Proefschrift Maastricht. / Met lit. opg. - Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Proefschrift Universiteit Maastricht. / Met bibliogr., lit. opg. - Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Proefschrift Universiteit Maastricht. / Met bibliogr., lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Proefschrift (Med.) Maastricht. / Ten dele eerder verschenen art. Lit. opg. - Samenvattingen in het Engels en Nederlands.

Th.--Méd.--Reims, 1981. N°: 26.

No description available.

The international transfer of technology plays a critical role to developing countries. It enhances the economic development and welfare, in addition to reducing the gaps between developing and developed countries. The promotion of the international transfer of technology increases the capabilities of developing countries and assists them to gain more independency. Therefore, the central question that this thesis tries to answer is related to whether the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) fosters international transfer of technology to developing countries or not. Developing countries as per the TRIPS Agreement are requested to comply with minimum standards of intellectual property (IP) protection, since they are linked to international trade under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. So, in order to have balanced rights and obligations, we have to evaluate whether the TRIPS Agreement is benefiting all parties and whether the transfer of technology is well-managed under the TRIPS Agreement. The terms and conditions of the TRIPS Agreement will be analysed using the doctrinal legal method. We find that the TRIPS provisions are still far from fostering the international transfer of technology to developing countries although the preamble and its principles and objectives under Articles 7 and 8 emphasize its importance. In addition to analysing the provisions related to transfer of technology under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through both the doctrinal legal method and empirical study on the transfer of environmental sound technologies under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that was established in Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997. We find that CDM works mainly for reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG) while the international transfer of technology is not an obligatory element of it. We reached a number of recommendation to improve the current situation and enhance more development in the field of international transfer of technology. At the beginning we need to define the international transfer of technology in the TRIPS Agreement. Lack of definition results in challenges and obstacles in the way we are evaluating its promotion. In addition, TRIPS Agreement is required to create a new mechanism, similar to the CDM, but particularly for the promotion of international transfer of technology.

This thesis argues that the international legal framework applicable to human trafficking is inadequate to address contemporary challenges. It also explains why and how human trafficking is a controversial phenomenon due to its complex nature, which is shaped by real-world incidences. Overall, this thesis stresses that human trafficking is real, and that survivors are human beings, who do matter. Drawing on international law, in order to capture the inadequacy of international legal framework, this thesis discusses the definition of human trafficking in comparison to the terms modern-day slavery and migrant smuggling, and considers obligations to protect, including identification and non- criminalisation of human trafficking victims. In the context of definitional analysis, this thesis not only looks at the international legal regulations pertaining to related phenomena, but also critically reviews international law to help address how human trafficking is defined and understood by the international community, including the media, scholars and international courts, alongside real-world incidents. The definition of human trafficking and obligations to protect are evidently interrelated; without defining human trafficking, identification of trafficking victims, as required by the obligations of protection, is not possible. In this respect, there are two main aspects in which international law does not adequately respond to human trafficking crimes: defining human trafficking and identifying its ‘victims’/survivors, as is explained in this thesis.

This thesis addresses the question of the implementation of the freedom of establishment (Article 49 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) in two EU member states with particular emphasis on impediments to the freedom. It is argued that despite a very long-standing and clear legal prohibition on restrictions to the freedom of establishment, there remain many practical obstacles which inhibit the right. This thesis’ hypothesis is that double taxation and double non-deductibility of losses constitute hurdles to a complete freedom of establishment. As far as the methodology is concerned the approach chosen to test the hypothesis is as follows: first to set out a theoretical framework based on the non-Discrimination principle, the basic principles of the freedom of establishment right and the exemptions to that right. Then, right of freedom of establishment is tested as against the practice in three ways, each considered in a chapter: the requirement of the nationality prerequisite; the double taxation of companies operating in more than one EU member state; and the practice of double non-deductibility of losses. The research is inspired by the case study of an author’s businesses, SMEs who trade cross-border in the United Kingdom (UK) and subsequently in Poland. From a study of the implementation practices of both the UK and Poland this thesis suggests that the following form serious restrictions: double taxation and non-deductibility of losses. Moreover, case law and existing literature identify taxation as a core impediment to the exercise of the freedom of establishment as taxation matters deter companies from relocating their whole business. This thesis examines how to balance the freedom of establishment and the tax powers of the EU member states. Taxation also plays a fundamental role in the development of the EU’s internal market. The thesis seeks a pragmatic solution which might be implemented effectively without resorting to substantial international harmonization.

This dissertation studies the theoretical turn in contemporary British public law scholarship with a view to understanding what is it that public lawyers do when they theorise their subject. The diversification and expansion of theoretical writings that has animated the theoretical turn was inspired by the belief that the atheoretical character of public law scholarship made it unsuited to address the contemporary problems of the field. From the critique of the ‘dismal’ performance of public lawyers came a call to scholars to embark on a search for the foundations of their subject. Most of those who answered this call understood the task to be undertaken as an inquiry into the principles or values that ground and give normative force to public law. In this sense, most approaches within contemporary British public law theory constitute a species of constructivism whose variations differ according to the theoretical resources that are employed (critical social theory, moral philosophy or political theory) and what is taken to be the normative centre of the field (the administrative process, judicial review or political accountability). Although constructivism has been dominant, it would be wrong to assume that all conceptions could be subsumed under that category. There are, I argue, two principal alternative approaches. One, called deconstructivism, contends that theory has a tendency to become estranged from practice because it fails to acknowledge constitutional change and overestimates the role of principles, creating the conditions for the unreflective reproduction of a number of ‘myths’ which have to be dispelled by uncovering the empirical foundations of the subject. The other, labelled reconstructivism, argues instead that the theorist cannot make sense of the field and its present predicaments without understanding the particular historical evolution of the subject which has been informed by competing traditions of thought. Against a widespread assumption, my contention is that these theoretical approaches are not only competitive but also complementary. Without denying that these conceptions are semantically and methodologically incommensurable, I show that this pluralised theoretical landscape represents a decisive enlargement of the understanding of the subject.