Hof Amsterdam oordeelt dat Booking.com niet bemiddelt omdat zij slechts de administratieve afhandeling verzorgt van de overeenkomst die ‘direct’ tussen de gebruikers van haar platform tot stand komt. In deze bijdrage wordt door de auteurs gesignaleerd dat dit oordeel wringt met de huidige rechtspraktijk en voor onduidelijkheid zorgt over de vraag hoe moet worden bepaald of een platform bemiddelt, dan wel als een ‘elektronisch prikbord’ functioneert, en daarmee buiten het wettelijk regime over bemiddeling valt. De rechtszekerheid is gediend met heldere criteria en de auteurs betogen dat het omslagpunt bij de openbaarmakingsfunctie ligt. Een platform dat aanbieders slechts de mogelijkheid biedt om zich te presenteren aan geïnteresseerden om te zoeken, heeft enkel een openbaarmakingsfunctie en bemiddelt niet. Gaat de betrokkenheid van het platform bij de totstandkoming van overeenkomsten verder, dan is het platform in beginsel als tussenpersoon werkzaam bij het tot stand brengen van overeenkomsten en bemiddelt het in de zin van artikel 7:425 BW. Anders dan Hof Amsterdam menen de auteurs daarom dat Booking.com bemiddelt.

Bij de verdeling van schaarse vergunningen moet de overheid in beginsel mededingingsruimte voor potentiële gegadigden creëren. Op deze mededingingsplicht zijn echter uitzonderingen denkbaar die onderhandse vergunningverlening rechtvaardigen. Een van die uitzonderingen is van institutionele aard en richt zich op de bijzondere relatie tussen de vergunningverlener en de vergunninghouder. Deze uitzonderingscategorie is aanvankelijk in het aanbestedingsrecht onder de noemer van (quasi-)inbesteding ontwikkeld. Centraal in deze bijdrage staan de vragen in hoeverre vergelijkbare institutionele excepties ook van toepassing zijn bij de verdeling van schaarse vergunningen en hoe die excepties kunnen worden ingepast in het Unierecht en in het nationale verdelingsrecht.

In his contribution to this special issue, David Luban proposes to revive the age-old concept of ‘the enemy of all humanity.’ On his view, this concept supports the aims of international criminal justice by emphasizing that atrocity and persecution crimes are ‘radically evil’ and therefore ‘everyone’s business.’ Criticizing Luban’s proposal, this paper shows that in the past, the ‘enemy of all humanity’ concept has often served to establish parallel systems of justice, depriving these ‘enemies’ of their rights as suspects under criminal law and as lawful combatants under the laws of war. Thus, even if the ‘enemy of all humanity’ concept is used with the intention to bring today’s perpetrators of ‘radical evil’ to justice, it risks undermining, rather than protecting, the rule of law.

In concept-Boek 4 van het nieuwe Wetboek van Strafvordering wordt een aangepaste bewijsregeling voorgesteld. Een aantal aspecten daarvan wordt in deze bijdrage besproken. Er wordt aandacht besteed aan de gebondenheid aan wettige bewijsmiddelen, het bewijscriterium, formele onmiddellijkheid, enkele specifieke bewijsmiddelen, bewijsminima, het recht getuigen te ondervragen, bewijsmotivering en het bewijs bij de schuldvaststelling in het kader van een strafbeschikking.

Recently the Dutch probation is faced with changes in the local situation: new forms of cooperation and networks have emerged, due to the transformation of the social domain. The probation officers participate on different levels in these networks. They can no longer simply deliver their ‘products’, but have to ‘do what is necessary. A lot of decisions have to be made on the operational level.
Examples of the changes are given. Recent research on cooperation in the social domain show that ‘cooperation’ is easier sad then done. These changes ask for a new set of competences.

This article investigates the functioning of the Dutch National Contact Point (NCP) during the specific instance procedure based on shared experiences of parties involved in a specific instance procedure, the stipulations of the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Dutch Government Decree 2014. NCPs function as a unique implementation mechanism of these guidelines by providing mediation and conciliation services during specific instance procedures. The recent debate in the Netherlands on the functioning of the Dutch NCP and the lack of rigorous up-to-date research necessitate further research on this topic. Hence, this article shares more in-depth knowledge about the functioning of the Dutch NCP, contributes to the ongoing debate in Parliament and in the OECD on the functioning of NCPs, and presents suggestions for further improvement.

Immigrants are overrepresented in Dutch crime rates and in forensic psychiatric care. The current research explored the relation between delinquency, psychiatric problems and ethnicity. General characteristics, judicial history and history of mental health care of male detainees which reside in a penitentiary psychiatric centre, have been investigated and the relation of these factors with ethnicity is examined. Results show that in particular second-generation non-western immigrants are highly represented. It seems that it had been more difficult for them to get adequate treatment.

The author addresses the phenomenon of taxable profit-shifting operations undertaken by multinationals in response to countries competing for corporate tax bases within the European Union. The central question is whether this might be a relic of the past when the European Commission’s proposal for a Council Directive on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base sees the light of day. Or would the EU-wide corporate tax system provide incentives for multinationals to pursue artificial tax base-shifting practices within the EU, potentially invigorating the risk of undue governmental tax competition responses? The author’s tentative answer on the potential for artificial base shifting and undue tax competition is in the affirmative. Today, the issue of harmful tax competition within the EU seems to have been pushed back as a result of the soft law approaches that were initiated in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But things might change if the CCCTB proposal as currently drafted enters into force. There may be a risk that substantial parts of the EU tax base would instantly become mobile as of that day. As the EU Member States at that time seem to have only a single tool available to respond to this – the tax rate – that may perhaps initiate an undesirable race for the EU tax base, at least theoretically.

This article examines what limitations to private property John Locke recognizes to protect the rights of the poor. As has been pointed out in the literature, Locke’s ideas on the limitations to private property have been influenced by medieval discussions about the rights of the poor and the principle of extreme necessity. Confirming this interpretation, the article shows that Locke borrows the distinction between ‘ordinary need’ and ‘evident and urgent necessity’ from Thomas Aquinas. Taking position in a debate among Grotius and Pufendorf, Locke argues that the poor have a natural right to the ‘surplus’ of somebody else’s possessions, and that this right becomes legally enforceable in case of ‘evident and urgent necessity.’

In this article, Roy Wildemors explains how the Central Organisation for Certificates of Good Conduct decides on an application for a certificate of good conduct (CGC). First, it is determined whether the applicant has a criminal record that is relevant to the purpose for which the CGC has been applied for. If he does not have one, the CGC will be granted. If he has, specific personal circumstances will be taken into account, e.g. the number of antecedents, his age and the time that has passed since his last antecedent. Finally, his interests will be balanced against those of society.

Appellant heeft op 22 juni 2003 zijn echtgenote om het leven gebracht. Zij was de dochter van geïntimeerde. Appellant is bij onherroepelijk vonnis van 2 juli 2004 door de Rechtbank Arnhem (strafrechter) veroordeeld wegens het plegen van moord. Blijkens dit vonnis heeft appellant zijn echtgenote eerst versuft met ether en haar vervolgens met meer dan tachtig messteken om het leven gebracht. Geïntimeerde had zich in deze strafzaak als civiele partij gevoegd, maar was in die voeging in zijn vordering niet-ontvankelijk verklaard.=