Law

The emergence and use of advanced technologies in today’s commerce has gradually grown into habitual practice, and the introduction of more modern weapons including UAVs to military operations is hardly a new challenge in the history of armed conflicts. The interim research results concerning attitudes to drone usage have highlighted a number of contradictions in national and international law and policies and revealed a certain inconsistency in the respondents’ attitudes partially caused by the different width of Overton windows devoted to drone expansion in the two countries, as well as by the use of the socio-cognitive tools currently changing the national attitudes and value systems as part of the national mentalities. The research has highlighted a number of contradictions that proved to be more profession-specific, age and gender-specific.

The Law and Policy of New Eurasian Regionalization: Economic Integration, Trade, and Investment in the Post-Soviet and Greater Eurasian Space makes several unique contributions to the literature. First and foremost, most of the current literature is in either economics or politics, with only a secondary focus on legal and institutional matters. Secondly, and consequently, the book is accessible and relevant to readers both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the boundaries of the Eurasian area: not only geographical boundaries, but also legal, geopolitical, geoeconomic, cultural, and, indeed, disciplinary boundaries. Drawing on international, transnational, and comparative legal scholarship, this rich volume offers the insights by a plethora of leading international scholars in economics, institutional theory, area studies, international relations, global political economy, political science, and sociology. The contributors come from four corners of the globe, including Asia, Europe, and North America.

This fifty-eighth volume of the Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals contains decisions taken by the ICTR in the years 2013-2014. It provides the reader with the full text of the most important decisions, identical to the original version and including concurring, separate and dissenting opinions. Distinguished experts in the field of international criminal law have commented on these decisions.

The book is the result of an extensive research conducted by professors of five academic institutions from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - the BRICS countries. The purpose of this work is to analyze the anti-corruption and anti-money laundering legislation in each of these countries, showing the similarities and differencies in terms of domestic legal frames and the international guidelines.

This book covers the challenges posed by digitalisation of labour markets in different countries of the world (a number of EU counties, Russia, Belarus, India, Arab countries and China). The authors address such aspects of digitalisation as: (1) the impact of new technologies in the labour market; (2) the impact of new technologies in the employees’ private life; and (3) the impact of new technologies on the labour process.

The book contains 19 national reports and a comparative legal analysis of the legal regulations on the procedure of genome editing on the human germline. It is worked out which shared values the different legal systems connect and which differences exist. On this basis, it is examined whether an international regulation of the topic is possible and how it could be designed. In addition, it will be examined to what extent the regulations of other countries can serve as a model for German legislation.

Working Title: From Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Social Liability
Subtitle: A Socio-Legal Study of Corporate Liability in Global Value Chains
Series: N/A

The proposed ‘Overview’ is a practical tool that should simplify the use of existing standards and guidelines for designing, implementing and evaluating anti-corruption compliance programmes. The Overview considers the principles, standards and recommendations from major international organizations and bodies, including UNODC, World Bank, OECD, ICC, ISO.
Besides of standards and guidelines on anti-corruption compliance, relevant provisions from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism standards and guidelines on identification of third parties, beneficial owners, politically exposed persons (PEPs), risk assessment, and suspicious transactions were taken into account.

The digital economy is gradually gaining traction through a variety of recent technological developments, including the introduction of the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and markets for data. This innovative book contains contributions from leading competition law scholars who map out and investigate the anti-competitive effects that are developing in the digital economy.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest regional security organisation, possesses most of the attributes traditionally ascribed to an international organisation, but lacks a constitutive treaty and an established international legal personality. Moreover, OSCE decisions are considered mere political commitments and thus not legally binding. As such, it seems to correspond to the general zeitgeist, in which new, less formal actors and forms of international cooperation gain prominence, while traditional actors and instruments of international law are in stagnation. However, an increasing number of voices - including the OSCE participating states - have been advocating for more formal and autonomous OSCE institutional structures, for international legal personality, or even for the adoption of a constitutive treaty. The book analyses why and how these demands have emerged, critically analyses the reform proposals and provides new arguments for revisiting the OSCE legal framework.

The monograph will cover topics on Internet governance and human rights in international law, evolution of the national human rights law in context of the information society and development of the Internet, the right of access to information as a fundamental constitutional right in information society, E-government as a guarantee of the constitutional rights and freedoms, and international experience of Internet use in implementation of constitutional rights. Special part will consider issues of realization of specific constitutional rights and freedoms.
In this monograph, readers will understand the regulatory framework of the Internet, be able to find legal problems in the implementation of constitutional rights and freedoms on the Internet, and learn how to use online sources to justify its position on the issue under consideration.

Over the past decade, rapid integration of new computer systems and information technology takes place both in the State's and public authorities' activities, and in various social spheres. As of today, development and implementation of high technology and informatization process in various areas of social activities lead to drastic increase in the living standards of population. The healthcare sector is not an exception in this regard. Due to this, application of high technologies in medical activity including provision of medical care using telemedicine becomes particularly apparent. It is worth noting that European countries have a wealth of experience in using telemedicine, while Russia is still at the initial stage of creation and implementation of such information technologies in healthcare. Russian laws and regulations governing organization of telemedicine are still at the phase of discussion and approval. The purpose of this article is to consider problematic issues related to legal regulation of telemedicine both in foreign countries and in Russia, as well as to conclude whether solutions applied abroad to overcome legal gaps in telemedicine can be applied in Russia.

As a tribute to their academic teacher and to further his interests, the students of Prof. Dr. Laurent Waelkens collected fifteen scholarly contributions on ius commune graeco-romanum, written by academics from eleven different countries, mainly but not exclusively from Eastern Europe. The book consists of three main parts. In the first part, four authors focus on the Graeco-Roman law in the Roman Empire itself. In the second part, five contributions concern the influence of Graeco-Roman law outside of the Byzantine Empire. The six contributions of the third and final part study the impact of the Western ius commune tradition on Eastern European countries. Thus, the volume highlights the continued importance of the study of Roman law for the understanding of our common pan-European legal heritage.

The book analyses the position of the ECtHR which has been more and more confronted with criticism coming from the national sphere, including the judiciary. This culminated in constitutional court judgments declaring a particular ECtHR judgment non-executable, for reasons of constitutional law. Existing scholarship does not differentiate enough between cases of mere political unwillingness to execute an ECtHR judgment and cases where execution is blocked for legal reasons (mainly of constitutional law nature). At the same time, the discussion under EU law on national/constitutional identity limiting the reach of the former has been only loosely linked with the ECHR context. This book presents a new dogmatic concept - 'principled resistance' - to analyse such cases. Taking up examples from the national level, it strives to find out whether the legal reasoning behind 'principled resistance' shows enough commonalities in order to qualify such incidents as expression of a 'new paradigm'.

This book is the result of the 5th edition of the Seminar on International and Comparative Labour Law, organized, under my direction, by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law in Venice (7-11 May 2018). The Seminar was entirely dedicated to the topic “The Role of the State and Industrial Relations” and during the Young Scholars Session organized at the conclusion of the Seminar, chaired by Prof. Stefano Bellomo, several young Phd Students and Research Fellows, which actively participated to the call for paper launched by the ISLSSL, came from all over the world to discuss about the industrial relations system and about the role of the State, adopting different perspectives: national, European and supranational.

A number of recent events in the last decade have renewed interest in Russian discourses on international law. This book evaluates and presents a contemporary analysis of Russian discourses on international law from various perspectives, including sociological, theoretical, political and philosophical. The aim is to identify how Russian interacts with international law, the reasons behind such interactions, and how such interactions compare with the general practice of international law. It also examines whether legal culture and other phenomena can justify Russia's interaction in international law. Russian Discourses on International Law explains Russia's interpretation of international law thrugh the lens of both leading western scholars and contemporary western-based Russian scholars. It will be of value to international law scholars looking for a better understanding of Russia's behaviour in international legal relations, law and society, foreign policy, and domestic application of international law. Further, those in fields such as sociology, politics, pholosophy, or general graduate students, lawyers, think tanks, government departments, and specialised Russian studies programmes will find this book helpful.

Liberalism in Russia is one of the most complex, multifaced and, indeed, controversial phenomena in the history of political thought. Values and practices traditionally associated with Western liberalism—such as individual freedom, property rights, or the rule of law—have often emerged ambiguously in the Russian historical experience through different dimensions and combinations. Economic and political liberalism have often appeared disjointed, and liberal projects have been shaped by local circumstances, evolved in response to secular challenges and developed within often rapidly-changing institutional and international settings. This third volume of the Reset DOC “Russia Workshop” collects a selection of the Dimensions and Challenges of Russian Liberalism conference proceedings, providing a broad set of insights into the Russian liberal experience through a dialogue between past and present, and intellectual and empirical contextualization, involving historians, jurists, political scientists and theorists. The first part focuses on the Imperial period, analyzing the political philosophy and peculiarities of pre-revolutionary Russian liberalism, its relations with the rule of law (Pravovoe Gosudarstvo), and its institutionalization within the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets). The second part focuses on Soviet times, when liberal undercurrents emerged under the surface of the official Marxist-Leninist ideology. After Stalin’s death, the “thaw intelligentsia” of Soviet dissidents and human rights defenders represented a new liberal dimension in late Soviet history, while the reforms of Gorbachev’s “New Thinking” became a substitute for liberalism in the final decade of the USSR. The third part focuses on the “time of troubles” under the Yeltsin presidency, and assesses the impact of liberal values and ethics, the bureaucratic difficulties in adapting to change, and the paradoxes of liberal reforms during the transition to post-Soviet Russia. Despite Russian liberals having begun to draw lessons from previous failures, their project was severely challenged by the rise of Vladimir Putin. Hence, the fourth part focuses on the 2000s, when the liberal alternative in Russian politics confronted the ascendance of Putin, surviving in parts of Russian culture and in the mindset of technocrats and “system liberals”. Today, however, the Russian liberal project faces the limits of reform cycles of public administration, suffers from a lack of federalist attitude in politics and is externally challenged from an illiberal world order. All this asks us to consider: what is the likelihood of a “reboot” of Russian liberalism?

The Working Paper focuses on possible impacts of related technologies, such as machine learning and autonomous vehicles, on international relations and society. The authors also examine the ethical and legal aspects of the use of AI technologies. The present Working Paper of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) includes analytical materials prepared by experts in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous system, as well as by lawyers and sociologists. The materials presented here are intended to contribute to the public dialogue on issues of artificial intelligence and the possible consequences of using this technology.
This Article seeks to examine the idea of ‘protection’ which was developed in 19th century positivist legal thought in the attempt to expand the imperial interests of European nations during the colonial period. In particular, this Article unfolds how the notion of protectorate was subtly implemented by British rule with the aim to subjugate the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka in 1815. The British Empire took advantage of the internal disputes existing between the Sinhalese Kandyan aristocrats and the King (originally from South India) for imperial reasons.
Internet technology makes digital value transactions between anonymous individuals possible, but leaves unanswered the question of how to resolve disputes between unidentified parties. Blockchain dispute resolution platforms provide a response to this problem. In the social dispute resolution systems for blockchain currently in use, pseudo anonymous jurors can resolve disputes between pseudo anonymous parties. This paper presents Kleros as the most illustrative blockchain dispute resolution platform BDRP. To describe the features of the Kleros dispute resolution platform and the qualification of jurors, this research employs an online dispute resolution survey of both the jurors and stakeholders of the Kleros platform. This study raises important questions about key elements of procedural justice in resolution platforms for blockchain disputes. The research underlines the pros and cons of dispute resolution for crowdsourced blockchain and contributes to the further development of online dispute resolution systems. It tests the wisdom of the crowd as the core attribute of the resolution process in crowdsource disputes. Crowdsource mass dispute resolution, coupled with cooperative jurors and blockchain technology, could ensure greater effectiveness and fairness of the dispute resolution process, especially the adjudication of online small claims disputes.
The article provides an overview of the Islamic finance market in Russia. It accumulated data on 30+ Islamic finance institutions and products launched between 2010 and 2019, including discontinued ones. The range includes banks, non-banking microfinance institutions, mutual investment funds, housing cooperatives, investment companies and others. The article provides the author’s assessment of the market size and its dynamics between 2011 and 2019. It analyzes the range of Islamic finance products rendered by the market players, including the industry break down of certain Islamic finance companies. The article summarizes the results of the survey, conducted among the owners and managers of the Islamic finance institutions. It shows the range of opinions regarding the lack of market special regulation and elicits factors influencing the market and impeding its development. The main legal and tax hurdles for the Islamic finance market, in Russia, are analyzed. The results show that the market is still not mature and lacks internal competition. The geographical reach of Islamic financial services is limited. Despite the lack of Islamic banking law, the market size is comparable to that of Kazakhstan. The lack of market regulation is a negative side that holds back the potential newcomers and clients, and, on the contrary, the relative market freedom allows the existing companies to experiment and make use of the emerging niche segment. There is an acute necessity of a tax-friendly regime for murabaha financing and mudaraba-based investment accounts, and a level playing field concerning the mechanisms of state subsidies. Among potential solutions that could contribute to the market development is the creation of a self-regulatory organization that could establish internal standards, develop liquidity management tools and create a proper mediation of arbitrage system, as well as organize takaful funds. Based on the analysis, the author makes a forecast for further market development.
In his monograph The Burden of the Empire. The Administrative Policy of Russia in Central Asia. Second Half of the 19th Century, D. V. Vasilyev analyses imperial Russian policy in the region, focusing on the administration of the steppe provinces and Russian Turkestan between 1865 and 1891. This approach allows the author to observe the evolution of views of the central and regional authorities responsible for the administration of these regions and compare broader imperial policy. The monograph is innovative, as it provides a parallel examination of Russian policy in the steppe provinces and in Russian Turkestan, with the author analysing draft regulations in chronological order. The measures taken to adapt the administrative system in both regions are considered at specific stages of their development. Vasilyev refers to new archival materials, which should be of interest both to researchers of the imperial Russian policy in Central Asia and specialists in the administrative and legal history of the Russian state. Careful and comprehensive analysis of the sources offers the reader an informed perspective on these documents and makes it possible to trace specific aspects and changes in imperial policy.
Currently, there is a need for reform of global monetary circulation and credit, which in a sense has stalled. The key is to restore the connection between monetary circulation and real production. In the first part of this study, I provide a brief analysis of the catastrophic consequences that the current design of reserve currencies has led to for the world economy. At the same time, the transition from the dollar to other reserve currencies operating on the same principles, the ethos of which is now being actively promoted in the West, will not improve the situation. In the second part, I demonstrate the efforts being made to de-dollarize settlements by both the BRICS, the EU, and the EAEU countries. The third part shows the successful historical experience of the transferable ruble as an international currency that functioned in 1960-1980 on non-discriminatory principles within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In the fourth part, the international currencies already functioning in the world are described, as well as some existing proposals for the introduction of new international currencies. I argue that reliable physical access to reserves in basic food and medicines in controlled warehouses is becoming a matter of great importance. The transition is necessary from the ideology of reserve currencies to the ideology of reserves of critical goods. Such an incentive of a new BRICS currency on the demand side will be food and healthcare security. On the supply side, for all states that have established a currency, there should be a clear vision of how they can develop their exports using this currency. In order to secure currency, such goods must be pledged to international BRICS warehouses that correspond to the main export directions of the project countries and/or are critical for their import. These are basic foods such as grains, then medicines, fuel and energy resources, and metals.
Accession of Russia and Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) constitutes a landmark event in the history of this organization, especially in relation to trade in energy, in general, and trade in electricity, in particular. As a result, the role of the WTO in regulating trade in electricity has increasingly grown. However, the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, a treaty that binds both Russia and Kazakhstan, necessitates additional regulation for trade in electricity, concurrent with law of the WTO. Recently, this treaty was amended by the Protocol on Common Electricity Market on 1 July 2019. As a result, compatibility issues between the rules of the WTO and the Eurasian Economic Union arise. This article concludes that the law of the WTO can be relevant to trade in electricity between Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union and third countries because of the specific place of the rules of the WTO under the Eurasian Economic Union legal order.
Nowadays the growth of courts’ caseload is usual for most jurisdictions. However, post-socialist countries have extremely high rates of caseload. Authors prove that main reason of such caseload is more ineffectiveness of legal system and court organization as well as unjustified access to justice. This article focuses on the indisputable and small cases in Russian courts. The court system is overloaded as a result of necessity to engage in non-targeted activities. Thus, the judicial system is largely idle to the detriment of its primary purpose.
The pandemic is a watershed event that has prompted both an evaluation of the achievements of information and communications technology (ICT) and also a re-evaluation of the prospects for developing social processes compatible with ICT. Much has been already been accomplished in Russia and throughout the world. But in the current pandemic, telemedicine is facing new challenges. This article discusses the state of the art in telemedicine and the prospects for its development in the changing conditions wrought by the pandemic. Examples are provided of the solutions that telemedicine can offer in such a difficult period, and the risks due to widespread use of telemedicine are analyzed. The impact of telemedicine is extensive with consequences for technology, management, and law. This article is a multidisciplinary study of telemedicine from the perspective of management and law. The article examines how telemedicine technologies have been implemented and developed, the obstacles to telemedicine’s advance in various countries, and the legislative frameworks that governs it. The article’s interdisciplinary study is based on an integrated methodology which combines: a formal logical approach to analysis of the legislation concerning telemedicine; a comparison of the development of telemedicine across several countries; and a sociological method to identify the attitude of Russian medical staff toward telemedicine and its impact. Although telemedicine has been developed and regulated separately by each country, there are general development trends, such as collection and analysis of electronic health records (EHR), devices and systems to simplify communication between doctors and with chronically ill patients, and others. Legislation is one of the significant barriers to the development of telemedicine in different countries. However, the pandemic has been a catalyst for legislative change, and it is precisely those changes that will eliminate the key problem in telemedicine that beset Russia where telemedicine now resembles separate pieces in a puzzle.
This paper evaluates current food commodity trading from the Shariah point of view, which is particularly relevant for the MENA region. It focuses on futures contracts as the main instrument for grain trading and analyzes the traders’ activities. Through a qualitative and multifaceted approach, the paper accumulates and evaluates the suggestions for 15 Shariah-based alternatives to futures by contemporary researchers. Sukuk, commodity funds and takaful programs are among potential structures that could be developed and broadly implemented. The research compares the current criticism of futures markets with the opinions of Islamic scholars and researchers, as well as Shariah standards. The paper also evaluates several recent suggestions by researchers to raise the efficiency of the international commodity trading market for the sake of food security. The results show that there is space for cooperation taking into account Islamic financial principles and conventional commodity exchange regulations, in combining existing best practices of the latter and the rulings of the former in engineering a sounder system of grain trading for the benefit of market players and the end consumers. This would require a joint effort and support from exchanges, standard-setting bodies, and regulators. Among the areas of cooperation are the approach towards corners (ihtikar), squeezes, speculation (gharar, maysir, and najash), and defining the border between reasonable and excess speculation; financial architecture using new technologies in developing a commodity trading contract conforming to the Shariah regulations and the exchange requirements. There is a need to develop the ideas for global food contracts and grain reserve systems, and to test the contracts based on existing exchanges.