Title: Selected Aspects of Private Enforcement of Competition Law The purpose of the study is to analyse and compare selected provisions and legislative proposals regarding to the rules of evidence and locus standi as they are codified in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and in Czech Rules of Civil Procedure as well as selected aspects of Private Enforcement of Competition Law in UK. It should be stressed the fact that the rules of evidence and locus standi are seen through a prism of antitrust claims for damages. The study is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspect of Private Enforcement of Competition Law. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the study. Chapter Two focuses on legal basis for antitrust claims for damages. Chapter Three consists of three parts. Part One focuses on locus standi issue in US Law. Part Two is an analysis of proposals of EU Commission as well as relevant judgements of Court of Justice of European Union. Partial conclusions are drawn in Part Three. Chapter Four consists of three parts. Part One investigates the principles of rules of evidence as they are codified in Czech Law. Part Two discusses the American attitude to rules of evidence. Partial conclusions are drawn in Part Three. Chapter Five consists also of...

Equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination Abstract My diploma thesis deals with the topic of equal treatment and non discrimination in employment relations, which form one of the areas where the impacts of discrimination can be perceived most intensely, as such behaviour denies the freedom of making decisions about one's profession, which is highly important for the self-fulfilment of each individual. Within the context of the Czech Republic, the urgency of the topic of the thesis is given by the need to adopt new principles and tools brought by the transposition of the EU anti-discrimination legislation into the Czech legal system. Sufficient public awareness of its contents and possibilities it brings is a prerequisite for effective application of the new legislation. For that reason, the purpose of my thesis is primarily to outline gradual shifts in the understanding of the principle of equal treatment in the European area and to describe the development of the EU anti-discrimination legislation. The thesis should also present plentiful judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) interpreting the meaning of individual provisions of both primary and secondary EU legislation. The first chapter defines the terms of equality and discrimination and distinguishes two main approaches...

A presente pesquisa tem por pano de fundo o debate sobre a legitimidade do processo de integração da Europa, iniciado na década de 1950. Uma das principais expressões desta seara corresponde ao contemporâneo tema das assimetrias entre as expectativas das populações nacionais sobre a condução do processo de integração e o procedimento decisório verificado na praxis comunitária. O variado rol de limitações à ação participativa dos cidadãos no cerne deliberativo da União Europeia é reunido doutrinariamente sob a alcunha de déficit democrático. Mote frequente das análises de Filosofia Política e assunto recorrente dos estudiosos de Relações Internacionais, a existência de um déficit democrático na principal iniciativa de integração regional da Europa encontra escassos trabalhos sedimentados em uma abordagem jurídica. Deste modo, o principal escopo deste estudo é aclarar de que forma o Direito contribuiu para o advento do déficit democrático europeu e como são articuladas, pela via jurídica, as tentativas atuais de combate a este fenômeno. Para tanto, há de se demarcar o referencial teórico utilizado pela pesquisa, essencialmente no tocante a) à possibilidade de se aproximar regionalismo e democracia; b) à influência das teorias da integração no tema de estudo e c) à versão do conceito de democracia eleita no trabalho. Ademais, o arcabouço metodológico empregado para a obtenção dos resultados pretendidos responde, em um primeiro momento, pela análise dos textos originais dos principais tratados da integração europeia seguida por uma abordagem teórico-doutrinária de alguns aspectos da realidade jurídica do bloco. Para honrar suas pretensões, esta pesquisa apresenta uma estrutura tripartite. No capítulo inicial, há o debate sobre o estatuto conceitual do Direito da União Europeia, verdadeira condição para a aferição da hipótese de trabalho proposta. Nele, foram discutidas as vicissitudes atinentes aos problemas da natureza e da autonomia da malha normativa do bloco comunitário da Europa. Visto o panorama teórico do fenômeno jurídico comunitário da marcha europeia, empreendemos um detido exame do conjunto de dispositivos presentes na sequência de documentos fundamentais iniciada pelo Tratado de Paris (1951) e encadeada até o Tratado de Nice (2001). Tal abordagem permitiu reconhecer as principais normas relacionadas ao tratamento da questão democrática no processo de integração. Feita a identificação dos elementos normativos relacionados à questão do déficit democrático, atentamo-nos para o alcance da atuação do Direito neste contexto. Assim, há de se notar as consequências para a base social de um ordenamento jurídico alheio à tradicional estrutura piramidal, os resultados jurídicos da tentativa de afirmação da noção de cidadania europeia e o delineamento da configuração hodierna das iniciativas de aplacar o déficit democrático por meio dos dispositivos do Tratado de Lisboa (2009). Este percurso revela as agruras da legitimidade democrática da União Europeia e o anfótero papel do Direito no contexto referido, fornecendo um importante recurso de depreensão da realidade comunitária para os atores transnacionais contemporâneos. / The background of this study is the debate concerning the legitimacy of the process of integrating Europe that began in the 1950s. One of the main expressions related to this discussion corresponds to the asymmetries between the expectations of national populations on how the process of integration is to be conducted and the decision-making process observed in the community praxis. The various limitations on the participatory action of citizens in the deliberative core of the European Union are doctrinally gathered under the label democratic deficit. A frequent motto in analysis in Political Philosophy and a recurring subject for International Relations researchers, the existence of a democratic deficit within the main initiative for the regional integration of Europe is not much addressed in studies with a legal basis. Therefore, the main scope of this study is to clarify how the field of law has contributed to the advent of the European democratic deficit and how current attempts to fight this phenomenon take place from a legal perspective. Accordingly, the theoretical framework used in this study needs to be delimited in relation to: a) the possibility of approaching regionalism and democracy; b) the influence of theories of integration in the studied subject; and c) the version of the concept of democracy elected at work. Additionally, the methodological framework employed to obtain the desired results responds, first, to the analysis of original texts from the main treaties of the European integration followed by a theoretical-doctrinal approach to some aspects of the blocs legal context. To achieve its goals, this study presents a three-part structure. A debate concerning European Union Law is presented in the opening chapter; a true condition for measuring the studys proposed hypothesis. The vicissitudes concerning the problems related to the nature and autonomy of regulations in the European bloc are discussed. Given the theoretical background of the phenomenon of the juridical community in the European march of democratization, we carefully examine the devices present in the series of key documents initiated in the Treaty of Paris (1951) linked up to the Treaty of Nice (2001). Such an approach enabled the identification of the main standards related to the treatment given to the democratic issue in the integration process. Once the regulatory elements related to the democratic deficit were identified, we focused on the scope of the role played by Law in this context. Therefore, the consequences in social terms of a legal order oblivious to the traditional pyramidal structure and the juridical outcomes of an attempt to claim the notion of European citizenship, as well as the current configuration of initiatives to mitigate the democratic deficit through devices provided in the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), should be noted. This course reveals the hardships of attaining the democratic legitimacy of the European Union and amphoteric role of Law in this context, providing an important tool to understand the context of the community for the contemporary cross-national actors.

La jurisprudence de la Cour de justice de l'Union européenne en matière de libertés de circulation a, depuis la fin des années quatre-vingt-dix, connu des développements substantiels. La liberté d'établissement et la libre circulation des capitaux ont fait l'objet d'une jurisprudence fournie en matière de droit et de fiscalité des sociétés. En effet, les sociétés sont des opérateurs économiques dont l'activité transfrontalière est facilitée par le marché intérieur. La liberté d'établissement et la libre circulation des capitaux s'adressent spécifiquement à elles. En l'absence d'harmonisation, et donc lorsque les États membres exercent leur compétence retenue, les libertés de circulation ont été établies afin d'éviter que des obstacles à la mobilité des biens et des personnes ne soient créés par des nonnes nationales. Cette thèse se propose d'analyser méthodiquement chaque élément de raisonnement de la Cour de justice lorsqu'elle est confrontée au contrôle de compatibilité d'une nonne nationale aux libertés d'établissement et de circulation des capitaux. L'exemple tiré du droit et de la fiscalité des sociétés permet de mieux comprendre le contrôle exercé par la Cour à chaque stade de son raisonnement ainsi que les objectifs poursuivis par l'interprétation téléologique des dispositions du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l'Union européenne. Une telle analyse apparaît nécessaire dès lors que la Cour s'est octroyée le pouvoir de désactiver une nonne nationale, c'est-à-dire d'interdire aux magistrats nationaux d'appliquer une règle de droit national qu'elle juge contraire aux libertés, peu important sa place dans la hiérarchie des normes. / The Court of justice case law in the field of free movement has been substantially developed since the end of the 90's. Since then, the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital regarding company law and direct taxation became an important part of the case law. This is understandable because companies are the main market operators and the internal market uncorks their cross-border activity. Company law and direct taxation specifically concerns the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. When Member states maintain their competence, ie in absence of harmonization, the four freedoms have been designed to avoid restrictions, created by national law, to the movement of assets and persons. This thesis proposes an analytic method of each test composing the Court's reasoning while reviewing the compatibility of a national provision with the free movement of capital or the freedom of establishment. The accent will be put on the company law and direct taxation because this case law enables a better understanding of the control exerted by the court upon national law and the aim of the teleological interpretation of the provisions of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. This analysis is made necessary because the power by the Court to deactivate a national statute, ie the interdiction made to the national judges to apply a national statute whatever its position in the hierarchy of legal norms, self-created by the European judges.

1 Abstract This thesis deals with the key principle of international refugee law which is the principle of non-refoulement. In the broadest sense of the term, the principle forbids the forced removal or 'refoulement' of an individual to the territories where he would run a risk of being subjected to the violation of his basic human rights. The non-refoulement principle was enshrined in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees but it was also developed in international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or regional European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Its expression can also be found in Common European Asylum System shared by the Member States of the European Union. The first goal of the thesis is to find out the precise content of the non-refoulement principle with regard to its development and current interpretation in international law. The second aim of the study is to analyze the same principle in the context of European Union law and to assess the compliance of this system with international law. For the sake of clarity, the thesis is composed of two main chapters. Chapter One examines the meaning of the principle in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and takes into consideration...

The destructive force of the far-right was tragically witnessed through the mass devastation brought about by World War II. The international community sought to prevent the repetition of such destruction through the establishment of institutions, such as the United Nations, and the adoption of documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. Jurisprudence and conventions on a supranational level directly prohibit speech and expression of the far-right with, for example, Article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination prohibiting racist associations and racist expression. Nevertheless, we are living in a world where violent far-right entities, such as Golden Dawn of Greece, have received unprecedented electoral support, where xenophobic parties have done spectacularly well at the latest European Parliament elections, where the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union and where Donald Trump has been elected as the next president of the United States of America. As such, the far-right is no longer a phenomenon of the past. It is one of the present, rising at swift and worrying rates. In this light, the study analyses how supranational bodies, namely the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union, require their members to tackle right-wing extremism either directly, or through the regulation of by-products of right-wing extremism, such as hate speech. The adherence to international obligations is examined through an assessment of two jurisdictions, namely, England and Wales and Greece. For purposes of this thesis, supranational obligations emanate from, inter alia, instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the European Convention on Human Rights. It must be noted that, on an EU level, there is also a centralised mechanism in the form of Article 7 TEU which can, in theory, be used against Member States which embrace a far-right ideology or, potentially, tolerate the far-right. However, this tool has never been used. The dissertation considers the means and methods adopted by the jurisdictions under consideration to interpret and apply international and European obligations through their national legal systems along with a broader conceptualisation of their legal and judicial approaches to right-wing extremism. The country analyses commence with an assessment of their adherence to international and European obligations, the thesis looks at the case-studies' domestic frameworks in the realm of challenging far-right movements. For both countries, there is a legal analysis of how central rights and freedoms, such as non-discrimination, expression, assembly and association, are established by law. For England and Wales, it proceeds to look at the role of criminal law in relation to the far-right, assessing the public order ambit which is the one most habitually used to challenge the rhetoric and activities of the far-right. This is followed by an evaluation of recent anti-terror legislation which has come into play in relation to the regulation of violent elements of the far-right movement. After looking at criminal law and how it deals with ensuring public order and countering terror, the assessment of England and Wales looks at how national law treats political parties before registration and during their functioning. The purpose is to determine what tools and sub-tools are available and can be used for challenging far-right parties contesting elections. From the above-described analysis, it is concluded that the legal framework of England and Wales embraces the significance of the freedom of expression but readily allows for the limitation of speech if issues of public order, terrorism or anti-social behaviour arise. Assemblies are also readily prohibited if public order or anti-social behaviour issues arise. What is clear is that this case-study is not willing to proscribe associations if such associations do not amount to terrorist organisations. In relation to Greece, the dissertation assesses the principal legal instrument that tackles issues relevant to challenging the far-right, namely the criminal law framework and particularly the law on the punishment of racially discriminatory acts, and relevant provisions of the Greek Penal Codes such as those on racial aggravation and criminal and terrorist organisations. It also look at the non-discrimination law which is relevant to this case-study given Golden Dawn's provision of services to Greeks only. It became evident from the analysis that relevant legislation has seldom been relied upon to challenge the far-right in Greece, a reality which has led to a state of impunity for the criminal activities of Golden Dawn and an issue that has become a key concern for national and international human rights institutions and non-governmental organisations. Although some members of Golden Dawn were convicted for their criminal activities and the Court recognised their affiliation with Golden Dawn, before the murder of an ethnic Greek, no steps were taken against the organisation. The chapter incorporates an analysis of the legal basis of the ongoing trial against Golden Dawn. Furthermore, the chapter also looks at how national law treats political parties before registration and during their functioning. This analysis demonstrated that political parties, even ones with dangerous and undemocratic intentions, can register and function without limitations with the only point of State intervention being when such entities cross into the threshold of a criminal organisation, as was the case of Golden Dawn.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamas valstybės atsakomybės už žalą pažeidus ES teisę taikymas Lietuvos Respublikos teisinėje sistemoje. Lietuvai tapus Europos Sąjungos valstybe nare privatūs asmenys įgijo teisę kreiptis į nacionalinius teismus ir reikalauti iš Lietuvos valstybės žalos atlyginimo, kuri kilo pažeidus ES teisę. Kadangi asmens teisė į valstybės valdžios institucijų veiksmais ES teisės nuostatų pažeidimu sukeltos žalos atlyginimą priklauso nuo skirtingų nacionalinių teisinių sistemų, Lietuvos Respublika, kaip ir kitos ES valstybės narės turi pareigą užtikrinti, jog nacionalinės teisės normos atitiktų Teisingumo Teismo formuojamą praktiką. Todėl šio darbo pagrindinis tikslas – išanalizuoti Lietuvos teisėje įtvirtintą valstybės atsakomybės už žalą doktriną, siekiant nustatyti, ar nacionalinis teisinis reglamentavimas neriboja galimybės asmenims pasinaudoti teise į žalos atlyginimą ir yra suderinamas su ES teise. Darbe analizuojama valstybės atsakomybės už žalą pažeidus Lietuvos teisę doktrina, įtvirtinta Lietuvos Respublikos civilinio kodekso 6.271 ir 6.272 straipsniuose, nagrinėjamas nacionalinių nuostatų atitikimas ES teisės reikalavimams. Kadangi Lietuvos įstatymų leidėjas aiškiai nenumato įstatymų leidžiamosios bei galutinės instancijos teismų atsakomybės, tačiau Lietuvos Respublikos teismai suteikia galimybę asmenims kreiptis į teismą dėl patirtos žalos atlyginimo, tiriama ar toks reglamentavimas gali riboti asmens teisę į žalos atlyginimą. Asmens teisė į... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The Master thesis examines the liability of the state for the damages caused as a result of a breach of the European Union legislation within the legal framework of the Republic of Lithuania. As Lithuania has become a full member of the European Union, private entities also have gained the right to apply to the national courts and request for indemnification of damages caused as a result of a breach of the EU law from the State of Lithuania. As the person’s right to indemnification of damages caused as a result of a breach of the EU legal rules by the actions of public authorities depends on different national judicial systems, the Republic of Lithuania, just like other member states of the EU, is obliged to ensure that the national legal rules were in compliance with the case-law established by the Court of Justice. Therefore, the present thesis aims at analysing the concept of the state liability for damages established in the law of Lithuania with a view to determining if the national legal regulation does not restrict the possibility for the persons to exercise the right to indemnification and is compatible with the EU law. The thesis analyses the concept of the liability of the state for damages in case of a breach of the Lithuanian law established in Articles 6.271 and 6.272 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, elaborates compliance of the national provisions with the EU legal requirements. As the Lithuanian lawmaker has not explicitly provided for the... [to full text]

The aim of the thesis is to address the jurisprudence of constitutional conflict between the Court of Justice and national courts with constitutional jurisdiction. It seeks to determine how the principle of primacy of EU law works in reality and whether the jurisprudence of the courts under analysis supports this concept. In so doing, the goal is to determine if the theory of constitutional pluralism can explain and guide the application of the principle of primacy of EU law in the jurisprudence of constitutional conflict. The analysis has been carried out on two levels. First, by exploring sovereignty claims by the courts under analysis, as well as reconciliatory vocabulary they employ to manage and contain constitutional conflict. Second, by further studying the three areas of constitutional conflict - ultra vires review, identity review, and fundamental rights review - to provide more nuance in the analysis of the way the Court of Justice has expanded the self-referential system of the Treaties; the different limits that constitutional adjudicators have placed on the principle of primacy as a result; and what possible solutions they envisage in the event of a constitutional conflict. All the courts under analysis have employed the vocabulary of mutual respect and self-restraint as principles guiding the resolution of constitutional conflict. Constitutional conflict is managed through incremental and permanent contestation and accommodation of their opposing claims to sovereignty (the auto-correct function of constitutional pluralism) that results in the uniform interpretation and application of Union law, but keeping in line with conferral as its defining principle. The analysis demonstrated the existence of a heterarchical constellation - the potential of all the courts involved for being ranked in a number of different ways at different times - grounded in mutual respect and self-restraint.

From an historical perspective, environmental law is an assembly of common law principles and regulatory techniques derived from public health and planning legislation. Until recently, it lacked a distinct, recognisable identity, and status. A separate discipline of ‘environmental law’ now exists which appears to have an internal coherence and to operate within a settled conceptual framework, anchored by a number of guiding principles. This development is not, though, a one-way process. There is an equally dynamic contraflow of legal disciplines claiming environmental concerns as their own, notably property and tort, company and insurance law. In a similar vein, at both European Union and national levels of government, there is a sense that the very nature of environmental problems means that environmental protection must form part of a wider range of policies and law. This thesis takes account of these recent developments by considering the contribution of environmental assessment to the development of environmental law. It examines the implementation of Council Directive 85/337 on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment' in the United Kingdom and thus the integration of a European Community method of environmental assessment alongside indigenous’ methods of environmental appraisal in the planning system. Some explanation is required, both as to the choice of subject matter, and to the methodology chosen to write this thesis.