Browsing by study line "Oikeusvertailu"
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(2022)The anonymity of virtual currency allows for its misuse for criminal purposes. Of particular concern are transnational organized crime users of virtual currency platforms. The global regulatory response to virtual currency has been disparate, far from uniform, and until recently, fairly muted. In 2018, the European Union integrated virtual currency into a robust anti-money laundering legal regime by requiring the registration of all EU-based virtual currency providers to comply with the rules of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The United States has a messier, but equally stringent approach to virtual currency. However, American regulators struggle with fifty state courts issuing wildly varied interpretations, while virtual currency companies meet different conditions for licensing, described as ‘Frankenfinance’ or full of absurd contradictions and incongruities. China took an altogether different approach as it banned all cryptocurrencies in order for the People’s Bank of China to pave way for the introduction of its own cryptocurrency, the digital yuan. This decision was made after recent high profile security breaches, including thefts and fraud, warned the Chinese regulator of increasing risk to the financial market. The responses of these three jurisdictions demonstrate the different ways that regulators have begun to define and limit the use of virtual currency. Permissive and contentious regulators in the EU and the United States are normalizing the trade of virtual currencies if it complies with international anti-money laundering rules. However, the hostile Chinese approach suggests that this Western regulatory approach may not meet the demands of every global jurisdiction. This paper uses a vertical and horizontal comparative approach to identify both legal definitions and approaches to virtual currency regulation to answer the research question: is the harmonization of virtual currency regulation desirable, or even possible?
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(2020)This Master thesis belongs to the project of the HELSUS Co-creation Lab. The project topic is about the circular economy and the challenge given by a HELSUS partner UPM-Kymmene Corporation to find opportunities for the circular economy business model from a legal perspective. As an international forest industry company, UPM has developed innovative ways to reduce its waste and to reuse its side in new products, and to use resources sustainably. Circular economy principles already applied in UPM, and develop and implement the technology and innovation of using wood in various new products. However, UPM wants to know what challenges and possibilities the regulations pose in creating new circular business opportunities? At the same time, this thesis chooses Germany and China for comparative research. Both countries have promulgated special circular economy legislation, established the 3R principles of reduce, reuse and recycle, stipulated extended producer responsibility systems, established waste recycling systems, and so on, aim to promote waste treatment and resource recycling legal system. However, the circular economy legal system of these two countries have apparent differences in legislative models, legislative purposes, and institutional arrangements. So, there are two purposes for writing this essay. First, explaining the historical evolution of the circular economy legal system in Germany and China, the objective is to understand the historical evolution of the circular economy law in two counties. Second, evaluative whether they are under circular economic aims in comparative research, the purpose of the comparison is not to determine which country's laws are more suitable for creating new business opportunities. It is to find out the challenges and possibilities of creating new circular business opportunities for UPM. Therefore, the research question is about: What are the challenges and possibilities of creating new business opportunities for UPM when compares the circular economy legal system between Germany and China?
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(2021)Developed common-law jurisdictions have had better economic performance in comparison to continental European countries. An integral part of corporate risk management is defending against hostile takeover attempts. Hostile takeover activity is by majority represented in the countries with more widely dispersed share ownership, such as the United States and United Kingdom. One side suggests that ultimately corporate governance structures around the global economy will converge with the United States shareholder-oriented model. This paper will focus on discussing whether the United States practices in mergers and acquisitions regarding hostile takeover defensive tactics have impacted the way regulators in Europe and Finland allow and apply similar takeover defense corporate governance mechanisms. The author will compare U.S. law and case law to the European Takeover Directive and later to the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act and the Securities Markets Act. The research question is whether Finland as part of the EU is converging to the Anglo-American legal standard in terms of hostile takeover defense tactics. The author finds that elements of U.S. corporate law has been transplanted to Finnish corporate laws and that similar tactics aimed at frustrating or defeating a hostile takeover can be used in Finland.
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(2018)Crimes perpetrated by large corporate actors are often met with impunity. This is particularly relevant in the case of the international core crimes and grave human rights abuses. Serious breaches of human rights were once thought to only committed by states and their actors, but as corporations grow to gain more power than that of some states, so grows their power to commit egregious abuses. As such, it is imperative to assess the mechanisms governing corporate actions, on both the international and domestic levels. This paper aims to provide a overview of the mechanisms governing corporate criminal liability for violations of the international core crimes through an assessment of ongoing soft law mechanisms, international tribunal precedent, domestic practices looking into best practices as well as common failures. Ultimately, the author finds that in order to effectively achieve criminal liability for corporate perpetrators of atrocity crimes, domestic paths must be pursued and strengthened before moving forward at the international criminal level. In the first part of this paper the author lays the ground work for how businesses can commit egregious abuses, and provides background on the ongoing frameworks of corporate social responsibility which dominates the human rights and business space. The second part looks into the international soft law mechanisms that largely govern how businesses operate with respect to human rights and preventing violations of the core international crimes. Several of the major mechanisms are selected and analyzed, along with a failed proposal by the United Nations, and a new Draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights. The third part looks at the how corporate criminal liability functions as part of international law customs and at international tribunals, with a look into the Nuremberg industrialist trials, the notable failure to include legal persons into the founding documents of the International Criminal Court, and a hopeful ruling regarding the jurisdiction over legal persons by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The fourth part focuses on domestic systems, looking into how corporate criminal liability is applied within two different jurisdictions, France and the United States, and one corporate accountability case that spans both jurisdictions. Finally, the author gives recommendations on what can be done in order to move forward with creating a more cohesive approach to corporate criminal liability for atrocity crimes at the international level, which is largely dependent on that of domestic systems.
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(2021)This thesis aims to introduce the reader to the construct of the fashion industry, the historical relationship between fashion design and intellectual property (IP) frameworks, and future commercial benefits related to integrated legal legislation among international influencers such as the US and the EU. France and the UK's design legislation will be reviewed in addition to EU’s Member States protection under the Council Regulation on Community Design (EC) No 6/2002 and Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on Legal Protections of Design. In comparison to Europe and its Member States, the US’s lax intellectual Property framework will be explored, with additional focus on failed attempts at Copyright legislation reform to include fashion through the Design Piracy Prohibition Act (DPPA) and Innovative Design and Prevention Act (IDPPA). Through thorough analysis, the author aims to establish the relevant need for design legislation within the US and outline the economic and commercial profit that harmonized protection will potentially bring to the industry on a global scale. Moreover, the author intends to shed light on potential new economic theories that may affect the current legal structure and hopefully push for modernization of both the fashion industry and the laws that aim to protect it. The first chapter’s main focus is to introduce the reader to the fashion industry, and define fashion design, fashion innovation, and outline the current hierarchical structure of the industry. Chapter two intends to provide historical context fashion has played within legal rhetoric and its introduction to IP frameworks. Chapter three will introduce the foundations of fast fashion through a business analysis of France and NYC during the interwar years. Furthermore, the first fashion lobbyist attempts will be explored, through the formation of The Fashion Originator’s Guild of America (FOGA), which would later inspire modern-day activist organizations such as the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and American Apparel & Footwear Association(AAFA), which is explored in the final subchapter of Chapter three. Chapter four shall shed light on the influence of international treaties in regards to IP legislation and internationally trading countries. Moreover, the current complex issues related to lack of harmonization between the US and the EU will be exposed, and treaties that aim to provide relief to fashion’s international legal setbacks. Chapter five will introduce the US IP framework of the fashion industry, while also providing the current limitations traditional IP structure has when providing protections for the industry. Lastly, Chapter five will review modern attempts at copyright legislation, through the DPPA and IDPPA, which aimed at achieving a design law reform in the US for the fashion industry and provide a more inclusive legal structure. The fifth chapter shall be a comparative review and outline the lack of global immersion of a legal construct between the EU and the US and the potential global benefits the fashion industry shall gain from an international legal accord between the main markets related to this thesis Chapter six reviews current economic theories that have resulted from the US’s lax IP system, which includes the piracy paradox, and its controversial benefits to the fashion industry. Moreover, current economic theories such as circular economy will be highlighted as they may provide the change that fashion needs to open the grounds for design reform. Chapter seven outlines the European sector through the formation of domestic and EU legislation, and a highlighted look into Europe’s fashion capitals of France and the UK. Furthermore, EU regulatory law and directives will be defined, through the Council Regulation on Community Design (EC) No 6/2002 and Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on Legal Protections of Design. This legal rhetoric will be explored through the scope of the fashion industry, and provide context to fashion’s benefits from design legislation in the European market. Chapter eight provides a final comparison of the two main fashion sectors, with a concluding argument highlighting the benefits of potential design reform in the US, as well as for the overall harmonization between the US and Europe.
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(2021)EU:n ja jäsenvaltioiden välillä on jännite liittyen oikeus- ja sisäasioihin, viime vuosina erityisesti kansainväliseen muuttoliikkeeseen. Euroopan valtiot ovat toisistaan riippuvaisia kolmansista maista tulevien maahanmuuttajiin ja turvapaikanhakijoihin liittyvissä kysymyksissä ja joutuvat koordinoimaan yhdessä esimerkiksi sisäistä turvallisuutta ja maahanmuuton hallintaa, joiden on perinteisesti ymmärretty kuuluvan yksin suvereeneille kansallisvaltioille. Vuosituhannen vaihteessa luonnosteltiin unionille aktiivisempaa, laaja-alaisempaa ja osin myös liberaalimpaa maahanmuuttopolitiikkaa. Sen sijaan, että ainoastaan torjuttaisiin Eurooppaan kohdistuvaa muuttopainetta, oli hyväksyttävä, että kansainvälinen muuttoliike jatkuu ja edellyttää asianmukaista sääntelyä. Vuonna 2015 nopeasti lisääntynyt turvapaikanhakijoiden määrä paljasti puutteita EU:n maahanmuuttopolitiikassa, -lainsäädännössä ja niiden täytäntöönpanossa. Vuoden 2015 jälkeen Pohjoismaat jakautuivat uusien maahanmuuton hallinnan suhteen. EU:n oikeus- ja sisäasioiden ulkopuoliset Tanska ja Norja omaksuivat kaikki EU-lainsäädäntöön perustuvat muuttoliikkeen hallinnan keinot, minkä ohella ne kiristivät ulkomaalaislainsäädäntöä kansallisilla laeilla. Lisäksi molemmat ottivat etäisyyttä kansainväliseen muuttoliike- ja pakolaisoikeuteen ja ilmaisivat toiveensa avata uudelleen kansainvälisten sopimusten sisältö tai muuttaa niiden tulkintaa. Ruotsi ja Suomi kiristivät myös maahanmuuttolainsäädäntöään, mutta EU-oikeuden vaikutuksen vuoksi lopputulos oli maltillisempi. Ruotsin pyrkimys saada muut jäsenvaltiot kantamaan vastuunsa muuttoliikekriisissä ei ole toteutunut. Pohjoismaat kiirehtivät lisäämään maahanmuuton kontrollia ja estämään turvapaikanhakijoiden tulon omien rajojensa sisä-puolelle. Maahanmuuton ja erityisesti kansainvälisen suojelun kytkeytyminen yleisen järjestyksen ja turvallisuuden teemoihin on lähtöisin sisärajatarkastusten poistamisesta ja siitä seuranneesta hallinnan tunteen menettämisestä. Eurooppaan kohdistuva muuttoliike nähdään territoriaalisesta rajavalvonnan näkökulmasta ja sisäisen turvallisuuden kysymyksenä, mikä on nähtävissä sekä EU-lainsäädännössä ja -instituutioissa että jäsenvaltioiden tasolla. Eurooppaa arvostellaan säännöllisesti Fortress Europe -mentaliteetista, jolla viitataan siihen, että samalla, kun luodaan vapaan liikkuvuuden alue tiettyjen valtioiden kesken, jätetään toiset ulkopuolelle ja pyritään aktiivisesti pitämään heidät siellä. Fortress Europe edellyttäisi kuitenkin yhteistä eurooppalaista identiteettiä, jotain mitä jäsenvaltiot pyrkisivät yhdessä suojaamaan. Pohjoismaat ovat kuitenkin hyvä esimerkki siitä, miten lainsäädännön eurooppalaistuminen voi olla valikoivaa ja vinoutunutta: EU:lta otetaan se, mikä sillä hetkellä sopii kansallisiin ratkaisuihin, mutta muuten unionin oikeuden vaikutusta torjutaan. Vuodesta 2015 alkaen Pohjoismaita on yhdistänyt pyrkimys rajoittaa kolmansista maista tulevaa maahanmuuttoa ja torjua erityisesti sellaiset maahanmuuttajat, jotka ovat saapuneet Schengen-alueelle turvapaikanhakijoina. Tätä tavoitetta toteutetaan Fortress Europe -hengessä kehystämällä maahanmuuttajat kansallisen turvallisuu-den, yleisen järjestyksen ja hyvinvointivaltion uhkaksi. Euroopan unionin tai Pohjoismaiden muuttoliikelainsäädäntö ja jäsenvaltioiden käytännöt eivät heijasta kosmopoliittista tai edes eurooppalaisesta lähestymistapaa. Sen sijaan, että Pohjoismaat olisivat etsineet eurooppalaista, solidaarista, humaania linjaa ja ihmisoikeudet huomioon ottavia keinoja, ne päätyivät ratkaisuihin, jotka olivat ja ovat edelleen kyseenalaisia sekä kansainvälisen oikeuden että SEU 2 artiklan perus-arvojen kanssa. Muuttoliikeoikeuden selkärangan Euroopassa muodostavat kansallisvaltioiden rajat, kansallinen maahanmuuttolainsäädäntö ja sisäiseen ja kansalliseen turvallisuuteen keskittyvä maahanmuuttopolitiikka. Maahanmuuttokysymyksissä, joissa korostuu maantieteellinen, poliittinen ja kulttuurinen läheisyys, Pohjoismaat ovat rajanaapureina toistensa keskeisin viiteryhmä, Fortress Norden.
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(2022)Labour markets have changed due to globalisation, and this is challenging the traditional way of defining the notion of worker. Currently the international labour legislative system is based on a state centred way of defining the concept of worker. Each country hence defines the scope of the term on the basis of their national social and economic conditions. These national definitions have remained as the starting point even though the labour markets have internationalised. Workers may move from a country to another, businesses reach beyond national borders and across border competition has increased. Furthermore, regional, and international instruments containing their own ways to define the notion of worker, have added layers of regulation. Globalisation has hence changed the playing ground firstly with regards to the ways of work as well as with adding new layers of regulation. As the definition of worker grants rights and obligations to persons working, it is necessary to know who is categorised as a worker. The challenges caused by globalisation in defining the notion of worker based on national needs is amplified with the rise of atypical employment. Next to the traditional employment relationship based on an employment contract new forms of employment are becoming more prominent. These new forms of working do not fit into the traditional binary distinction between the workers and the self-employed. A current example of a form of atypical employment is platform work, which is work done on, or intermediated by digital platforms. Not only national regulation, but also regional and international instruments are being challenged with the changes in the global labour markets. This thesis seeks to outline the changes globalisation has brought to the labour markets. The current way of defining the concept of worker in all national, regional, and international contexts are explained. Based on this, the concepts are compared to see how similar or different the approaches to the concept are. Challenges caused by new forms of labour to the concept are furthermore presented. On the basis of this analysis, the durability of the current system of state centred way of defining the concept of worker is contrasted to the possible future changes in the labour markets and the possibility of harmonising the notion is contemplated as a solution for the changes caused by globalisation.
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(2021)Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Gambling is a staple in cultures around the world. As society and technology evolved, so did gambling – going from brick-and-mortar venues to mobile applications. However, gambling is a service that is currently not subject to harmonization within Member States of the European Union. This makes for a very different set of rules on how to regulate gambling, especially its online gambling category and the steps gambling operators have to take to ensure that its services are, and remain, a safe environment and also protect children and other vulnerable persons. This work will analyze online gambling, but only through the lenses of its marketing effects on children and how different Member States (or former Member State in the case of the United Kingdom) approach the matter. The aim is to find out if there is currently a system capable of successfully achieving the protection of children on its marketing regulations. Besides issues concerning consumer law, gambling also has a direct effect on the protection of children – a core value of the European Union. In Chapter 1, the goal and reasons for this study will be introduced, as well as the methodology chosen to conduct this research. Chapter 2 will look back to the origins of Gambling, how it became a legitimate business and set out the current gambling scenario in the European Union. Chapter 3 will analyze the types of marketing used by online gambling websites and how children interact with advertisement in general and how they are firstly introduced to gambling. Following on Chapter 4, the duality between children’s right and gambling will be examined. In Chapter 5, a comparison between the current regulations set out by Malta, Sweden, and the United Kingdom will be made, and Chapter 6 will bring examples of decisions by advertisement agencies that upheld citizen’s complaints for being aimed at children. Chapter 7 evaluates new features in videogames that could be equal to gambling and how the European Union is dealing with it. Followed by a quick look into the additional protection for gamblers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, taking everything into account we recommend that at least in the respect of protection of children (especially via marketing) gambling should be harmonized in the Internal Market, and proposes a hybrid model taking the best parts of the regulations examined in this study. However, further research is recommended.
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(2022)Maisteritutkielmani aiheena on sopimusneuvottelujen rooli osana sopimusten tulkintaa. Tutkielmani ydinkysymyksenä on pohtia sopimusneuvottelujen roolia Pohjoismaisessa tulkintaopissa sekä Englannin tulkintaopissa. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on ensiksi luoda yhteinen kehikko Pohjoismaisesta tulkintaopista, jotta sen avulla voidaan tarkastella sopimusneuvottelujen roolia Englannin tulkintaopissa. On tarkoituksenmukaista tarkastella tulkinnassa käytettäviä metodeja, prosessia sekä tulkinnan tarkoitusta, koska ne muodostavat lähtökohdan sopimusneuvottelujen asemaan Pohjoismaissa. Sopimusten tulkinta on laaja kokonaisuus, joka toteutetaan laajan tulkintamateriaalin pohjalta. Tutkielmani perusajatuksena on tutkia sopimusneuvottelujen roolia muun tulkintamateriaalin osana, jonka vuoksi on tärkeää nostaa esille muut Pohjoismaissa käytettävät sopimuksen ulkopuoliset tulkintamateriaalit (kontekstimateriaali). Kontekstimateriaalilla on pohjoismaissa olennainen osa sopimusten tulkinnassa erityisesti, kun tarkoituksena on määritellä sopimusosapuolten yhteinen tahto. Muu sopimuksen ulkopuolinen tulkintamateriaali nostaa esille sopimusneuvottelujen roolin osana tulkintaa käytettävää materiaalia. Toiseksi tutkielmani tarkoituksena on tarkastella Pohjoismaisen oikeuden ja Englannin oikeuden eroja sopimusneuvottelujen osalta. Englannin tulkintaoppi rajoittaa tulkintamateriaalin objektiiviseen materiaaliin ja sulkee ulkopuolelle erityisesti sopimusneuvottelut ja subjektiiviset elementit. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on avata Englannin tulkintaopin sääntelyä sopimusneuvottelujen osalta sekä tuoda esille eroja ja yhtäläisyyksiä sopimusneuvottelujen roolista Pohjoismaisessa tulkintaopissa sekä Englannin tulkintaopissa. Pohjoismaisen sopimusten tulkintaopin ja englannin tulkintaopin erona voidaan erityisesti havaita lähtökohta osapuolten tarkoituksen määritykselle. Pohjoismaisessa tulkintaopissa voidaan käyttää laajasti eri kontekstimateriaalia osapuolten tarkoituksen määrittämiseksi, kun taas englannin tulkintaopin tarkoituksena on selvittää osapuolten tarkoitus objektiivisesta näkökulmasta ja rajoittuu lähinnä itse sopimukseen. Tutkielman lopulla esitetään pohdintaa siitä miksi sopimusneuvottelut ovat Englannin tulkintaopissa rajattu tulkintamateriaalin ulkopuolelle. Olennaisen syyn muodostavat Englannin tulkintaopissa käytettävä erilainen tulkintametodi sekä erilainen tulkinnan tavoite. Pohdintaa esitetään myös siitä, miten sopimusneuvotteluja voidaan hyödyntää Pohjoismaisesta näkökulmasta objektiivisen tulkintametodin rajat huomioon ottaen.
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(2023)The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guarantees a high level of data protection for individuals in the European Union (EU data subjects). Other jurisdictions may not guarantee an equivalent level of protection, and therefore the GDPR has mechanisms through which it ensures that personal data is protected when processed extraterritorially. The two main mechanisms examined in this research paper are the rules on territorial scope under Article 3(2) and those for international data transfers in Chapter V GDPR. The mechanisms may apply simultaneously, and their interplay is not regulated by the GDPR, resulting in confusion and inconsistent application of the two protective mechanisms. The confusion has resulted in two approaches to addressing how the mechanisms should interact when applied simultaneously: the ‘cumulative’ and the ‘compensatory’ approaches. The cumulative approach advocates for the simultaneous application of the two rules, while the compensatory advocates for the disapplication of Chapter V when Article 3(2) applies. The presence of two approaches may undermine the rule of law and the general reception of the data protection measures in a foreign jurisdiction, and thusly, clarifications of the law is needed. Considering the above, the aim of this work is to (1) ascertain the overlap between Article 3(2) and Chapter V, and (2) evaluate which of the two approaches –‘cumulative’ or ‘compensatory’ – better achieves the EU data protection framework’s objective of ensuring extraterritorial data protection. In chapter 2, the research evaluates the extent of the overlap between the two mechanisms by laying out their legal requirements and background. It is established that the extraterritorial application of the GDPR faces issues with enforcement and conflict of laws. In chapter 3, the ‘cumulative’ and ‘compensatory’ approaches are evaluated from a reformist legal doctrine perspective to account for the wider societal context in which the approaches operate in. The research concludes that, while the cumulative approach yields in a higher level of protection, the approach can be unnecessarily cumbersome for data controllers and processors from a cost and compliance perspective. The research recommends the adoption of a middle-ground approach, where the limitations of both cumulative and compensatory approaches are accounted for. The middle-ground approaches explored in this paper are: the development of a new data transfer instrument and regulatory reform. The research also recommends more in-depth research into the topic to aid the development of a new data transfer instrument or laws.
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