is a fairly exotic comment for an otherwise non-exotic minister. I had no idea that that you could temporarily withdraw from the EU and rejoin it later, as though you were buying a forward contract with an option attached. What he is saying in effect is that Ireland should quit the EU.

Posted in Drept si politica, Suveranitate, tratate UE

European cooperation after fifty years

Iun 17
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O lucrare buna, care nu e tocmai un istoric obisnuit.

Henk van Arendonk, European cooperation after fifty years, EC Tax Review. Deventer: 2008. Vol. 17, Iss. 2; pg. 50 [*, ProQuest]

Abstract (Summary)
In the last 50 years, the EC has expanded from 6 to 27 Member States. Supranational powers have also been strengthened. Given these immense changes, institutional reforms were necessary. Only time will tell whether we can move forward on the basis of reforms in the Lisbon Treaty during the coming 50 years. Each amending treaty has to be ratified by the Member States. Where a Member State makes ratification dependent on a referendum, this often turns out badly. In order to prevent the amending treaty from being shot down via a referendum, quite a few Member States choose parliamentary ratification only. Examples are the Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK. A referendum however will be held in Ireland. Whatever the outcome is, it will be influenced by what the EC does in the coming period. If its actions are unacceptable for a Member State, this can have far-reaching consequences for the outcome of the referendum.

Posted in Bibliografii, Drept si politica, Subsidiaritate, tratate UE

Un articol favorabil liberalizarii serviciilor de sanatate in CE

Iun 16
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Din Financial Times. Fragmente…

(…)

European governments in particular have ringfenced healthcare provision and rejected virtually all attempts to open this sector for cross-border exchange. Resistance has been so fierce that the European Commission now hesitates to table a new directive that would simply codify a ruling from the European Court of Justice: to ensure free movement for patients and the right to get reimbursed for treatments abroad if the national health system cannot provide the treatment within a reasonable period of time.

This proposal has been due since last December and there is a new deadline later this month. But the directive seems far away as new versions constantly appear with ever more diluted free trade credentials.

Why is free trade in healthcare so resisted? Outdated notions of how to organise healthcare systems lie behind the core ideological opposition. False concerns for healthcare in developing countries have also become expedient handmaidens for healthcare protectionism in the developed part of the world.

The truth, however, is that many developing countries want to liberalise trade in healthcare. In the World Trade Organisation, it is developing countries that have made the strongest commitments. Countries as diverse as India, Cuba, China, Thailand, Jordan, South Africa and the Philippines have all developed export strategies to supply health services to foreign markets. They are knocking on the doors of Europe and the US to sell their healthcare services. Similarly, patients from the developed world increasingly buy treatments in developing countries. In 2006, Singapore treated half a million patients from abroad. India claimed 600,000 foreign patients and Thailand as many as 1.2m healthcare “tourists”.

(…)

Free trade in healthcare is no panacea, but it would certainly help European governments use resources more efficiently and improve accessibility and affordability of healthcare. Substantial liberalisation is unlikely to emerge from WTO trade negotiations, at least in the foreseeable future. Governments should therefore opt for autonomous reforms, tailored to their needs, and stronger regional trade and investment co-operation.

Posted in Integrare europeana, drept social european (modelul social european), libertate stabilire & libera circulatie servicii

Regatul Unit. Modificare a regimului fiscal al “societatilor straine controlate” (CFC)

Iun 16
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Da, ne amintim de povestea cu Cadbury Schweppes la CJCE. Acum regimul national se modifica pentru combaterea fraudelor & a evaziunii fiscale…

Din The Guardian.

The government is outlawing a number of offshore corporation tax avoidance schemes, one of which has been operated by Tesco, the supermarket giant has confirmed.

The elaborate scheme uses Tesco subsidiaries registered in Luxembourg, the tiny EU state on the borders of Germany, Belgium and France, long regarded as a tax haven.

The magazine Private Eye this week published details of a collection of offshore holding companies and accompanying partnership agreements, which it said Tesco was using to pile up £50m a year free of corporation tax in the Grand Duchy.

The offshore entities created appear to have been named after Tesco office addresses. They are called Armitage, Cirrus, Delamare and Cheshunt.

Tesco buildings include Armitage House and Cirrus House, and its headquarters is located on Delamare Road, Cheshunt.

The tax loophole is being outlawed in this year’s budget. Treasury minister Jane Kennedy described such a scheme to a House of Commons committee earlier this month, and said it was one of a number of “highly artificial tax avoidance schemes”.

Posted in fiscalitate comunitara, revista presei

Regimul olandez al pariurilor online spre CJCE

Iun 16
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Din Financial Times.

Ladbrokes claimed a significant moment in betting companies’ long battle to open up restrictive European markets when the Dutch Supreme Court referred its appeal against a ban on taking online bets from Dutch citizens to the European Court of Justice.

The UK’s biggest bookmaker claimed victory in a six-year case that ended on Friday when the Dutch Supreme Court upheld the country’s gaming laws but asked for guidance in the context of European law. Ladbrokes’s shares rose 8p, closing at 291¾p.

Dutch gaming law prevents Ladbrokes and others from taking sports bets online from any resident, even though Ladbrokes has no Dutch-facing website and does not advertise in the country. De Lotto is the only permitted operator of sports betting in the country and three years ago asked a lower court to stop Ladbrokes from taking bets from Dutch citizens.

The ruling comes ahead of a critical decision due in the next two weeks from the European Commission on whether to issue proceedings at the ECJ against countries it believes are unfairly restricting their gambling markets to competition. The Netherlands is one of 10 the EC may take action against.

John O’Reilly, head of Ladbrokes e-gaming division, said: “We have fought for six years against Dutch protectionism and finally we have won the referral to the ECJ. At last the Dutch courts have recognised that its laws on betting must be viewed in the context of European law.

“Under the Treaty of Rome we should be able to provide our services across borders in competition with the Dutch monopoly, but at the moment we are unfairly prevented from doing so.”

The ECJ is unlikely to rule on the Ladbrokes case for at least a year but some gaming operators hope the referral will strengthen the EC’s case against member states and put pressure on them to liberalise their laws.

Posted in Integrare europeana, drept comparat, egalitate de tratament/nediscriminare, jurisprudenta comunitara, libertate stabilire & libera circulatie servicii, revista presei

Semnificatia votului irlandez

Iun 16
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Despre acest subiect se va scrie, probabil, enorm. Asa cum s-a scris si despre votul francez, respectiv olandez anterior, asupra “Constitutiei”.

Ei bine, aici trimitem la doua analize de presa:

1. Irlanda & neoliberalismul (*)

Jack O’Connor, the union’s president, suggested that while EU social legislation has benefited Irish workers, there is a deep-rooted unease over how the interests of capital seem to be taken more seriously by the Brussels elite than social issues. “People are not comfortable with this ruthless neo-liberal Europe that seems to be emerging,” he said.

Although the treaty includes a bill of rights — including the right to strike — fears have been voiced that its provisions on social issues would have less legal weight than many of those relating to macro-economic policy. For example, the treaty says that competition must not be “distorted”. In some controversial recent verdicts, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has found that laws setting minimum wages flout competition rules.

Joe Higgins, leader of the Socialist Party and a former member of the Dáil, said many activists regarded the treaty’s rejection as “an opportunity to start a campaign against the neo-liberal juggernaut that’s being pushed down their throats.”

2. Instituirea cadrului institutional in asteptarea votului (*), articol din The Telegraph.

First, they will push through as much as they can under the existing dispensation. To a large degree this has already happened. Many of the institutions that would have been created by the constitution have already been established in anticipation of a “Yes” vote: the Human Rights Agency, the External Borders Agency, the Defence Agency.

Posted in Drept si politica, Integrare europeana, Legitimitate (UE), Suveranitate, revista presei, tratate UE

CJCE si angajatii de peste 65 de ani; Cauza Heyday.

Iun 16
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Din The Guardian.

A test case on age discrimination which goes to the European court of justice in Luxembourg early next month could open the way for employees in Britain to insist on working past 65.

If Heyday, the membership arm of Age Concern, wins the case it could also allow hundreds of workers forced into retirement to claim compensation from their former employers. The July 2 hearing date is months earlier than expected and a final decision could come by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Anna Johns, 72, who was made to retire at 70 in March 2007, scored a victory at the court of appeal last week for the hundreds already forcibly retired who hope a win for Heyday will pave the way to redress for them.

Her employers, Solent SD, argued that Johns had no chance of success because a Spanish worker who had challenged a similar retirement rule in his own country lost his case at the Luxembourg court. An employment tribunal struck out her claim on the basis of a preliminary ruling in the Spanish case.

But the employment appeals tribunal (EAT) ruled that Johns’s case should be put on hold because the outcome of the Heyday case could not be predicted, and there were clear differences between it and the Spanish case. Solent appealed but last week the appeal court ruled in Johns’s favour.

After she won at the EAT, the employment tribunals service agreed to bank all similar claims. Lawyers say hundreds have been filed. If Heyday wins in Europe and the case comes back to the UK courts these claims will be able to go ahead.

Heyday argues that the UK failed to implement the European directive on age discrimination properly when it brought in regulations in October 2006 banning discrimination on the grounds of age but kept 65 as a “default” retirement age.

Johns, from Southampton, worked in the customer service department of Solent, a newspaper and magazine wholesaler, until she retired at 65. She took a job at B&Q but then her former bosses asked her to go back, offering pay and hours she “couldn’t refuse”. When the age regulations came into force she was given six months’ notice that she had to retire at 70. She now works as a dogsitter and housesitter. “I was good at my job. I’m not being big-headed … I loved my job and I was good at it,” she said. “And I loved all the people I worked with. I still see them.”

Ailsa Ogilvie, director of Heyday, said: “The 1.2 million people in the UK working beyond retirement age do so only at the grace of their employer.

“It is absurd to think that as soon as you turn 65, the knowledge and skills that you’ve built up over the years are no longer valued and needed. Our right to work should not be based on our birth certificates, but on skills and motivation.

“The Government’s decision to allow employers to sack people at 65 completely contradicts its stated aim of encouraging longer working lives. We are hopeful that the European court of justice will find parts of the regulations relating to mandatory retirement age unlawful.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission supported Johns in taking her case to the court of appeal. John Wadham, its legal director, said: “This is a fantastic outcome for Ms Johns and the many others like her who are challenging mandatory retirement ages in the courts.

“We are all awaiting the results of the Heyday case with great anticipation, and the commission hopes it will deliver real change for people who want to work past 65.”

Posted in drept comparat, drept social european (modelul social european), egalitate de tratament/nediscriminare, jurisprudenta comunitara, revista presei

Sorin Lavric despre Dan Puric

Iun 15
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Un articol excelent, foarte expresiv si totodata de substanta, aparut in “Romania literara”: “Mogaldeata“.

Citam un fragment:

“În al cincilea rînd, cu Dan Puric avem cazul rarisim al unui actor care devine mare numai atunci cînd încetează să joace teatru. Căci pe scenă, Dan Puric e simpatic şi nimic mai mult. Dar în afara scenei, e tulburător. Vorbeşte repezit şi sacadat, cu o viteză ce parcă vrea să ţină pasul cu ritmul asociaţilor care îi trec prin minte, şi are o spontaneitate ce nu este afectată de imprevizibilitatea întrebărilor puse. Dan Puric contrazice clişeul actorului care se pierde de îndată ce e scos din făgaşul repertoriului ştiut. În plus, Dan Puric e un medium prin excelenţă, ştiind să se încarce cu o dispoziţie pe care o transmite apoi altora. De aceea, nu e analitic, ci catalitic. Nu face analize, ci emite intuiţii, motivîndu-şi ascultătorii. Nu e reflexiv, ci confesiv. Nu meditează asupra unei teme, ci o pune în vibraţie înfăţişînd-o ca o mărturisire venită dinlăuntru. Nu despică firul în patru, ci îl face să zbîrnîie. La el, toate descrierile sunt participări nemijlocite. Nu vorbeşte decît de idei la care a luat parte trăindu-le, iar nu examinîndu-le conceptual. De aici şi succesul lui. Elocvenţa sa, deşi nu e savantă în expresie, e remarcabil de sugestivă. Dacă ar fi fost erudit, sfîrşea prin a fi prolix. Aşa însă, e direct şi expresiv. Iar expresivitatea lui ţine de emoţie, şi nu de forma pe care o dă emoţiei. De aceea, indiferent despre ce vorbeşte, Dan Puric transmite ceva. Ceva se propagă de la tine la el, de aici efectul de fecundare pe care îl obţine asupra minţii altora.
Temele cărţii sunt cele ale reacţiunii româneşti: tradiţie, credinţă, biserică. Iată cîteva idei spicuite din volum: fără credinţă, totul se duce de rîpă; nu există cultură autentică fără dimensiunea ei spirituală; criza României vine din faptul că propaganda a preschimbat adevăratele noastre modele în contra-modele ilicite; intelectualii de astăzi sunt terminaţi, şi nu e nimic de sperat de la ei, rupţi cum sunt de tradiţia creştină. În schimb, numele invocate ca modele de Dan Puric sînt Mircea Vulcănescu, Iustin Pârvu, Tuţea, Noica, Valeriu Gafencu, prinţul Alexandru Ghica, părinţii bisericii. Ei sunt, în opinia autorului, reperele noastre. Iar episodul la care revine cu predilecţie în paginile volumului e cel din închisoarea de la Tîrgu Ocna, avîndu-l ca protagonist pe Valeriu Gafencu: “Cînd Sfîntul închisorilor, Valeriu Gafencu, bolnav de tuberculoză, într-o stare terminală, a spus în celulă: ŤFraţilor, eu mîine mă ducť, atunci a intrat plutonierul şi-a spus: ŤUnde te duci, mă nenorocitule, că eu sunt hristosul tău, unde te duci?ť Iar el, care stătea cu faţa spre veşnicie şi nu spre istorie, a spus: ŤDomnule plutonier, o să mă duc acolo unde o să veniţi şi dumneavoastrăť. Şi din clipa aceea nu a mai spus nimic, nici nu l-a condamnat; lucrul acesta l-a făcut firesc marele Gafencu, pentru că este putere dumnezeiască. ş…ţ Dacă neamul acesta a rezistat, a rezistat datorită celor care au părăsit plutonul şi s-au întors la Dumnezeu în genunchi, să-i mulţumească, pentru că ceilalţi au fost oameni care şi-au pierdut credinţa. Poporul român n-a rezistat datorită oportuniştilor, ci datorită martirilor şi sfinţilor. ş…ţ Au spart zidul închisorii prin rugăciune. Şi astfel e posibil ca eu, în anul 2008, să aflu şi să vorbesc despre Valeriu Gafencu, care a fost un tînăr de 33 de ani, student la drept, şi care a murit pentru că şi-a iubit prea mult ţara. Aţi fost vreodată la Aiud să vedeţi cum se înalţă blocurile socialiste peste oasele martirilor noştri? Ce forţă a fost din partea părintelui Iustin Pârvu şi a foştilor deţinuţi politici, să facă un monument! Monumentul e mic, e o capelă. În capelă este un monah de la Petru Vodă, nu este cineva de la guvernul României. Acolo este o cruce mică, de lemn, a lui Mircea Vulcănescu. Unde sunt ceilalţi, amintirea acestora?” (pp. 137-138 )
Cu astfel de gînduri, nu-i văd lui Dan Puric un viitor liniştit. O să-şi ducă crucea cît va putea, supraveghetorii ideologici ai sănătăţii noastre mentale avînd grijă să-l compromită parţial sau total, în funcţie de cît de rezistent se va dovedi insurgentul. Dar, vorba autorului, să dea Dumnezeu să ne compromitem cu toţii ca Tuţea.
Dane, ce bine că ai apărut. Trunchiul meu de malac se înclină în faţa umbrei tale de mogîldeaţă”.

Posted in lumea romaneasca, revista presei

Site & resurse Groupe d’analyses de la mondialisation

Iun 12
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Pentru ca s-au operat cautari pe blogul nostru, ne-am gandit ca ar fi utila o recomandare; mai precis o bogata colectie de informatii, tocmai bune pentru referate, n-asha?!

Multe resurse despre globalizare, in limba franceza. Aici.

Posted in Globalizare

De la altii adunate. Azi: Quebec & crucifixul din plenul Adunarii legislative & multiculti

Iun 12
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Cu unanimitate de voturi ale membrilor Adunarii parlamentare a provinciei Quebec:

QUE l’Assemblée nationale réitère sa volonté de promouvoir la langue, l’histoire, la culture et les valeurs de la nation québécoise, favorise l’intégration de chacun à notre nation dans un esprit d’ouverture et de réciprocité, et témoigne de son attachement à notre patrimoine religieux et historique représenté notamment par le crucifix de notre Salon bleu et nos armoiries ornant nos institutions.

De aici.

Discutia are ceva vechime deja, de ordinul a cateva saptamani, desigur; ea s-a purtat intr-un context mai amplu al multiculturalizmului (sic!) din provincia respectiva. Precum se stie sau nu, Canada este federatiune. Unde mai pui ca in provincia respectiva se resimt din cand in cand pulsiuni secesioniste.

Revenind la oile noastre, votul respectiv a avut loc in contextul dezbaterii unor concluzii ale unui raport al unor experti cu expertiza, denumit “Le temps de la conciliation“, in cadrul unei comisii consultative cu privire la acomodarea diferentelor culturale.

De unde reiese ca, (virgula) quebecoisii (sic!) au stiut sa acomodeze “trendul” (sic!) actual al multiculturalizmului (i.e. Quebec e un teritoriu cunoscut de atragere a emigrantilor…) cu traditia. Sa luam aminte!

Posted in Drept si politica, drept comparat, obsesia laicista