Traditionnellement, les armateurs, les États du pavillon et les sociétés de classification ont assuré le maintien des normes internationales de sécurité à bord des navires de commerce. Mais, depuis plusieurs années, la mondialisation impose à ces protagonistes une concurrence féroce obligeant plusieurs d’entre eux à réduire leur contrôle, notamment au plan de la sécurité, afin d’attirer ou de conserver une clientèle. Ce désengagement à l’égard du système de renforcement juridique des prescriptions internationales et la « course vers le fond » qu’il induit sur le plan de la sécurité sont des éléments laminant la condition de navigabilité des navires. Afin de réduire le nombre de bâtiments de mer sous normes en circulation dans leur région, des autorités maritimes d’États portuaires ont conclu et mis en oeuvre des mémorandums d’entente sur le contrôle par l’État port, communément appelés MoU, qui établissent des règles de coordination de l’inspection des navires en escale. En réalité, ces ententes administratives, qui réunissent désormais les pays de neuf régions maritimes mondiales, incarnent des réseaux transgouvernementaux formés de relations transnationales complexes entre des fonctionnaires-cadres qui sont aussi des experts de la sécurité maritime. Ainsi, au-delà de leur origine et de leur culture respectives, ces derniers partagent, au plan professionnel, des valeurs et des intérêts communs. Ceci concourt à la cohésion interne de ces organisations alors qu’il s’agit d’instruments non contraignants relevant de la soft law. Même à l’extérieur du cadre imposé par le droit positif, ces règles qualifiées d’interstitielles peuvent néanmoins avoir une valeur normative quasi juridique, sinon juridique. Cette valeur normative des mesures de coordination mises en œuvre par les MoU peut être établie grâce à la démonstration de leur effectivité ainsi que de leur efficacité. Dans le premier cas, il s’agit de vérifier si les règles s’imposent à ceux qu’elles visent. Dans le second, il faut s’assurer qu’elles permettent d’atteindre les objectifs fixés. Par ailleurs, il faut se demander si le constat d’une normativité juridique doit se limiter uniquement à ces deux aspects. En effet, les règles que les réseaux transgouvernementaux mettent de l’avant devraient aussi assurer un minimum de transparence au risque sinon de créer un droit obscur. / Traditionally, shipowners, flag states and classification societies have ensured the implementation of international security standards aboard merchant vessels. Yet, in recent years, globalization has created an environment of ferocious competition that has forced these actors to reduce their controls, principally with regard to security, in order to attract new clients or to conserve an existing clientele. Such disengagement from the established system of legal enforcement of international norms, as well as the “race to the bottom” it induces with regard to security, are both elements of an ongoing erosion of the seaworthiness of vessels. In order to reduce the number of substandard vessels sailing in their regions, members of the maritime authorities of port states have executed and implemented Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (MoU), which establish rules coordinating the inspection of ships on layover. These administrative agreements, which now regroup countries from nine international maritime regions, have in fact become transgovernmental networks composed of complex transnational relationships between managing civil servants who are also experts in maritime security. Thus, beyond their respective nationalities and cultures, these civil servants share, on the professional scale, common interests and values. This contributes to the internal cohesion of these organisations, even though they are concerned with non-binding soft law instruments. Nevertheless, even outside the obligatory framework of positive law, these « interstitial » rules may have a quasi-normative, if not fully normative, effect. Such a normative value for the coordination measures put in place by the MoU may be established by demonstrating their effectiveness as well as their efficacy. First, by assessing whether the rules are applied to those toward whom they are directed; and second, by verifying that they work toward the objectives that have been set. Moreover, it is necessary to ask whether the assessment of the legal normativity of these rules must be limited to the previous two aspects. Indeed, the rules put forth by the intergovernmental networks should ensure a minimum of transparency, lest it become a body of dark law. / La thèse a été réalisée en cotutelle avec l'Université Paul Céazanne (Aix Marseille III).

En principe, les sociétés intégrées à un groupe sont juridiquement indépendantes et sont des sociétés comme d’autres, jouissant de la personnalité morale, et participant à la vie juridique comme tout sujet de droit. Cette indépendance juridique de principe concorde mal avec la réalité caractérisée par le contrôle exercé par la société mère, chef de groupe, et qui est dicté par la communauté d'intérêts qui cimente le groupe, il y a une asymétrie entre la situation de fait et la situation de droit. La responsabilité du groupe ne pouvant, de fait, pas être engagée, l’autre option est la recherche de la responsabilité de la mère, en sa qualité de société contrôlante, lorsqu’un acte dommageable a été commis par sa filiale. Toutefois, la notion d’autonomie pose un écran juridique très résistant qui protège la mère de toute action menée à son encontre du fait de ses filiales. Par principe, la responsabilité de la société-mère pour les faits de sa fille ne peut donc être recherchée.Par ailleurs, les groupes de sociétés présentent généralement la particularité d’être marqués par le sceau de l’extranéité, en raison de leurs activités qui se déploient bien souvent au-delà des seules frontières nationales, ce visage transnational de l’activité des sociétés rend plus difficile la responsabilisation de la société mère pour les actes commis par ses filiales, il faut, effectivement, dire que le droit international public, n’est pas en mesure de développer un système de responsabilité globale pour des cas de dommages trans-frontières. / In principle, a company incorporated in a group is legally independent and is a company like others, having its own legal personality, and participating in the legal life as any entity. This legal principle of independence hardly consistent with the reality characterized by the control exercised by the parent company, Group Head, which is dictated by the community of interest that binds the group, there is a mismatch between the actual situation and the legal situation. Responsibility for the group that can, in fact, not be engaged, the other option is to search the responsibility of the mother, in her capacity as controlling company, where a tort was committed by its subsidiary. However, the concept of autonomy is a very strong legal shield that protects the mother of any action taken against him because of its subsidiary. In principle, the responsibility of the parent to the facts of his daughter cannot be sought.In addition, groups of companies generally have the distinction of being marked by the seal of the foreign element, because of their activities which often deploy beyond national boundaries, this transnational face of corporate activity complicates accountability of the parent for the acts of its subsidiaries, it must indeed say that international law is not able to develop a system of global liability for transboundary damage.

Diante da complexidade da problemática ambiental, emergiu a necessidade de atuação do direito ambiental internacional, através da criação de um compilado de normas imperativas, capazes de efetivar a tutela e proteção do meio ambiente, limitando a atuação do Poder Público e dos particulares. Contudo, o direito ambiental internacional precisou recorrer não só às normatizações hard law, que são as normas burocráticas e obrigatórias, mas também as normatizações soft law, as quais conseguem ser modificadas de forma simplificada ou complementadas posteriormente, consideradas um direito flexível e capaz de acompanhar as mudanças e necessidades ecológicas. No Brasil, para que haja validade dos tratados e das convenções internacionais pactuados, é necessário o referendo da ordem constitucional brasileira, haja vista que é essa ordem que dispõe sobre a admissibilidade da ordem internacional no direito interno. No direito brasileiro, a Emenda Constitucional 45, de 2004, inseriu o § 3º do art. 5º, não pacificando o entendimento hierárquico das normas internacionais em matéria de direitos humanos, aqui incluído o direito ambiental. Tal situação também não se encontra solucionada pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal, órgão competente para julgar os conflitos decorrentes do direito interno e do direito internacional, podendo-se apenas considerar por uma votação, da quase maioria, pela supralegalidade da norma internacional internalizada no ordenamento brasileiro. Ainda, os tratados pactuados em âmbito do Mercosul não possuem nenhum privilégio para adentrar no ordenamento brasileiro, bem como não há uniformização das legislações ambientais nos países membros, tampouco, um tribunal capaz de fiscalizar e sancionar os Estados não cumpridores, o que dificulta a efetividade de suas normas. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-05T16:22:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Andiara Flores.pdf: 1361562 bytes, checksum: f77f9b702a776ee84e270b577446cbaa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-05T16:22:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Andiara Flores.pdf: 1361562 bytes, checksum: f77f9b702a776ee84e270b577446cbaa (MD5) / Given the complexity of environmental issues, there emerged the need for cooperation of international environmental law through the creation of mandatory rules compiled, capable of effecting the guardianship and protection of the environment by limiting the actions of the government and individuals. However, the international environmental law needed to appeal not only to hard law norms, which are the bureaucratic rules and compulsory, but also the soft law norms, which can be modified in a simplified form or complemented later considered a right flexible and able to follow changes and ecological needs. In Brazil, there is validity to treaties and international conventions agreed upon, it s necessary the Brazilian constitutional referendum, given that it is this order that provides for the admissibility of the international order in the law. Under Brazilian law, Constitutional Amendment 45, 2004, entered the § 3 of art. 5, do not pacify the hierarchical understanding of international standards on human rights, environmental law included here. This situation has also not been resolved by the Supreme Federal Court, a court competent to judge disputes arising from domestic law and international law, can only be considered for a vote, almost the majority of the international standard for supra-legal internalized in the Brazilian legal system. Still, the treaties agreed upon within the framework of Southern Common Market (Mercosul) have no privilege to enter into the Brazilian legal system, and there is no standardization of environmental laws in member countries, nor a court able to monitor and sanction the non-compliant States, which hinders the effectiveness of its standards.

Diante da complexidade da problemática ambiental, emergiu a necessidade de atuação do direito ambiental internacional, através da criação de um compilado de normas imperativas, capazes de efetivar a tutela e proteção do meio ambiente, limitando a atuação do Poder Público e dos particulares. Contudo, o direito ambiental internacional precisou recorrer não só às normatizações hard law, que são as normas burocráticas e obrigatórias, mas também as normatizações soft law, as quais conseguem ser modificadas de forma simplificada ou complementadas posteriormente, consideradas um direito flexível e capaz de acompanhar as mudanças e necessidades ecológicas. No Brasil, para que haja validade dos tratados e das convenções internacionais pactuados, é necessário o referendo da ordem constitucional brasileira, haja vista que é essa ordem que dispõe sobre a admissibilidade da ordem internacional no direito interno. No direito brasileiro, a Emenda Constitucional 45, de 2004, inseriu o § 3º do art. 5º, não pacificando o entendimento hierárquico das normas internacionais em matéria de direitos humanos, aqui incluído o direito ambiental. Tal situação também não se encontra solucionada pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal, órgão competente para julgar os conflitos decorrentes do direito interno e do direito internacional, podendo-se apenas considerar por uma votação, da quase maioria, pela supralegalidade da norma internacional internalizada no ordenamento brasileiro. Ainda, os tratados pactuados em âmbito do Mercosul não possuem nenhum privilégio para adentrar no ordenamento brasileiro, bem como não há uniformização das legislações ambientais nos países membros, tampouco, um tribunal capaz de fiscalizar e sancionar os Estados não cumpridores, o que dificulta a efetividade de suas normas. / Given the complexity of environmental issues, there emerged the need for cooperation of international environmental law through the creation of mandatory rules compiled, capable of effecting the guardianship and protection of the environment by limiting the actions of the government and individuals. However, the international environmental law needed to appeal not only to hard law norms, which are the bureaucratic rules and compulsory, but also the soft law norms, which can be modified in a simplified form or complemented later considered a right flexible and able to follow changes and ecological needs. In Brazil, there is validity to treaties and international conventions agreed upon, it s necessary the Brazilian constitutional referendum, given that it is this order that provides for the admissibility of the international order in the law. Under Brazilian law, Constitutional Amendment 45, 2004, entered the § 3 of art. 5, do not pacify the hierarchical understanding of international standards on human rights, environmental law included here. This situation has also not been resolved by the Supreme Federal Court, a court competent to judge disputes arising from domestic law and international law, can only be considered for a vote, almost the majority of the international standard for supra-legal internalized in the Brazilian legal system. Still, the treaties agreed upon within the framework of Southern Common Market (Mercosul) have no privilege to enter into the Brazilian legal system, and there is no standardization of environmental laws in member countries, nor a court able to monitor and sanction the non-compliant States, which hinders the effectiveness of its standards.

Face à l'intensification des flux et échanges liés à la mondialisation, et un besoin croissant d'un développement durable encadré, les Nations Unies ont mis au point il y a quinze ans une initiative collective : le Pacte mondial. Cette Déclaration en quatre volets regroupant les enjeux environnementaux, le respect des droits de l'Homme, les normes internationales de travail et la lutte contre la corruption, est alors analysée pour en mesurer l'efficacité et l'impact sur le développement. Il s'agit d'en comprendre les mécanismes et d'identifier les outils déployés dans l'application de cette norme de soft law appartenant au corpus législatif international. / The United Nations are confronted by the intensification of the streams and exchanges linked with the globalization, as the same time as a fundamental necessity of sustainable development. That is why they developed, fifteen years ago, an international initiative: the UN Global Compact. The Declaration contains four sections on environmental protection, Human rights, International Labour standards and anti-corruption norms. This research analyses the efficacy and the impact of the Declaration on the development, in order to understand mechanisms and to identify the deployed tools in the application of this soft law norm, as member of international legal corpus.

Le développement durable territorial se compose de deux axes. Chaque collectivité est censée concilier les piliers du développement durable sur son territoire, puis articuler sa démarche de développement durable avec celles des autres collectivités. Ainsi, l’application du développement durable serait généralisée et harmonieuse. Cependant, le manque de force contraignante de ces deux axes emporte deux conséquences opposées. Une partie des collectivités profitent de la marge de manœuvre qui leur est laissée pour adapter le développement durable aux spécificités de leurs territoires. A l’inverse, d’autres collectivités tirent avantage de ce droit « doux » pour appliquer le développement durable de manière superficielle, voire pour en faire abstraction. En outre, les inégalités entre les territoires rompent la cohésion territoriale et la solidarité inhérentes à la notion de développement durable. En l’état actuel du droit, l’application du développement durable par chaque collectivité est inaccessible. Des moyens juridiques permettent d’étendre le développement durable au-delà des seules collectivités volontaires. Ceux-ci présentent, néanmoins, des failles. Pour que chaque collectivité territoriale soit tenue de mettre en œuvre le développement durable, le droit doit être modifié. Le premier axe doit devenir un standard. Ainsi, les collectivités pourront adapter le développement durable aux caractéristiques de leurs territoires, mais plus l’ignorer. Une décentralisation qui obligerait à une meilleure articulation entre les échelons de collectivité permettrait de mieux respecter le deuxième axe du développement durable. Enfin, une péréquation mieux pensée soutiendra financièrement ces modifications juridiques. / Two milestones guide the implementation of local sustainable development by local governments : first each local authority must conciliate sustainable development pillars on its territory ; then this approach must be integrated with the one of the other local authorities. Only then can local sustainability management be overspread and harmonious. However, the lack of legal constraint imposing the implementation of these milestones has two consequences: on the one hand, Sustainable development norms can be adapted by local authorities to the specificities of their territories, on the other hand, other local authorities do not apply these rules or only partially, taking advantage of “soft law”. Those diverse levels of commitment to sustainable development norms disrupt the territorial cohesion and solidarity that should be part of the notion of sustainable development. In the actual state of law the implementation of sustainable development norms by every single local authority is unattainable. There are nevertheless legal means to enforce sustainable development norms beyond the circle of willing territories. But these means are not completely effective. Therefore, in order to make every local authority apply sustainable development norms, some changes have to be made to the existing Law. The first pillar must become a standard so that local authorities won't be able to ignore sustainable development norms anymore, only to adapt it to their local specificities. Moreover,decentralization would lead to a better articulation between each local governing body, therefore allowing forbetter respect of the second pillar of sustainable development. Finally a better financial redistribution between those local authorities would support these legal changes.

This thesis looks into the law and policy implications of law-making within the EU in pursuit of the internal market, while protecting other interests such as those of consumers. The discussion concentrates in the field of services addressed to consumers and more specifically in harmonising at EU level the national liability rules governing their defective supply. This case study is developed on the following strands. Firstly, the withdrawal of the European Commission’s ‘Proposal for a Council Directive on the liability of suppliers of services’ [COM (90) 482 final] is examined from the following aspects: a) the political reactions which have preceded its withdrawal, b) its compliance with the constitutional principles governing the legislative process at EU level and c) the assessment of the substantive regime which it purported to establish. Secondly, having regard to a) the aftermath of the Proposal’s failure, b) the evolution of the constitutional debate concerning the existence, the nature and the exercise of EU competence to set harmonised rules and c) the law-making standards which the Union’s Institutions have set to self-restrict their regulatory power, the perspective of harmonising the liability of suppliers of services to consumers is further explored. Drawing on this case-study, this thesis examines the limits to EU law- making activity which are imposed by primary European law and also considers the policy standards which the EU has set for itself in engaging in its law-making commitments. This examination allows in turn the pursuit of broader reflections I about the law and policy factors which become crucial and deserve particular attention by the EU lawmaker when harmonising national rules governing market transactions – such as the liability for the supply of defective services – with a view to attaining and managing the internal market along with protecting other interests recognised at EU level, such as those of consumers.

During the accession period EU has the opportunity to influence a future member state in various political areas. Is gender equality politics one of them? The purpose of this thesis is to explore EUs role in promoting gender equality in Croatia, the latest member who entered 1 July 2013. The theoretical framework consist of two theories, new institutionalism and radical feminism. New institutionalism helps us analyse the tools EU has in order to influence an accession country by dividing them into two themes. Institutions and interest. The theory of radical feminism makes the analyse deeper by deciding the quality of EUs impact on gender equality. The result shows that EU has done a sufficient work making sure Croatia implemented gender equality laws but the laws does not cover all political areas why the overall quality of EUs influence over a member state can be questioned.

Soft law is a common feature of international governance, occupying a grey zone between the realms of politics and law. The multifaceted concept can refer to vague provisions or norms generally, but is most useful when defined as international instruments adopted in a non-binding form. Whilst the advantages and appeal of soft law have been widely studied, with its effects explored in both International Relations (IR) and International Law (IL) scholarship, states' behaviour on commitment to soft law per se has remained underexplored. It is often assumed that its non-binding status upon adoption makes commitment to soft law a relatively inconsequential endeavor, at least in comparison to hard law. In this thesis, incorporating insights from public international law into rationalist IR approaches, I argue that soft law instruments can have important effects over time and bring substantial costs for states to bear. This is particularly the case for soft law instruments 'hardening' through domestic law, treaties or customary international law, increasing the sovereignty and implementation costs attached to commitment. I further argue that those potential costs of soft law are taken into account by states when making decisions on commitment. Depending on the importance and likelihood of the costs foreseen, states can craft their commitment to mitigate these costs or block them from arising. Empirical evidence for the place of the costs of soft law in states' decision-making on commitment is offered through an in-depth case study of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with a focus on the opposition it faced upon adoption - an unusual occurrence for a UN declaration in the field of human rights. Recognizing the potential costs of soft law and their impact on state commitment helps to bridge theory and practice regarding the creation of non-binding instruments and sheds light on challenges raised by the use of soft law by states and non-state actors at the frontiers of international law-making.

Die Modernisierung der Europäischen Bildungsstrukturen stellt ein zentrales Anliegen des mittlerweile 40 Staaten umfassenden Bologna-Prozesses und der von den europäischen Staats- und Regierungschefs in Lissabon formulierten Strategie dar. Ziel ist es, bis zum Jahre 2010 einen europäischen Hochschulraum zu schaffen und die Mobilität der Studierenden zu verbessern. Dies soll nicht zuletzt durch die Schaffung eines zweigliedrigen Studiums und einheitlicher akademischer Abschlüsse - dem Bakkalaureus und dem darauf aufbauenden Master - innerhalb Europas erreicht werden. Im Zuge der aktuellen Debatte drängt sich jedoch die Frage nach der Rechtsverbindlichkeit der hochschulpolitischen Erklärungen des Bologna- Prozesses sowie der im Rahmen der Lissabon-Strategie erlassenen Akte auf. Nach der hier vertretenen Ansicht handelt es sich dabei lediglich um unverbindliche politische Erklärungen. Daher wird in einem zweiten Schritt geprüft, ob die Europäische Gemeinschaft aufgrund der Verträge zu einer umfassenden Harmonisierung der europäischen Bildungsstrukturen überhaupt ermächtigt wäre. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf Inhalt, Reichweite und Grenzen der Binnenmarktvorschriften und der Bestimmungen über den Bildungsbereich. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt in diesem Zusammenhang den bislang von der Gemeinschaft erlassenen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der beruflichen Anerkennung von Diplomen und Zeugnissen innerhalb der EU. Abschließend werden die freiwillige Umsetzung der Bologna-Vorgaben in der österreichischen, aber auch in anderen europäischen Rechtsordnungen beleuchtet und konkrete Optionen für die Umgestaltung der Hochschulstrukturen, insbesondere für die derzeit an der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien angebotenen Studien aufgezeigt. (Autorenref.) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut