De Taxonomieverordening creëert een gemeenschappelijke taal voor duurzaamheid en vormt de spil in een omvangrijk wet- en regelgevingspakket voor een duurzame financiële sector en economie. De auteur bespreekt de verordening en haar reikwijdte, alsmede de uitdagingen die in de weg kunnen staan aan een betekenisvolle invulling in de praktijk.

In the aftermath of the 2007 global financial crisis, regulators have agreed a substantial tightening of prudential regulation for banks operating in the traditional banking sector (TBS). The TBS is stringently regulated under the Basel Accords to moderate financial stability and to minimise risk to government and taxpayers. While prudential regulation is important from a financial stability perspective, the flipside is that the Basel Accords only apply to the TBS, they do not regulate the shadow banking sector (SBS). While it is not disputed that the SBS provides numerous benefits given the net credit growth of the economy since the global financial crisis has come from the SBS rather than traditional banking channels, the SBS also poses many risks. Therefore, the fact that the SBS is not subject to prudential regulation is a cause of serious systemic concern. The introduction of Basel IV, which compliments Basel III, seeks to complete the Basel framework on prudential banking regulation. On the example of this set of standards and its potential negative consequences for the TBS, this paper aims to visualise the incentives for TBS institutions to move some of their activities into the SBS, and thus stress the need for more comprehensive regulation of the SBS. Current coronavirus crisis forced Basel Committee to postpone implementation of the Basel IV rules – this could be perceived as a chance to complete the financial regulatory framework and address the SBS as well.

Duurzame investeringen winnen aan populariteit. Wetgevende instanties en toezichthouders stimuleren verduurzaming van de portefeuille van financiële ondernemingen in verband met klimaatrisico’s (‘groene zwaan’-risico’s), maar waarschuwen ook voor de risico’s die gepaard gaan met duurzame investeringen. De onstuitbare vergroeningstrend brengt het risico van ‘greenwashing’ met zich. Als antwoord op onder meer greenwashing wordt er gewerkt aan een Europees uniform classificatiesysteem omtrent duurzaamheid, ofwel een Europese taxonomie. Dit artikel bespreekt klimaatrisico’s, greenwashing en positieve en negatieve aspecten van deze taxonomie.

There is no clear answer to the question if corruption makes victims. Currently an (international) discussion is taking place about this matter. On the one hand it can be discussed that corruption in general does not know any direct victims and that corruption can even take place without any damage. On the other hand it is known that corruption can cause tremendous public and financial damage, with society as a whole as the victim of this crime, whether or not in primary gradation. In the underlying article these two perspectives will be discussed and applied on two cases. Special attention will also be paid to the impact and relevance of pointing out the victims.

Bierman en Kerckhaert onderzoeken de Conservatrix-casus en gaan in op de vraag of er, na de introductie van de Wet herstel en afwikkeling verzekeraars, lessen uit deze zaak zijn te trekken. Uiterst actueel, nu een aantal verzekeraars de afgelopen jaren (bijna) in de problemen is gekomen, meest recent Yarden in oktober 2019.

De Verordening tot vaststelling van een kader voor de screening van buitenlandse directe investeringen in de EU (Verordening 2019/452) is op 19 maart 2019 aangenomen door het Europees Parlement en zal met ingang van 11 oktober 2020 van toepassing zijn. De Verordening stelt een raamwerk vast waarbinnen de EU-lidstaten en de Europese Commissie samenwerken aan de screening van investeringen van buiten de EU. Alhoewel de EU-lidstaten zelf verantwoordelijk blijven voor het al
dan niet screenen van foreign direct investments zal de Verordening waarschijnlijk zorgen voor een uitgebreider en langduriger screening proces omdat belangen van betrokken EU lidstaten in overweging genomen moeten worden.

The Singapore International Commercial Court (‘SICC’) was launched on 5 January 2015, at the Opening of Legal Year held at the Singapore Supreme Court. What prompted the creation of SICC? How is the SICC model of litigation different from litigation in the Singapore High Court? What is the SICC’s track record and what does it tell us about its future? This article seeks to answer these questions at greater depth than existing literature. Importantly, it examines these questions from the angle of reimagining access of justice for litigants embroiled in international commercial disputes. It argues that the SICC’s enduring contribution to improving access to justice is that it helps to change our frame of reference for international commercial litigation. Hybridisation, internationalisation, and party autonomy, the underpinning values of the SICC, are likely to be the values of the future of dispute resolution. International commercial dispute resolution frameworks – typically litigation frameworks – that unduly emphasise national boundaries and formalities need not and should not be the norm. Crucially, the SICC co-opts a refreshing public-private perspective to the resolution of international commercial disputes. It illuminates on the public interest element of the resolution of such disputes which have for some time fallen into the domain of international commercial arbitration; at the same time, it introduces greater scope for self-determination in international commercial litigation.

In this article we explore the approach of the Singapore International Commercial Court (the ‘SICC’) to jurisdiction and joinder of non-consenting parties, and way that any resulting judgments are likely to be treated by foreign enforcing courts. This novel juncture arises as international commercial courts, such as the SICC, rely predominantly upon party autonomy to enliven their jurisdiction over disputants. This does not require any territorial link of the parties or the dispute to the host jurisdiction (Singapore). At the same time, however, the SICC is granted a mandate under Singaporean law to join non-consenting parties, again with no necessary territorial link. Where such joinder occurs, any resulting judgment is likely to face significant difficulties if recognition and enforcement is sought outside of Singapore. To support this argument, we first set out the ways in which non-consenting disputants may be joined to proceedings before the SICC, and offer some initial thoughts on how these powers are likely to be exercised. Second, we argue that any such exercise of jurisdiction – that lacks either territorial or consent-based jurisdiction grounds – is unlikely to gain support internationally, by reference to transnational recognition and enforcement approaches, and the SICC’s most likely recognition and enforcement destinations. Finally, we offer some concluding remarks about the utility of international commercial court proceedings against non-consenting parties, including the possibility they may impact on domestic recognition and enforcement approaches in foreign States.

Staatssteun aan banken is in beginsel verboden en kan alleen door de Europese Commissie goedgekeurd worden. In deze bijdrage wordt beschreven hoe de Europese Commissie is omgegaan met staatssteun aan banken.

Member States may not impose mandatory liquidation on companies that wish to transfer their registered office to another Member State. A restriction on freedom of establishment may be justified by overriding reasons in the public interest, such as the protection of the interests of creditors, minority shareholders and employees, but a general mandatory liquidation goes beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of protecting these interests.

In dit artikel over fraude & asset recovery wordt stapsgewijs aan de hand van een casus uiteengezet hoe via civielrechtelijke weg kan worden achterhaald waar weggesluisde vermogensbestanddelen zijn gebleven en hoe deze kunnen worden teruggehaald. Daarbij wordt niet alleen aandacht besteed aan de mogelijkheden die het Nederlandse recht daarvoor biedt, maar passeren ook enkele discovery tools uit common law jurisdicties de revue.

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the notion of an interest should be taken more seriously than the notion of a right. It will be argued that it should; and not only because it can be just as amenable to the institutional taxonomical structure often said to be at the basis of rights thinking in law but also because the notion of an interest has a more epistemologically convincing explanatory power with respect to reasoning in law and its relation to social facts. The article equally aims to highlight some of the important existing work on the notion of an interest in law.

The phenomenon of victim participation in restorative justice (RJ) has been studied from two main angles: describing victims’ motivations to take part in RJ and studying the benefits that different groups of victims may obtain when participating in RJ. However, methodological limitations of former studies have impeded to offer conclusive answers to the question ‘for whom is RJ’. This article offers insights into these issues, focusing on the descriptive findings of a mixed-method study carried out in the context of victim-offender mediation (in Spain and Belgium) and assessed before the encounter (if any) took place. Findings suggest that, before mediation, victims’ personal characteristics tend to differ. The factor ‘victim-offender relationship’ also appeared as an important variable. Implications of these findings are discussed.

People with mental illness usually experience higher rates of disability and mortality. Often, health care systems do not adequately respond to the burden of mental disorders worldwide. The number of health care providers dealing with mental health care is insufficient in many countries. Equal access to necessary health services should be granted to mentally ill people without any discrimination. E-mental health is expected to enhance the quality of care as well as accessibility, availability and affordability of services. This paper examines under what conditions e-mental health can contribute to realising the right to health by using the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ) framework that is developed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Research shows e-mental health facilitates dissemination of information, remote consultation and patient monitoring and might increase access to mental health care. Furthermore, patient participation might increase, and stigma and discrimination might be reduced by the use of e-mental health. However, e-mental health might not increase the access to health care for everyone, such as the digitally illiterate or those who do not have access to the Internet. The affordability of this service, when it is not covered by insurance, can be a barrier to access to this service. In addition, not all e-mental health services are acceptable and of good quality. Policy makers should adopt new legal policies to respond to the present and future developments of modern technologies in health, as well as e-Mental health. To analyse the impact of e-mental health on the right to health, additional research is necessary.

This article explores the investigative methods used by corporate security within organisations concerned about property misappropriation by their own staff and/or others. The research methods are qualitative: interviews, observations and case studies carried out between October 2012 and November 2015. The findings include that, even though corporate investigators do not have the formal investigative powers enjoyed by police and other public agencies, they do have multiple methods of investigation at their disposal, some of which are less used by public investigative agencies, for example the in-depth investigation of internal systems. Corporate investigators also rely heavily on interviews, the investigation of documentation and financial administration and the investigation of communication devices and open sources. However, there are many additional sources of information (for example, site visits or observations), which might be available to corporate investigators. The influences from people from different backgrounds, most notably (forensic) accountants, (former) police officers, private investigators and lawyers, together with the creativity that is necessary (and possible) when working without formal investigative powers, make corporate security a diverse field. It is argued that these factors contribute to a differentiation between public and private actors in the field of corporate security.

Ter voorkoming van onevenredige benadeling van cash flow‍- of asset based financiers bij financiële problemen van de debiteur zijn afspraken over de uitoefening van hun bevoegdheden van groot belang. De gebruikelijke majority lenders-beslissing werkt niet goed. Andere afspraken, die beter aansluiten bij hun respectievelijke positie en belangen, zijn dan noodzakelijk.

Dit artikel geeft een samenvatting van en oordeel over het boek The Blunders of our Governments, waarin diverse casus worden geanalyseerd en factoren opgesomd die de Britse kabinetten vatbaarder maakten voor (wetgevings)blunders. Het gaat enerzijds om menselijke factoren, zoals groepsdenken, culturele wereldvreemdheid en een kloof tussen beleidsmakers en uitvoerders. Anderzijds betreft het systeemkenmerken van het Britse stelsel, waaronder een gebrek aan individuele afrekenbaarheid, de zwakke punten uit het parlementaire proces en een gebrek aan beraadslaging.

Het proefschrift van Diamant behandelt hoe de Europese Collateral Richtlijn financiëlezekerheidsarrangementen een juridische infrastructuur heeft geboden. Vermogensrechtelijk is deze richtlijn van groot belang omdat hij noviteiten heeft geïntroduceerd in het nationale privaatrecht van alle in dit proefschrift onderzochte jurisdicties. Bovendien staan financiëlezekerheidsarrangementen volop in de schijnwerpers als ‘schaduwbankieren’.

The demand for and availability of civil justice procedures for small claims can neither be disentangled nor extricated from the health of the economic climate of the relevant country concerned. In this article, it is argued that despite not being a developed country, Ghana was not completely insulated from the hardships or implementation of austerity measures that were triggered by the global economic meltdown. The inevitability of behavioural changes on the part of the Government of Ghana as lawmaker and provider of the machinery for civil justice on the one hand and small claims litigants as users of the civil procedure on the other hand are also explored in the article. After properly situating the exploration in the relevant economic context, the article makes recommendations regarding how to minimise the impact of the austerity measures on small claims litigants.