Browsing by master's degree program "Magisterprogrammet i internationell affärsjuridik"
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(2021)Big Data is considered an essential asset for online business models and crucial for their services. These business models depend on the processing and monetization of the data; thus, big data is said to be the driving force of their market behavior. The emergence of big data for online platform businesses may give rise to a specific type of abuse under Article 102 TFEU. For instance, incumbents may prevent competitors from accessing valuable data. In this regard, this thesis will analyze the concept of refusal to supply, which is considered an abuse of dominance under Article 102 TFEU in certain circumstances. Therefore, the purpose is to analyze the applicability of the refusal to supply in big data situations. The research question of this thesis is – can an online platform´s refusal to provide access to data constitutes an abuse of dominant position according to Article 102 TFEU. The analysis leads to the conclusion that under certain conditions, a dominant company can be forced to provide access to its datasets if the requirement is met. This thesis will mainly consider the issue of the indispensability requirement of big data.
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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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(2021)Abstract The two globally leading anti-corruption acts, the United States’ Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (‘FCPA’) and the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act, stand at the forefront of international fight against corruption. These acts prohibit foreign bribery of public officials with an extraterritorial jurisdiction. During the past years, enforcement activities of these laws have significantly grown. Only during 2020, the total penalties for violations of the FCPA imposed by the US authorities to companies was USD 6.4 billion. Out of these 12 companies only one was from the US: jurisdiction of this strict act is exceptionally broad. A company involved in international business and the individuals representing it may face severe penalties, if the company fails to prevent corruption in its business. The US and UK anti-corruption regulation include, however, a significant defence mechanism for the companies. If the company can demonstrate, after having violated either the US or UK anti-corruption laws, that despite its representative engaged in foreign bribery, it has an effective corporate compliance and ethics program, it may receive declination or at least substantial credit possibly worth of millions. The US and UK authorities have issued guidance on corporate compliance and ethics programs to support the prosecutors in their enforcement activities. This guidance also supports the companies in identifying what is required from a corporate compliance and ethics program to be considered effective. This guidance is of utmost importance for companies, as comprehensive case law is not available when majority of cases are settled. What is enough when it comes to corporate compliance and ethics programs? The requirements of the FCPA and UK Bribery Act on corporate compliance programs are studied in this thesis using a comparative research methodology, demonstrating that full compliance with these acts can be reached simultaneously. However, it is also concluded, that given the inadequate guidance by the supporting documentation, the companies cannot verify their compliance without their compliance and ethics programs being investigated by the authorities, ie US or UK prosecutors. A clear lack of guidance is identified.
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(2022)Article 22 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR)arguably forbids the data controller from using solely automated processing to make decisions which produce legal effects concerning the data subject or similarly significantly affects the subject. It can be argued that the legislature assumes that solely automated processing of decisions is disadvantageous for the data subject’s legitimate interests. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the hypothesis that solely automated processing of decisions is in some cases advantageous for the data subject’s legitimate interests, especially economic ones, and human involvement at times disadvantageous. The focus of the research is on situations where the data controller is a private enterprise, and the data subject is a natural person in a customer relationship with the enterprise. The economic impact that human involvement in automated decision-making may have on data subjects will be demonstrated through a thought experiment. In addition, an evaluation framework for determining the “goodness” of human vs algorithm decisions will be established. The scholarly debate surrounding GDPR Article 22 will be discussed and the argument that the subject’s economic interests should be part of the legal consideration for GDPR Article 22 will be established in the literature review. This will be complimented with a comparison of how certain other EU and non-EU legislation have approached legislating automated decision-making, with a particular interest on human involvement. Analysis of available case law connected to GDPR Article 22 will be analyzed for the protection it provides to data subject. The potential negative economic effect for data subjects of human involvement or intervention in automated decision-making will be established based on established economic concepts. The nature of human and algorithmic decision-making will be discussed, reaching the conclusion that the core problem of advanced algorithmic automated decision-making is not caused by lack of human involvement in decision-making but lack of transparency and explicability of the algorithm.
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(2024)Artificial Intelligence is gaining prominence across various sectors, including finance, healthcare, and social security. Notably, its potential in healthcare stands out, with Machine Learning and Deep Learning offering opportunities to enhance diagnosis and treatment decisions. By leveraging health data and genetic information, AI can effectively diagnose diseases and personalize treatments to suit individual patient needs. Recognizing this potential, substantial investments are being made in healthcare AI development. Trade secret protection emerges as a valuable tool to safeguard the intellectual assets underpinning the design, development, and implementation of AI-driven healthcare systems, aligning with the European Union Trade Secret Directive framework. However, alongside its benefits, AI introduces inherent risks, notably its opaque nature, often referred to as a "black box". The European Union's regulatory framework towards trustworthy AI, addresses this by emphasizing explicability as a fundamental ethical principle for trustworthy AI. In this thesis, explicability is framed as a principle aimed at enhancing stakeholders' understanding of how AI systems operate and who bears responsibility for their functioning. Transparency and accountability serve as foundational pillars, achieved through disclosure and effective communication. Consequently, the thesis examines the obligations of transparency and information provision outlined in the AI Act to analyze its stance on explicability. Given these contrasting concepts, it is crucial to examine the dynamic between trade secrecy and explicability from diverse stakeholder perspectives within healthcare AI systems. Consequently, the thesis delves into the viewpoints of public authorities, healthcare professionals, and patients. It concludes that while explicability is vital for fostering trustworthy and ethical healthcare AI, disclosure obligations should not affect trade secrets, thereby discouraging innovation. Moreover, overwhelming patients with excessive information could impair their ability to make informed decisions. To address this balance, the thesis briefly explores practical and theoretical approaches, including Explainable Artificial Intelligence techniques, human oversight, and communication by design and by default. These approaches aim to provide explanations and achieve explicability while safeguarding trade secrets and promoting innovation in healthcare AI.
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(2021)In 2013, the Company Law has revised the capital system, enacting the capital subscription system and giving more freedom to corporate autonomy. However, there are still some conflicts arising under such system, especially for conflicts on the allocation of voting rights of shareholders who have not contributed subscribed capitals in full. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a research and discuss how to deal with such conflicts by analyzing the capital systems in different countries and relevant cases in China. This article focuses on how to better allocate shareholders’ voting right under capital subscription system after fully considering its benefits and problems. To solve this problem, it contains the following aspects: (1) Introduction of shareholders’ voting rights and capital subscription system; (2) Discussion of the current situation and existing problems of shareholders’ voting rights under capital subscription system; (3) In-depth analysis of current theory and cases in China; (4) Comparison of capital systems, such as authorized capital system in the U.K and compromise capital system in Japan, in other countries; (5) Suggestion on how to better allocate shareholders’ voting rights to solve existing problems.
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(2024)Osana tutkintoani olen kirjoittanut tutkielmaa aiheesta EU:n Digipalvelusäädös ja disinformaation leviämisen torjunta. Tutkimuskysymys oli: Analysoi miten EU:n Digipalvelusäädös tarjoaa toimenpiteitä sananvapauden suojelemiseksi ja/tai torjuu disinformaation leviämistä, erityisenä tapaustutkimuksella lasten suojeleminen digitaalisissa ympäristöissä. Tämä tutkielma sisältää fokusoidun tutkimuksen viimeaikaisesta EU:n Digipalvelusäädöksestä, jossa keskeisenä näkökulmana on pohdittu, miten uusi laki onnistuu samalla varjelemaan sananvapautta ja torjumaan disinformaatiota ja sen leviämistä. Tutkielmaan on valikoitu erityinen tapaustutkimus, jossa tarkastellaan lapsen asemaa digitaalisissa ympäristöissä. Tässä keskeisenä oli tutkia lasten haavoittuvuutta verkkoalustojen tuomille haitoille sekä miten Digipalvelusäädöksellä on pyritty puuttumaan näihin haittoihin. Digitaaliset palvelut uudistuvat jatkuvalla tahdilla ja EU:n sääntelyllä pyritään lähtökohtaisesti myös estämään liiallinen pirstoutuminen nopeasti kehittyvällä alalla. Samalla on myös suojeltava yhtä demokratian keskeisistä pilareista, sananvapautta. Disinformaatiosta on tullut yleinen ja tuttu käsite monille yhteiskunnassamme. Disinformaatio tunnistetaan yhtenä vahingollisimmista uhkista yhteiskunnassamme. Näiden tekijöiden takia disinformaation sääntely tulee vaatimaan tarkkaa tasapainoilua kilpailevien tekijöiden välillä. Samalla lisääntyneiden kansainvälisten disinformaatiokriisein vauhdittaman kiireellisyys tuo lisä haastetta tämän tasapainon saavuttamiseen. Aluksi tutkielmassa käytiin läpi yksityiskohtaisesti aiheen taustaa ja vaikutteita. Tämä osio asetti tutkielman aiheen sopivaan ja merkitykselliseen kontekstiin. Seuraavaksi ja vielä pohjustuksena tutkielmassa tutkittiin ja analysoitiin erillisissä osioissa sananvapauslakien kehitystä ja tärkeyttä sekä disinformaation syntyä, kehitystä ja sen haitallisuutta yhteiskunnassa. Seuraavassa osiossa tutkielmassani käsiteltiin aiheen merkityksellisyyttä ja sääntelyn tarvetta. Seuraavassa osiossa käsiteltiin aihetta globaalista näkökulmasta. Seuraavaksi oli vuorossa tutkielman metodologia. Seuraavaksi, tutkielmassani läpikäytiin Digipalvelusäädöksen artikloja yksityiskohtaisesti. Viimeiseksi käsitellään lasten erityistä asemaa. Tutkielman johtopäätöksiksi muodostui seuraavat: sääntelylle on selkeä tarve, mutta mahdollisia sananvapauden rajoituksia on tulkittava rajoituksellisesti. Tutkielmassa päätellään, että Digipalvelusäädös rajoittaa monissa määrin sananvapautta ja voimistaa entisestään verkkoalustojen päätäntävaltaa.
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(2022)When it comes to resolving disputes, planning before the conflict has arisen has become more and more a substantiated phenomena around the world. It is interesting to analyse and explore whether this could be possible also in solving work related individual disputes in Finland by other means. The typical solving method is through litigation, in Finnish district courts. However, This often requires a greater amount of resources and time than what a normal employee might not have, at least they would be in a weaker position than the employer in court. Thus, other ways to resolve these types of disputes do exist, Nevertheless, among litigation there are alternative dispute resolution methods. One of the methods is part of the research question of this paper, so-called Arbitration. Arbitration is private, efficient and usually less costly than litigation. It is highly used in business related disputes between two businesses in Finland, but it is intriguing to gain knowledge if it is used or could be used in individual disputes concerning work related disputes. The main focus will be in Finland because arbitration is not relatively used as much as it is in other countries in individual disputes, especially in employment relationships. What makes everything complicated and Finland an interesting topic is the availability of a labour court that doesn’t resolve all labour disputes, the vital principles that protect weaker parties like the employers and many other laws which interfere with arbitration. It is not solemnly up to the parties to go with arbitration even though arbitration is described as a process that is voluntary and time efficient. The features of arbitration would probably be ideal for both employees and employers, but there are downsides which will be explained and demonstrated in a more detailed manner. Even though it would be ideal, especially for workers to receive the verdict or judgement sooner in cases like illegal determination of work contract, there are other perks lost when one chooses arbitration over litigation. One of these includes the legal-aid the state offers in Finland, which is not admitted to arbitration. This might or mostly does put the employee and employer in an unpleasant disadvantage even though arbitration considered the parties to be equal. Along with these other values are considered and weighted along the research. Thus, Our main focus is whether arbitration could be possible or even allowed to be used in Finland in individual work related disputes, if not, maybe there could be an opening soon for arbitration in the future.
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(2021)The year 2021 marks 36 years since the landmark Mitsubishi ruling – confirming the arbitrability of competition law-based claims, and overturning the then prevailing American Safety decision, which denied the arbitrability of competition law disputes. Mitsubishi was not only a landmark ruling in the U.S., but it also induced a similar change in Europe, firstly with the encouragement of the Commission and then followed by the CJEU in Eco Swiss. However, the development and clarification of EU competition arbitration has been relatively slow and scarce. That is due to the nature of EU competition law, which has a lot of open terminology, the lack of arbitration mentioned in the legislation, and often the unwillingness of CJEU to clarify important concepts due to lack of information. Also, arbitration proceedings are confidential by nature – which historically has been one of the main arguments against arbitrability of competition disputes – therefore, the development and clarification of EU competition arbitration has only come up in limited circumstances, mostly in the recognition and enforcement phase of the arbitral award or when the losing party has challenged the award. The current position is that competition law is an arbitrable subject-matter in the EU. That position is mostly based on the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, which mostly arise in arbitration proceedings. However, when stepping out of the confined boundaries of those Articles, and considering whether Article 106 TFEU on exclusive right; Articles 107-108 TFEU on EU state aid; EUMR on concentrations or follow-on damages actions based on EU competition law infringements are also arbitrable, the answer is more ambiguous. In theory, the answer is yes, subject to limitations of the Commission’s exclusive competence, but in practice, the arbitrability of those EU competition law issues poses many challenges on arbitrators. This thesis explores the jurisdictional issues and limitations on arbitrators’ to arbitrate EU competition rules, related claims and follow-on action damages.
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(2024)The new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) was the pillar of the copyright package developed as part of the plan for an EU-wide copyright reform. This came as a response to the weaknesses observed in the existing framework, and aims to fill in the gaps of intermediary liability rules for online distribution of copyright protected works. The safe harbour provisions in the E-Commerce Directive in particular had left a dangerous loophole by allowing online content-sharing service providers (OCSSPs) to escape liability for infringing content on their platforms. Article 17 DSM intends to solve this issue by introducing a ‘specific liability mechanism’ that establishes an act of communication to the public for OCSSPs, unless they have satisfied the ‘best efforts’ criteria provided for in the article. While trying to achieve a clear objective, Article 17 raised several concerns regarding user protection as well as coherency with existing EU legislation, and was widely criticised for being too ambiguous to ensure an accurate interpretation of its autonomous concepts. The reference to automated recognition technology (i.e. upload filters) was particularly debated for its fundamental rights implications, and although the Polish challenge to the validity of Article 17 was rejected by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), the lack of legislative clarity played a large role in the delays to transpose the article into national legislation. This uncertainty resulted in a segmented implementation of the new liability rules, many of which threaten the purpose of the provision and the DSM Directive as a whole. This research intends to provide a comprehensive overview of the controversy surrounding Article 17 of the DSM Directive and observes how the nature and complexity of the article has influenced Member State transposition. The research shows specifically that Member States have divided into literal (traditional) transposition and elaboration (innovative) transposition, France and the Netherlands representing examples of the former method and Germany and Spain as examples of the latter method. Finland is included as an interesting example of implementation influenced by external political factors. Through this, the thesis asks to what extent the selected elements of Member State transpositions are compatible with the DSM Directive and which approach to transposition is most appropriate for the adoption of Article 17 into national legislation. The research determines that all selected Member States produced laws that were at risk of incorrect transposition, and ultimately finds that literal transposition is the more suitable option for the transposition of Article 17, based on an analysis of legislative and practical efficiency, EU-compatibility, and Member State discretion.
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(2022)Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an ubiquitous technology in society with ever more diverse applications. Different AI systems have become especially pervading in the domain of creative arts, where they can near-autonomously generate content. For example, there is a number of software that allow generation of musical output with minimal specifications from the user of the AI system. Where the creative process combines human and machine labor, results of such joint efforts can be called ‘AI-assisted output’. Ascertaining the legal status of AI-assisted output forms the crux of this Master’s thesis. On one hand, the research is concerned with the copyrightability of AI-assisted output. This question pertains to musical output produced with the assistance of illustrative AI systems of AIVA and Jukebox. The research adopts a legal comparative method in this regard: it seeks to assess how the copyright laws of EU and England could accommodate the AI-assisted output. Evidently, the focus in the analyses of the respective systems will revolve around their conceptions of originality, the key requirement to qualify for copyright protection. As a counterpart for the legal comparative study into the feasibility of copyright protection of AI-assisted output, the second prong of the research probes into the desirability of protecting such output. In other words, the research seeks to establish the merits of protecting AI-assisted outputs by juxtaposing the underlying, theoretical rationales of copyright law against AI-assisted output. To this end, the research aims to survey how the relationship between the human author and AI system interacts with the different rationales of copyright. Against this backdrop, the research preludes by looking into the foundations of AI and the selected legal systems. AI is examined retrospectively with a view on how the technology has emerged and how machine learning, the most prominent method of modern AI, has significantly increased the autonomy of AI systems. The illustrative AI systems of the research, AIVA and Jukebox, match the foregoing trends. However, in exploring the features of the systems, variance can be perceived in the amount of influence the user may be able to exert in the creative process of the musical output. The research then proceeds to provide a thorough picture of the framework of copyright law. In the first half of the section, the origins of the law are traced back to the civil law and common law traditions that underlie most copyright systems. Thereafter, the utilitarian and deontological rationales that underpin those systems are discussed including an exposition of the legal and economic discipline’s relationship with copyright law for later discussion. The second half of the section zeroes in on the copyright laws of the selected legal systems. It first notes the influence from the international framework of copyright and some general discussion on AI and its output on that level. Following up, the respective schemes of awarding copyright protection under EU and English law are broken down into their constituent parts. As per alluded, the crux of the analyses are on their respective standards of originality. In the EU, the notion is construed as an exercise of identifying ‘author’s own intellectual creation‘; specifically, the CJEU is concerned with the identification of creative choices that can take place in different phases of the creative process. In England, the standard of originality denotes first and foremost origination: the pertinent artifact should originate from the author and no one else. In addition, the English standard seeks to establish the exercise of skill, labor and judgment in its creation of the right kind. In the analytic section of the research, the illustrative systems of AIVA and Jukebox are then related against the copyright systems. The section begins with an application of the standards of EU and England against the output from the AI systems in abstract; no concrete samples from the systems are studied but rather the focus is on how their users may harness their features. Herewith, the amount of user engagement in the creative process becomes the key in both system; where the user can apply creative choices in the different phases of the production or alternatively exert skill, labor and judgment as opposed to mere generation off output with the systems, there is very likely an original work at stake. Hereby, the two AI systems diverge when examined in isolation; whereas AIVA provides the user with a vast amount of tools to interact with their product, Jukebox has little to offer in terms of post-processing. Accordingly, whereas output from AIVA would very unlikely fail to meet the standards of either jurisdiction, output from Jukebox could potentially be barred where no human intervention can be perceived from the final product. The section concludes with a survey of alternative forms of protections for AI-assisted output. As per the foregoing discussion, it is noted how the deontological rationales have limited application in justifying the protection of output that have minimal human involvement. It follows that the economic-utilitarian grounds are emphasized and options that spur therefrom. The related rights regime, a new sui generis right and alternatives that disregard considerations of originality and authorship are explored with alike conclusions: the alternatives do not serve as a backdoor protection but are rooted in valuing socially beneficial activities. Evidently, with AIVA and Jukebox, it would have to be evidenced that their generated output merits protection from a market failure. In light of the foregoing discussion, there is no such substantiation. Accordingly, it would be best to leave AI-assisted output in the lower end of the spectrum of human interaction well alone to preserve the balance between private and public interests.
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(2019)The purpose of this study is to research legal challenges and solutions for data sharing with autonomous ships. Autonomous ships store and share a significant amount of data, and data sharing occurs between various parties with autonomous ships. The aim of this study is to analyze and examine the legal challenges and solutions related to different types of data sharing activities in autonomous shipping, as well as to research the general legality of autonomous ships. The first part of this study is to study how well autonomous ships fit into the existing legislative framework. The existing legislative framework is mainly based on IMO conventions, and the purpose of this study is to research those conventions from the perspective of autonomous ships. Based on this research, amendments are proposed when necessary to better support the legality and development of autonomous ships. In addition to the IMO conventions, other relevant sources, such as guidelines on MASS trials, are examined to highlight guidance on the development of autonomous ships. The legal analysis on IMO conventions and other sources shows that as the level of autonomy of a ship increases, the more challenging the ship is for the legal framework. Several conventions directly mention the need for a master and crew to be physically present on board, and various watchkeeping duties are required to be performed by human senses. Regarding the use of human senses, a legal argument can be made to accept technological means as long as they are at least equally functional than human senses. For remotely controlled ships, a legal question is whether a master and crew can operate from the SCC and how well this satisfies the requirement to operate on board. Recommended action is to amend those IMO conventions that require physical human presence and decision-making to accept the lack of manned crew and the presence of autonomous decision-making. However, technical requirements are recommended to be included in the legal amendments to the conventions to ensure a high level of safety and functionality. The second part of the thesis examines legal challenges and solutions for data sharing with autonomous ships. First, a factual assessment of data sharing principles with autonomous ships are described and discussed, and afterwards a legal analysis is conducted. The legal analysis on data sharing and autonomous ships examines what kind of legal challenges exist with data sharing and autonomous ships and how to solve them by legal solutions. Cyber security is a key challenge with autonomous ships, and its role in data sharing is analyzed and requirements to have robust cyber security systems are recommended. For operational data sharing, the issue of ensuring a functional data flow is necessary. Autonomous ships should be legally required to have strong data sharing and connectivity capabilities in order to comply with requirements to share information. Also, this requirement is to achieve as safe and functional navigation as possible. The role of ship-to-ship and ship-to-port data sharing are examined, and legal requirements should facilitate their maximal utilization. At the end of this study, a contractual framework is applied by using the Sitra Rulebook on data sharing in order to illustrate how contractual means can support data sharing with autonomous ships.
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(2023)The main research question of this thesis is what implications deregulating the Finnish gambling monopoly could have in terms of competition in the gambling industry, and in terms of player protection. I will examine the current state of the gambling monopoly in Finland, how it came to be, and where it is headed. It examines the potential consequences of deregulating the monopoly on the industry, with a focus on competition and responsible gambling practices. The research aims to analyze the legal frameworks governing the gambling industry and its socio-economic effects. I will also propose new ways in which the gambling industry could evolve to become better for companies and players. The study scrutinizes the legal standing of the monopoly and whether it fulfills the requirements set for monopolies in the EU law. I will also discuss controversial business practices of Veikkaus, such as aggressive advertising strategies. In addition, I will explore alternative approaches for a more competitive market. To gain insights into potential policy changes, I will compare Finnish gambling regulations to those of other Nordic countries, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. These comparisons highlight the different degrees of market liberalization and player protection measures adopted by these countries. My conclusion is that as there is no de facto monopoly anymore, there is also no justification to treat it as such. Holding on to the monopoly violates EU competition rules and harms the players and the state. Establishing a new legal regime to control gambling would also give Finland a chance to become a leader in player protection practices.
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(2024)Due to the rising use of pricing algorithms equipped with machine learning, there are concerns over whether Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) can effectively capture any such algorithmic collusion, particularly in the absence of any intention or action from the undertakings utilizing them. The machine learning algorithms can be shown to be capable of utilizing collusive strategies, and in the absence of a meeting of minds, it becomes pertinent to consider if their deployment could nonetheless amount to behaviour contrary to European competition law. This thesis examines the legal framework of Art. 101 TFEU and considers how it can be applied to cases of collusion achieved or sustained through the use of pricing algorithms. A limited extension of the current interpretation of Art. 101 is proposed, in order to ensure that algorithmic collusion can be effectively captured and enforced against. Without this extension, it is highly possible that algorithmic collusion would escape the remit of EU competition law – and in some cases it may already have. It is argued that the widened interpretation should specifically apply to cases of algorithmic collusion as, assuming this is not offensive to the integrity of Art. 101 nor to certainty in application, it will best accommodate for growing use of technological systems. Furthermore, given the rapidly growing technology sector and proliferation of tools such as pricing algorithms, a flexible approach based on the interpretation of Art. 101 TFEU rather than ‘hard’ legislation is the most appropriate form of competition regulation. This thesis will furthermore consider the liability concerns that may arise from the widened interpretation of Art. 101 and borrow analyses from English law to show why these concerns will ultimately be unfounded. In this thesis it is ultimately concluded that major reform is not needed to ensure the capture and enforcement of algorithmic collusion, and that judicial interpretation can ensure the proper capture of algorithmic collusion, without affecting the integrity or other application of Art. 101 TFEU.
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(2016)Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract When parties become unable to pay for the costs of arbitration, they sometimes seek to resort to litigation in national courts. In such circumstances, UK courts, in reference to the UK Arbitration Act, have held that impecuniosity of a party would not invalidate the agreement to arbitrate and impecunious parties could thus not be allowed to resort to litigation while there is a valid arbitration agreement. Research in this thesis found, in light of recent US courts decisions, that an economically superior party could purposely make arbitration expensive and consequently unaffordable for an economically inferior party by insisting on undue conformity with the requirements of procedural due process. When issue of impecuniosity is raised by a party who seeks to resort to litigation and a counterparty seeks to compel arbitration, the approach of the US courts is that the party who seeks to compel arbitration could either pay for the costs of arbitration or the impecunious party should be allowed to resort to litigation in the national court. This thesis suggests that in order not to foreclose economically inferior parties from obtaining justice because of impecuniosity which might be unscrupulously occasioned by economically superior parties during the course of arbitration, the UK courts should adopt similar approach taken by the US courts in some cases.
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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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(2023)This thesis sought to remedy the lack of information about the main differences and similarities between the European Union’s (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) privacy and data protection policies. To do so, it outlined both organizations’ publicly available privacy and data protection policies, as well as defined the big picture of the global legal instruments related to the topic. To understand what the impact of these policies to the members of both was, a comparison was made between Finland and Germany. The chosen methodology was comparative law. The key results indicated that main emphasis of the EU is on human rights protection. This is proven by the GDPR, which recognizes privacy as a fundamental human right. The need to safeguard the privacy of users is prioritized throughout the EU’s jurisdiction by aiming to protect data. There is a strong contrast compared to NATO, which puts the strategic interests of their allies first. NATO aims to ensure that it can leverage data as a strategic resource. Members of both must find balance between these different interests, while being part of the international community. In principle, where the EU and international agreements handle civilian matters in privacy and data protection, there NATO covers military matters. However, the rising geopolitical tensions has led to a situation where the role of the EU might be changing. The political decisions the EU is now taking will shape the future of the EU-NATO cooperation as well as privacy and data protection policies, to be possibly used in a more strategic way.
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(2021)Ilmiö joukkoviestintämarkkinoiden keskittymisestä ja uusien teknologien aiheuttamista muutoksista media-alalle on maailmanlaajuinen; osa mediataloista on lakkauttanut toimintansa kokonaan, kun taas osa yrityksistä on myyty suuremmille kilpailijoille tai muille alan toimijoille. Tämä on johtanut suurien, eri aloilla toimivien monialayritysten syntymiseen ja vähentänyt markkinoilla toimivia yrityksiä. Kehitys on havaittavissa myös Suomessa: esimerkiksi vuonna 2016 päivälehtiä oli 30 vähemmän kuin kymmenen vuotta aikaisemmin. Maaliskuussa 2020 sanomalehtien keskittymiskehitys kulminoitui, kun Sanoma Oyj osti Alma Media Oyj:n paikallislehdet, mikä herätti julkista keskustelua siitä, uhkaako yrityskauppa Suomen median monimuotoisuutta. Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto kuitenkin (KKV) jätti kysymykset median monimuotoisuudesta huomioimatta vedoten kilpailulain asettamien toimivaltarajojen lisäksi Euroopan komission viimeaikaiseen tapauskäytäntöön, jossa kysymyksiä yrityskauppojen vaikutuksista median monimuotoisuudelle pidetään kilpailuoikeuden alaan kuulumattomina. Tämä opinnäytetyö tutkii Euroopan unionin (EU) kilpailuoikeuden suhdetta median monimuotoisuuteen liittyviin kysymyksiin. Tutkimus osoittaa, että vaikka komission viimeaikainen tapauskäytäntö on keskittynyt yrityskauppojen taloudellisiin vaikutuksiin – antaen painoarvoa erityisesti hintakilpailulle – komissio on aikaisemmin antanut painoarvoa myös median monimuotoisuutta käsitteleville seikoille. Koska EU:lla ei ole toimivaltaa antaa kulttuurialaan liittyviä säännöksiä, on ensisijainen vastuu median monimuotoisuuden suojelusta kuitenkin jäsenvaltioilla. Kun huomioon otetaan kilpailusääntöjen joustavuus ja monimuotoisen median merkitys demokratialle, joka on yksi EU:n perusarvoista, tukee teleologinen laintulkinta kuitenkin myös median monimuotoisuusnäkökulmien huomioonottamista myös kilpailuanalyysissä. Lisäksi EU:n kilpailusäännöissä huomioidaan hinnan olevan vain yksi kilpailuparametreistä mm. tuotteen laadun ohella. Tämä puolestaan mahdollistaisi sen arvioimisen, heikentääkö yrityskauppa mediamarkkinoilla olevien tuotteiden laatua. Opinnäytetyö ottaa myös kantaa laajempaan keskusteluun siitä, tulisiko niin kutsuttuun yleiseen etuun (public interest) liittyviä kysymyksiä käsitellä kilpailuoikeudellisessa analyysissä. Keskeinen argumentti on, että vaikka nykyinen, vahvasti hintakilpailuun perustuva analyysi ei palvele kuluttajia parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla, ei kilpailuoikeutta ole tarkoituksenmukaista käyttää ensisijaisena keinona median monimuotoisuuden suojelussa. Kilpailuoikeuden vallalla olevia menetelmiä ja käytäntöjä olisi kuitenkin suotavaa uudistaa siten, että ne ottavat jokaisen markkinan erityispiirteet huomioon. Media-alalla tämä tarkoittaa esimerkiksi sen huomioimista, ettei hinta ole keskeinen kuluttajaa ohjaava tekijä. Tämä tukisi mahdollisesti myös median monimuotoisuuden säilymistä ja palvelisi kuluttajien hyvinvointia nykyistä staattista analyysiä paremmin. Media-ala tarvitsee kuitenkin säilyäkseen tuekseen myös erityislainsäädäntöä, mikä on kilpailuoikeutta tarkoituksenmukaisempi keino vastata median monimuotoisuutta koskeviin uhkiin, vaikka kilpailuoikeutta voidaan käyttää erityislainsäädännön tukena.
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(2021)The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has brought with itself an unimaginable ease to large-scale collection and sharing of personal data. Such large-scale collection and sharing are often done on the basis of data subject’s consent. Consent enjoys a prominent role in the European data protection framework. Consent has, however, been criticised for not providing individuals with adequate protection in online environments. This problem will only be exacerbated with the rise of IoT as IoT extends the data collection practices of the online environments also to offline environments. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of consent in the processing of personal data in the IoT. There are two research questions this thesis aims to answer: i) what are the problems and challenges related to the traditional consent based model in relation to IoT, and ii) is there an alternative way forward to user consent? This will be done through legal doctrinal methodology. However, this thesis will also take an interdisciplinary approach as it also draws from different disciplines than law such as technology, behavioural sciences and economics. This thesis shows that, in digitalized world, consent is neither freely given nor informed; thus, challenging the notion of valid consent. These problems arise from information and power asymmetries that are present between data subjects and controllers. However, IoT also brings with itself a unique set of problems as most IoT devices lack screens and input methods making it hard for individuals to access information and provide consent. Moreover, the unobtrusive and ubiquitous nature of IoT makes data collection activities invisible making it hard to apply transparency principle. It is also predicted that the presence of IoT in public spaces leads to the diminishment of private spaces. In light of this, this thesis discusses some alternative ways forward to user consent. The first approach focuses on improving consent, while the second approach aims to shift the focus away from consent by placing accountability on controllers. While both of these alternatives have appeal, they do not come without challenges. Therefore, more research is needed in the field of IoT and data protection.
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(2022)This thesis examines contractual interpretation in the United States and the Nordics. The effect of the entire agreement clause on the interpretation process is also examined. The purpose is to identify the main differences and similarities in the U.S. common law and the Nordic civil law approaches to interpretation and enforcement of the entire agreement clause. The principles of contractual interpretation are very similar among the Nordic countries, which allows the Nordics to be discussed as a single entity in relation to interpretation. In the United States, however, we can see a lot of variety in contractual interpretation matters, and not just between states but within the states themselves. Contract law (and contractual interpretation) is mostly governed by state law, which is why very few generalizations can be made that would be representative of every state. In some states contractual interpretation has also been incorporated into statutes. In the Nordics, there are no statutes regulating contractual interpretation; instead, interpretation is guided by general principles. The first part of the thesis concentrates on contractual interpretation in the United States. First, after an introduction to the common law system and sources of law, the entire agreement clause (which originates in Anglo-American law) is studied. Second, the parol evidence rule, which is a unique common law phenomenon and serves a similar purpose as the entire agreement clause, is examined. The focus of the study then moves onto examining the three different theories of interpretation: literalism, objectivism, and subjectivism, after which the interpretation process in general in discussed. Objectivism and the four corners and plain meaning rules stand out in this part of the research. The second part of the thesis focuses on contractual interpretation in the Nordics. The enforcement of the entire agreement clause is also discussed. Objectivism and subjectivism are also addressed from a Nordic point of view, but the general principles of interpretation discussed are not arranged under either label since the interpretation material available for interpretation in the Nordics includes both types of evidence. The interpretation process in general is also examined. The third part comprises of a comparison of contractual interpretation in the U.S. and the Nordics as well as differences in the enforcement of the entire agreement clause. The final part summarizes these findings. The main goal of contractual interpretation, determining the common intention of the parties, is the same in both jurisdictions. The difference is in the way of achieving that result. The main conclusion is that interpreters in the Nordics have more tools at their disposal to reach an optimal interpretive result, as both objective and subjective evidence are always available to aid in the interpretation process. In the U.S., an objective approach to interpretation is favored by most U.S. courts, and the four corners of the contract and the plain meaning rule are emphasized at the start of the interpretive process. Generally, an ambiguity is required to allow extrinsic evidence. In the Nordics, there is no ambiguity requirement. The availability of subjective evidence is not a given in the U.S. like it is in the Nordics. The principles of contractual interpretation presented in the Restatement (Second) of Contracts in the U.S. mirror the Nordic principles closely; however, the adaption of these principles is at the discretion of the courts. The entire agreement clause is generally enforced in the U.S. where greater emphasis is given to written agreements. In the Nordics, however, the effect of the entire agreement clause can be described persuasive at best. Therefore, the conclusion is that the position of the entire agreement clause in the Nordics is weak compared to the U.S.
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